Overcoming lack of motivation

Author: Chris Ebbs

It can be difficult to stay motivated for long periods of time, and during year 12 this can become a real problem. It’s important to maintain motivation so that you can keep studying at a consistent level throughout the year. However, when the end feels too far away, it can be tricky to push yourself to study as much as you might want or need to. Here are 5 tricks you can try in order to stay motivated throughout the school year.

The ‘just do it’ method. For some people, the hardest part is getting started. They might need a lot of convincing to get off the couch and to sit at a desk, but once they’ve got their books in front of them, the actual study part isn’t so bad. If this sounds like you, then remember to ‘just do it’ and you’ll thank yourself for it later. You might want to set a time that you promise to be at your desk every morning or ask a family member to help you get motivated to start. For best effects, remember to wear your fave Nike gear.

Work first, have fun later. This is an important trick to keep practising throughout your life. Once you start doing something fun, it can feel impossible to drag yourself away from it to get back to your desk. However, if you finish everything you were planning to first, then watching that tv show or meeting up with your friend will be so much sweeter.

The reward method. This is a similar concept to ‘have fun later’, but it’s much more defined. For some people, creating specific rewards for completing certain tasks really helps them get through it. If you study for an hour you could reward yourself with a snack. For the whole day you could watch the latest episode of your show. It’s also a good idea to have bigger rewards: for doing a SAC you could buy yourself something you’ve had your eye on for a while. And then make sure you have some kind of reward in mind for finishing year 12 – maybe your parents will take you out for dinner or you can plan a fun day with your friends.

Study with a friend. Some people can’t study well with others (I know I can’t). But some find that this helps them keep going. For this to work, you need to know that your friend isn’t going to distract you (and make sure that you’re not distracting them either!) But having a friend around can make the experience more fun, and also help you stay motivated as you learn together. If they’re studying, you might feel bad about taking a break and power through an extra hour. You can also help explain key concepts to each other if you’re studying any of the same subjects.

Go to a library. While having a consistent study space can help get you in the zone, sometimes a change of scene is just what you need. At home, there can be a lot of distractions, and if you’re alone in your study space, there is less accountability about taking extremely extended ‘breaks’. Going to a library is perfect – it’s quiet, lots of other people are studying, and you can usually turn the Internet on and off depending on whether you need to use it or you need to avoid distractions. (You could combine this one with Study with a friend.)