Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Feeling a lack of motivation at school is not that rare. On the contrary, it’s not an exaggeration if I say that it happens to everyone at least once throughout their school life. Even the most motivated people run out of steam sometimes. So, if you’ve been feeling unmotivated lately, don’t beat yourself up; identify the cause and try to solve it.
Read ahead and learn how to fight the 3 main reasons you may lack motivation at school!
You are overwhelmed
Your life as a student likely spins around school and your personal life. Both demand your constant attention and have many things to take care of. Balancing all of those is not as easy.
With so much going on, you become stressed and quickly exhausted. which drains your physical and mental energy, making you lose your willingness to do anything, even if you were eager to do that at first.
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How to deal with that?
So, how do you cope with feeling overwhelmed? To ease your situation, you need to do a few things.
The best starting point would be to stop whatever you’re doing and clear your mind. Spend a few minutes doing nothing but focusing on your breathing. If you know some of the breathing techniques, you may practice those as well. I am doing that. You should focus solely on your feelings and the present environment and nothing more.
After you’ve calmed yourself down, open up a blank page and write down all the tasks that need to be completed. The order doesn’t matter at this point; write down small jobs such as grocery shopping or cleaning the house.
Once you have the whole picture, add the due dates, if any, and prioritize the tasks according to the deadlines and in order of importance.
After that, start with smaller tasks: go outside and buy groceries, clean your house, etc. Carrying out such generic tasks is not a big deal, but by starting small, you’ll see how quickly your enormous to-do list begins to shorten.
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The main thing you need to remember when making to-do lists so as not to overwhelm yourself even more is:
It’s simply not your thing
The second reason that may be causing your lack of motivation is that you’re not enjoying what you’re doing.
Have you ever wondered, “Why am I even doing this?” If your answer is “yes,” you will likely force yourself in the wrong direction.
How to deal with that?
We tend to put off tasks that bring us discomfort or seem too complicated or uninteresting. Many such studies are given to us by someone else, whether at school or home.
When the situation demands that you make yourself do it even though you don’t want to, you need to look for positive sides to accomplish the task.
Finding good even in the activities you don’t like might seem difficult at first, but you’ll learn to do so effortlessly. Ask yourself a question: What do I gain from doing that task, and what do I lose? If you are struggling with the school assignment, the possible answer would be that you lose time but gain knowledge and new skills. In the long run, it’s more valuable to gain unique skills, so the likelihood of a good outcome will help you finish your task.
However, to avoid having too many tasks, you don’t like, practice saying “no” more often. When applicable, try declining an offer; it’s better than doing it reluctantly.
You want the result to be perfect
But even if you choose only the things you love and are passionate about, it may still result in a passive attitude. If you crave to make the task so perfect, you are likely to postpone it, waiting for the “right moment” to come.
It would be best if you remembered that you are already enough and have enough expertise and skills to get started.
Don’t wait for a perfect moment, equipment, or people to start doing something. You need to understand that the only thing you get to do in this case is “just do it.”
Yes, you may be hesitant to take the first steps, but you’ll gain confidence.
While waiting for the perfect moment to start, you learn to tolerate procrastination. Your lack of motivation and procrastination go hand in hand. The only way to beat them is to stop thinking about the “perfect result” and to care more about the process. In a recent article published by Forbes, you can read how perfection can get in the way of progress and harm your everyday life.
You might notice that those three things I mentioned blend, causing you to lack motivation. Don’t feel lonely on this road, try bringing it back; we all experience that. Give yourself time to be lazy, and remember these things:
- Focus on one thing at a time
- Find positive sides in everything you do
- Say “no” to new tasks if you feel overwhelmed
- Just start somewhere
- The process matters more than the outcome
University years are challenging in many ways. But you can find ways to spend it with the most value! Remember that your hard work always pays off and keep going.
Read student success stories on our blog!
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