Wanted: motivation to study
Reading a book
Am I a bad student? I鈥檓 already over my courses despite it only being the fourth听week.
Author: Asirah
I think I鈥檓 feeling this way because my brain is juggling too much听information and stressing over too many deadlines at a time. When I wake up, I鈥檓 reminded of the notes from week 2 that I鈥檓 yet to finish and before I sleep, I鈥檓 reminded that I have quizzes due by the end of the week that I haven鈥檛 done. My friend and I were talking about the mental exhaustion we鈥檝e been feeling lately听and we know that when we鈥檙e too tired, we tend to lose motivation to do anything.
Motivation comes in waves and its fluctuation is a common thing that we go through no matter what we鈥檙e doing in life. So, in an effort to prevent this demotivation from prolonging, I鈥檝e devised some ways to get myself back into the groove of studying because I can鈥檛 afford procrastinating to the last minute and leaving tearstains on my textbooks again!
Movie time
Firstly, I dimmed the lights in my room, grabbed some Ben & Jerry鈥檚听and sat myself down for a nice movie date with myself. You鈥檙e probably like, dude, isn鈥檛 that just procrastinating? Now, it may look like so but really, I鈥檓 tricking myself into adopting a new personality based off the movie I鈥檝e watched. You know how we used to pretend we were Katniss Everdeen and braided our hair to the side after watching Hunger Games? Yeah, that鈥檚 exactly what鈥檚 going on here. I streamed Legally Blonde, and On the Basis of Sex which is a movie about the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and was immediately inspired by their determination and perseverance to study. Now that 80% of my new legal and headstrong personality is in place, I am听moving听to phase two.
Changing up the way I study听
I used to type my notes in a Word document for each subject. That system has worked well for me for the past year but lately I鈥檝e gotten tired of looking at the same depressing white pages and plain bulleted notes, so I decided to give a try as recommended by studytok. I鈥檝e tried it before and was repulsed by how complicated it was but that was really my fault for expecting to be a pro at it on my first try. Now that I鈥檝e decided to give it a go again, I鈥檝e come to enjoy it. It鈥檚 actually not that complicated, though I still have a lot of things to figure out (can someone please tell me how to get rid of the calendar widget on my homepage?).
With Notion, I was able to have different files for each subject contained on a single screen which makes it easier for me to jump from page听to page听when I need to refer to different parts of my notes. I鈥檓 still new to Notion but at the moment, the organised and clean interface has gotten me more excited to make my notes!
Keeping it simple
Finally, I laid out all my upcoming assessments and work in a single document and noted them down on my desk calendar. That way, I was able to transfer the cluster of due dates that have听been swirling in my mind into a single, neat location that I can refer to from time to time. Doing so allows me to visualise my expectations and schedules for the coming weeks,听predicting how busy I鈥檒l be and planning the hours I must put in for my assessments, then听when I can have my downtime. It also relieves me to know that I actually still have a lot of time to prepare for my coming assignments - the timelines seemed closer to each other when they were living in the folds of my brain. It鈥檚 somewhat like making a mood board or staring into a glass orb, I suppose, as it helped me see my future!
听
So, there you go, my three-way action plan to claim back the motivation I had from week one. It took me about 4 days to get this in motion because as you鈥檝e all probably come to know, it鈥檚 always harder pushing yourself to do something than actually doing it but I鈥檓 now ready to grab week 4 by the horns!