Every year the same thing happens: you start with a lot of enthusiasm, but after a few months, motivation is lost and classes become a torture. Losing motivation is more common than it seems
From the moment we start college until we graduate and receive our
eTítulo, there are better and worse years. Years in which we enjoy most of the subjects and years in which we wish we had dedicated ourselves to shepherding a herd of goats in the farthest mountains from any university. Studies are like that: sometimes we love them and sometimes they horrify us; but not everything depends on how interesting a subject is or not, but on our attitude and ability to find the necessary motivation. It can happen to all of us sooner or later if we are not careful: one day we wake up and realize that classes bore us and that we have forgotten the reasons why we loved this career. It is truly depressing. And even more so if we still have a couple of years of enduring classes that no longer interest us as before. And what can we do? Can we regain that enthusiasm we had? We can, of course, but it is not easy and it is much less work to not lose motivation than to have to recover it. That is why a series of measures must be taken from the beginning. We tell you:
1. Set clear and realistic goals
Being rich, famous, and having a mansion with a private beach does not count as a clear and realistic goal, but as a dream or, rather, as a delusion. A clear and realistic goal is, for example, to propose to raise the average in the next semester or to study two hours from Monday to Friday. The closer and more possible the goals we set for ourselves are, the easier it will be for us to achieve them and, in passing, we will feel very good for doing so, which will undoubtedly maintain our motivation. Good short and medium-term goals will allow us to have a healthy competition with ourselves that will keep us focused on the process. Making a list of our goals and what the strategy to achieve them will be will also help us not to lose track.
2. Motivation must be focused on the present
In line with the above, daydreaming about a distant future or dwelling on what cannot be changed from the past will only serve to frustrate us. Being connected to the present is what will help us achieve our goals.
3. Create a study schedule
And what does this have to do with motivation? Well, quite a bit. If we have fixed
routines, it will be less work to start studying, it will be easier for us to concentrate, and therefore, we will waste less time studying. All of this translates into more time to enjoy the things we like and without the feeling that studying requires a great personal cost.
4. Maintain an organized study environment without distractions
Creating a place where we like to be, which is our space, where we have everything at hand and well organized, and where mobile phones and social networks do not enter, will help us a lot to improve our academic performance, which will undoubtedly keep us motivated.
5. One task at a time
Multitasking is frustrating, and while it can be very useful for certain types of work, it does not work well with studying because it causes our attention to be dispersed and we do not retain anything in memory, which frustrates and, logically, demotivates us. We have to start with one task and finish it before moving on to the next so that we have the feeling of having worked enough and so that we can better plan our study.
6. Create a study group
Working with other students in a study group will help us maintain motivation. In company, we can apply gamification techniques to studying, we can study collaboratively to benefit everyone, we can develop healthy competition, and we can share knowledge and notes. This guarantees us to maintain motivation and also enjoy our studies twice as much.
7. Participate in class
Participating in class will help us maintain motivation because we will feel more involved. Asking questions and participating in debates not only livens up classes but also gives us a deeper and personal understanding of our career.
8. Celebrating achievements is pure motivation
To maintain motivation, it is very important to celebrate our achievements and progress along the way. However small they may be, they deserve to be recognized and celebrated because they speak of our effort and allow us to see the progress we are making. It doesn't matter if we go out for a drink with our friends or if we want to treat ourselves to that cool shirt we wanted to have; the important thing is that we do something to congratulate ourselves for our good work.
9. Balance and motivation
We said it in
the previous post: it is really important to know how to balance study with other activities to feel good. We must strive to find time for everything throughout our day so that we do not feel that our life is one obligation after another or so that we do not end up procrastinating. And to find that balance without it negatively affecting our record, we must use study techniques that allow us to be more efficient and save time for ourselves.
10. Taking care of yourself also maintains motivation
Taking regular breaks every hour we spend studying, eating well and staying hydrated so as not to feel lacking in energy, exercising regularly, sleeping between 7 and 9 hours each day, using meditation techniques to combat stress, and taking care of those people, things, and activities that make us feel happy are the keys to everything going great and keeping us motivated throughout our career.
