or how to get motivated to start.
hi! today i thought to make a small mp on how to get started studying or doing that assignment you’ve been putting off for… wait, how many days?
[these are all just methods that i use/that work with me! i’ve seen many people say the exact opposite of what i mention in this masterpost works for them. use what works for you and don’t what doesn’t!]
I. sometimes, the best way to start is to force yourself.
set a timer for three minutes and tell yourself that when those three minutes are up, you’ll start.
or, for example if you’re scrolling through tumblr, tell yourself you’ll scroll until you see x type of post.
you could say ‘i’ll continue until i see a text post that does not contain a picture’, or ‘until i see a post that has under 100 notes’, anything that isn’t really obvious at first glance.
the good thing about it is that it forces you to keep an eye out for a post and, if you’re like me, you’ll get really really annoyed very soon because you’re tired of looking out for this type of post.
if you really don’t want to, set another timer and work for two minutes. usually (at least for me), after these two minutes, you’ll be focused and ‘into’ the work; you’ll continue to work even when the timer is up.
if you still don’t want to work at all, relax. take a break. do something you enjoy. then, when you’re happy, take profit of the time to work!
similarly, tell yourself that you’ll only study for x time (preferably something not too long but not too short either – this depends on your focusing ability etc.). after that, either you stop (if the work is done or you’re really exhausted) or you continue (if you’re motivated enough).
II. but motivation also has to be coming from yourself.
this part does not help you in your current quest to get motivated enough to start studying, but it will help in the future. in the best case, you are motivated intrinsically, which is the best way to stay motivated.
as i will mention later, it’s important – and will be important for the rest of your life – to have interest in what you are doing. it has to motivate you to learn it because of how fascinating it is. (obviously this does not and cannot apply to everything. but find something – anything – that’s interesting about it.)
find out why you are studying.
for your dream career? to make x person proud? to become as great as x person? anything like these goals can motivate you.
III. find out what’s keeping you from studying.
if it’s your phone, turn it off.
you could also use an app like Forest (which i’ve already mentioned but it’s seriously gold).
maybe the material is boring.
find a way to make it interesting.
maybe you’ve never made mind maps before – then try that out on the subject.
find something you find interesting about the subject. it can be as far-fetched as you want. it can be relating to anything you want, as long as it ‘inspires’ you to learn.
maybe you don’t know where to start.
make a checklist of everything that has to be done/memorized/understood for the exam/assignment/whatever and the tasks you have to do. make sure the different tasks are easily manageable.
for example, for an oral presentation, you could have ‘research [x part of topic]’, under that ‘make notes on [x part of topic], ‘write essential bullet points on [x part of topic]’, you get what i mean.
subdivide the tasks as much as you need to make the assignment seem easy.
maybe you are so un-motivated that you just don’t get the point anymore.
point II can help you, but sometimes it isn’t enough to tell yourself ‘if i study now, i’ll be able to work at x job that i really want to work at’.
reward yourself. it can be as little as ‘if i complete this assignment, i’ll go buy myself Starbucks’.
it will last for this one assignment or this one exam, but i really recommend, ultimately, to find your source of inner motivation.
IV. if you just can’t seem to get started…
ask someone of your family/anyone that is in the house with you (if you don’t live alone) if at x time, when you want to start studying, they can take your phone away and remind you that you asked them and that you should start studying now.
honestly this is one of the methods that are the slowest to work, but i still thought i’d put it here:
scroll through your dashboard or through a studyblr (even better: through their motivation tag if they have one) and wait for a message to come up that says something like ‘close tumblr; go study’.
this always guilt-trips me personally.
so i hope this helped you! i feel like this is so incoherent and redundant haha no self confidence here. feel free to suggest other masterpost ideas (because i’m always looking for some ahaha)!
gracieabrams
dailybridgerton
areudirty
2087
