‘How do I get motivated to study?’ is one question I am constantly asked by students.
Having just completed my honours thesis (which turned out to be the hardest, most stressful and rewarding project I have ever done) I am happy to say that there are many ways to motivate yourself, but it may involve some pain, frustration and overcoming mental barriers to begin with (at least this was the case for me!).
Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy solutions to have you feeling totally inspired and energised about studying a subject or completing a project that may not be all that inspiring/interesting at times.
Here are some of the things you can do to motivate yourself to get on with the work and study that needs doing.
1. Make every thought serve you and move you forward
During the initial phase of my honours project I spent a lot of time in my head but it wasn’t time well spent. I would worry constantly about whether I’d be able to pull this project off, whether I’d get the response rate I needed, how I’d start writing it, etc.
In hindsight, this was a complete waste of time. It was only towards the end of my project that I started to be more effective with my thinking. I heard Dr Sharon Melnick state that we have 60,000 conscious thoughts a day. Now for those of you who just thought ‘What’s a conscious thought?’ that’s exactly what a conscious thought is, you just had one! Dr Sharon Melnick states that each of these thoughts are going to either be bringing you closer towards achieving your goals or further away from your goals.
After hearing this I decided to carefully watch what I was telling myself. I replaced thoughts such as ‘I can’t do this’ and ‘My writing sucks’ with ‘I’m making progress’ and ‘I’m doing the best I can and my writing will evolve and get better. This is a work in progress!’.
2. Visualise yourself taking action
Studies have found that visualisation makes a difference to professional athletes’ performance, so why don’t we as students practice doing it as well?
Practice visualising yourself taking the actions that need to be taken (e.g. see yourself typing up your work on your laptop, organising your files and being able to access articles/materials with ease).
This simple strategy helps you to stay focus on what needs to be done. As Jesse Jackson said
“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it”.
3. Small actions add up
My mum recently said to me ‘Jane, every action is a cause which has an effect! If you put in the action, you’ll get the results!’. What great advice mum!
Often we can get bogged down and feel overwhelmed/stressed by the enormity of the things we need to do (e.g. writing an 11,000 word thesis). I had to regularly remind myself that even if I wrote only one sentence each day, eventually all those sentences were going to add up to my 11,000 word limit.
But I was really committed to finishing my thesis on time and doing a good job, so in February I set myself a goal to write 500 words a day. This meant that if I stuck to my goal then my draft thesis would be written in 22 days. I said to myself ‘It doesn’t matter how bad the writing is, just type up 500 words’. This was a very empowering activity as it forced me to be in action.
I read somewhere recently that worry disappears in the face of action. So next time you start worrying about an assignment or exams, force yourself to do something, however small it might be.
4. Get some comrades and spend time with them
There’s something really comforting and energising about spending time with others who are going through or have gone through the same painful experience as you.
I found that it made a huge difference to be able to talk to other students who were doing their honours projects or had completed an honours project in previous years. A lot of these people gave me motivating pieces of advice such as ‘You’re going to feel so good once you finish this project! We know it’s tough but just stick at it!’ as well as practical advice/tips (e.g. “Make sure you don’t leave your referencing until the last minute!”)
I was told by one of my lecturers about this idea of getting together with other honours students and having regular writing sessions each week (where you would all sit around at a table and write for an hour or so). Whilst I never did this for my honours project, I have done this in previous years with friends when preparing for really difficult exams. Getting together with others can turn boring, stressful tasks into a fun, playful ones.
5. Remind yourself that this won’t go on forever
I see a lot of students that are really overwhelmed and want to throw in the towel at this point in the year in regards to their studies. If you’re a student, remind yourself that this won’t go on forever, that everything changes and all you need to do is just keep taking action.
Tags: inspiration, Motivation
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this is good for my start towards success in my studies thanks
I’m seriously looking for a way to motivate myself to study just a moment ago. I found myself stuck halfway through my Geography notes with my mind completely blank. Thanks for the tips! It helps a lot!
Hi Jeanne, you seem to be a MJ fan. Well, whenever you find yourself stuck in a situation, just think, what would MJ want you to do if he would be looking down at you from his heavenly abode. Would he be wanting you to leave the job half-way, or to have confidence in yourself and determination to make sacrifices so as to complete your work. This might motivate you.
thank you a lot my teacher want a paragraph about how to get your self motivated.
and you help me.
thanksssssss
Thanks a lot.hope this will help me.
