It’s that sweet, sweet time of year… finals week. It’s that time when you get back from Thanksgiving and realize EVERYTHING is due at once and that you have no energy left. You’re at the point in the semester where, honestly, you’re mostly just tired. So, how do you stay motivated? How do you keep doing the best you can? Though I’m no expert in this, I am an expert in feeling tired and not wanting to do any work. So, let’s try to counteract it.
1) Think about your goals.
Guys, why are you doing this? That is not a rhetorical question. I’m being quite genuine. There’s a reason you go to college, and there’s a reason you’re doing this work. There’s even a reason you’re taking each class. If the answer isn’t immediately obvious, that doesn’t mean there is no answer. Maybe you took your English class because you actually want to learn more about 19th-century literature. That counts as a reason why. Now, think of your work as something that’s helping you get closer to achieving that goal. This makes the work seem purposeful and important, which will make you far more willing not only to do it but to do it as well as possible. Take a second every once in awhile to remind yourself of the WHY. It’s what actually matters at the end of the day.
2) Break it up
If you’re like me, and you have a rather short attention span, long essays and study sessions can seem daunting and endless. The very thought of them can make me feel anxious. So, to make everything seem more manageable, I try to think of my work not as an onslaught, but as one thing at a time. I make a list of what I have to do, and rather than panic at all the things on the list, I try to just focus on the first item. When I just have to focus on one thing at a time, it makes me feel like accomplishing my to-do list is possible. Even within assignments, breaking it up into pieces can really help you not get overwhelmed. Got a crazy long essay to write? Ok, breathe, and do the first step—just write an outline. You can do it!
3) Give yourself time to rest
Sleep. You need to sleep. If you really must stay up to finish something, try to find another time you can nap the next day. You are actually far more efficient if you have adequate levels of rest. In addition to this, give your mind time to rest. Go out with your friends. Watch a little Netflix. Your brain needs a timeout, and so do you. The best way to limit your relaxing time (so it doesn’t impede your work), is to (lame as it sounds), schedule it in. Schedule in 30 minutes to an hour a day to do what you want, and then make sure that when you are working, you are as focused as possible.
4) Work with friends to motivate one another
You want your friends to succeed and do their best, and they want the same thing for you. Keep one another accountable by “co-working”; even if you’re not working on the same thing, working next to somebody who cares about you will make you feel more pressured to actually do your work. Not only that but having friends to motivate you will only make you feel more ready to tackle the assignments you have. Your friends believe in you, and you should too!
5) Remind yourself of what makes your classes interesting
We’re at the finish line, guys, and we may have lost track of what race we’re running in the first place. This isn’t just work, it’s assignments and tests that are designed to see what you know. You came to college to learn, and you picked these classes because you thought they had material worth learning. Chances are you enjoy the topic of the class, but at this point, you might feel too overwhelmed to really think about all that. But, that enjoyment and passion will fuel your work! Writing a paper is not that interesting, but writing a paper on a topic you think is fascinating is far more fun. Remember why you’re interested in the class and the topic in the first place.
These tips and tricks, though not always easy to follow, and perhaps a little cheesy sounding, actually really help. Motivation isn’t just something that comes naturally—like everything else in life, you’ve got to work for it. Now go kill the next few weeks.