Transitioning from high school to college, the first thing I noticed was I no longer had to wake up at 6 am anymore to get to class and I no longer had to go to seven classes back to back a day. At first, I thought this was amazing. I would finally be able to relax the way I wanted to in high school and wouldn't constantly be tired.
Well, this was false. Do you know how hard it is to get out of bed when you only have one class that day? Really fricken hard. My motivation started to plummet at a rapid pace and I didn't know how nor did I want to fix it. However, I soon realized that my only option was to get my act together.
The first thing I did was I started to get up early even when I didn't have to. I would wake up and go to Starbucks to do work before my first class and reward myself with an iced coffee if I got a lot of work done. I realized that by waking up early I was able to get a better place to study and would not have to wait in long lines for food because most people were not awake yet. I even made my classes next semester an hour earlier so I would have to wake up early.
Becoming a morning person allowed me to get more involved with social events because I had more time later in the day to go out with my friends without having to stress about the work I hadn't done yet. Also, by getting all my work done with early I no longer pulled all-nighter to finish studying, allowing me to wake up refreshed and ready to start my morning.
The next aspect of my life that I realized motivated me was working out. Since starting school I try to go to the gym about five days of the week. Not only does it wake me up and get my blood pressure going but it also makes me feel better about myself. There's something about working out that really makes you feel like you have your life together. Overall, you feel happier and healthier after working out and it motivates you to want to succeed in other aspects of your life.
The final part of my life I changed to get myself motivated was eating healthier. Everyone always talks about the freshman 15 and how eating healthy in college is nearly impossible. At first, I believed this. But I soon realized that eating badly in college isn't the only option, it's just the easiest option. Obviously, there are going to be fast food places around campus and every once in a while I can treat myself with that, but if I ate that every day I would not only be out of shape but I would be tired and feel gross all the time. I found one or two places on campus that had healthy options and made that my main source of food. I also kept fruits and vegetables in my dorm to snack on. This allowed me to feel energized and healthy keeping me motivated.
Obviously, staying motivated something that someone must choose to do every day when they wake up in the morning, but there are always little ways to make your life easier. These are just three things I added into my daily routine to keep me motivated and although simple they are effective. Everyone works in different ways, but I hope that after reading this you may try out one of these methods to keep yourself motivated.