I think the biggest problem is faced by every student is the lack of motivation but these tips help to overcome this problem so students must keep abreast from these five tip .
thnx…..i will try this 5 …….i will try to give my best
Teachers always say just read the book you’ll be fine. The problem is even I read the book, but I cannot remember the whole thing.
I took a history class two times and I failed twice even I studied overnight.
I don’t know what to do anymore. =(
Hi Oku
I used to have this problem too – I would read the book but would struggle to be able to fully understand and retrieve the information in a test/exam situation.
You need to acquire a deep understanding (not just a knowledge of random facts) when you study. Have you tried mind mapping before?
http://learningfundamentals.com.au/blog/how-to-mind-map/
This technique really helped me to understand my subjects more deeply.
You also need to pratice retrieving info (learning it is one thing, but getting it out of your brain takes practice!)
Hang in there. Just start to experiment with different techniques and strategies. Things can only get better from here!
Cheers,
Jane
What motivates me, is an advice given by one good friend, “Study is boring, so does washing dishes at the restaurant”
I have just completed reading this magical instruction. Now I can feel myself that my assignment stress is going away, far and far………….I can do whatever I want, because I believe myself.
Thxxxx for this advice. Now when i’m studying my lame social studies home work i Will remember these Steps. AND again THANK YOU!! keep on doing the good work
Thanks, I need a bit of motivation these days. My mental mind is really losing it. I used to have it but it’s simply slipping away.
Love it ! Its very nice . Inspiring
dont know what to do…..i have not gained any motivation since yet:(
please help me
gr8 advice…u have done a good job sharing ur experience…
God bless u
Sigh… Its really hard for me to get motiviated.. b/c all the “real” jobs are boring… and all the fun paying jobs are not enough.
I want something more to get motivated.
This is not practically acceptable to me.
Bt thnx for ur advice.
I wrote that blog post a long time ago. Since then my view on motivation has changed a lot.
I think the problem is that many of us are waiting for the right moment (when we feel inspired or ready) to start work. But the reality is we may never feel inspired to do the work that needs to be done.
I tend to live by this philosophy now: action > motivation.
If you just start doing something small (e.g. writing one sentence, getting the book out of your bag), even if you’re really not in the mood, after awhile you’ll start to see results. That in turn will lead to you feeling motivated and lead to more action.
Try it and see
I think your latest post, Jane, makes a lot more sence and is most probably the best advice there is in motivating yourself for anything. Thanx.
now i am doing competetive exam preparation, so i read your 5 ways than i am really total motivate, just like charge. Thank you very much.
i like these tactics
I WILL CHANGE FROM TODAY
Hi! I am really struggling with my biological exam. It is 9 o’clock in the night and I still haven’t started. There is SOO much to study that I don’t know where to start! Please help me.:(
Thanks,
a beautiful motivation for of the boring study. My study should turn beautiful n interesting n valuable now.
Thank you for this valuable blog entry.
Thanks a lot Jane….it really helped….
hey!
I m in thesis phase. and too much distructed. thanks for advices
[...] a year ago I wrote a blog post called “5 ways to motivate yourself to study a boring subject and/or complete a project”. Several people responded to this blog post with comments along the following lines – “Don’t [...]
Hey everyone,
I just published another post expanding on this topic – 10 ways to boost your motivation and mood to help you get started on projects – check it out – http://learningfundamentals.com.au/blog/10-ways-to-boost-your-motivation-and-mood-to-help-you-get-started-on-projects/
Cheers,
Jane
Hi Jane
I am studying to pass my NCLEX-RN. This is my fourth time taking this exam, and what I hope to be my last. This cloud of tiredness and sleepiness takes over about 30min after starting to study which cuts my study time from 3hrs to max. 1.5hrs, however, i could go on fb and spend three hours.
I am going to use your suggestions and make it work as it is good.
Thanks,
Janet
Well, I’ve tried all of these but I just can’t motivate myself to study !!! Can’t understand what to do !!!
Great article! It helped a lot.
Keep writing such great content.
Again thanks.
Good inspiration views……It is like Metafors…
This was very good ,, I like you and I like ur techniques, thanks a lot, I am inspired
i love what you said about worrying.. i’m really doing bad in my studies cause i worry a lot and not doing anything about it. thanks for the heads up.. =) God bless
thank you
thanx jane,you are giving me the inspiration
Economics is a really boring subject.
One thing i really resent is the fact that marks in an exam either make u or break u.
thanks a lot .I will do it.
Thanks for the inspiring tips. I’ll motivate my students apply them. Keep writing such fabulous content. Thanks again.
good! this will go a long way in helping those who are always in the well of procrastinating important matters. cheers, Jane! expecting more such wonderful tips frm u.
awesome, its really awesome. Everyone should read this to motivate themselves for study………………………
hey thanks for the tips, one question though: what exactly is an “honours project”????
An honours project is a research project you can do at the end of your undergraduate degree. You need to write a thesis (10,000 – 15,000 words). It’s a steep learning curve, but well worth doing!
Jane
[...] http://learningfundamentals.com.au/blog/5-ways-to-motivate-yourself-to-study-a-boring-subject-andor-… [...]
nice that will help me
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me/us. It really helped and from tomorrow on I will try all of those tactics and I really hope that everything will work out! Thank youu
btw… do you maybe happen to have any good advice about exams or tests and how you should study each one of the subjects. Because frankly I am quite bad in studying for a few of them and keeping important facts. Even as hard as I try, I dont seem to make much progress in any of them. Which is bringing me kinda down and makes me want to stop trying :/ Would be amazing, if you could help in any way. Thaankkss again! <3
I’m having one of those days where you just can’t seem to focus. Reading this kind of makes want to study. Thank you.
thanks for the tips! i’ve been studying 3 hours per week for 5 years , but this year , stress has added up and i just can’t seem to motivate myself to study , but after reading this , it really got me going , thanks for the tips!
Thank you for your advice on five ways to motivate myself. I am currently working on my master’s in psychology degree. At the moment I have 4.0 GPA from previous classes with one year left to graduation. I am halfway through my 10 week Applied Statistics class with a grade so far of 65 F. I am good at everything except BORING math. Every time I open my statistics book I either daydream or hyperventilate. All other subjects are super easy for me but I have to have Applied Statistics course in order to graduate. Also at my online college any grade under a “B” requires student probation which adds to my stress instead of motivating me. Do you have any more advice for people like me?
Hi Anna
Statistics can be challenging! Reading about MANOVAs, t-test, regression, repeated measures ANOVAs, cronbachs alpha, etc can be overwhelming (you’re not alone, I’ve been brushing up on my stats recently for my PhD research).
My only advice would be what I have written in this blog post – http://learningfundamentals.com.au/blog/10-ways-to-boost-your-motivation-and-mood-to-help-you-get-started-on-projects/
Worrying about your grades is a waste of your precious time, energy and attention. Trust that if you put in the work, you will be OK!
Start small and keep going when things get uncomfortable! That discomfort will eventually subside
All the best,
Jane
Jane – I find myself lacking motivation in this day and age because the cut off averages and overall expectations are ridiculous. I also find myself competing on students taking Adderral and Ritalin. How do I compete against a person who pops a pill and can focus on a subject for 9 hours straight with no distraction? The human brain is not meant to do that. Us fair people who try to keep a balanced lifestyle simply stand no chance against these idiots taking drugs during finals and starting cultural clubs with exclusive exam banks (I’m looking at you Chinese Student Association, refer to most recent cheating scandal at University of Toronto). The system is broken, this world is hopeless, and we have all the wrong people (read: mindless drones) for the most important jobs. How do I motivate myself now? Knowing that they will spit on my 83% average after all my hard work anyway?
I am faciing a lot of problems regardding studies. It never used to happen with me. I think i have lost that inspiration in me because whatever i do iam never able to concentrate. All this is affecting my grades and i fell really depressed.:(
The five ways to motivate yourself to study really helped me. I lost my interest in studying and was on my way to withdraw from studies but thanks the Author of this document.
I now know what to do.
hey! thanks a lot! i particularly find the point of visualizing your actions pretty effective!that kinda really makes u do it! and da thing about doing sumthing even if its very small and not worrying about da project is also very true!!i do that!anyway thanks and hope there’s more advice!!!!