It's really easy to give up hope. It's really easy to just accept that you can't do something. It's extremely easy to use these excuses to avoid doing work. I use them all the time... But a little less frequently than before.
I'm into my second year at college and coming in a few weeks ago, I told myself that I really need to step up my game. I did alright in my first year but if I wanted to further my career, I really needed to put in more time and effort. Its been about four weeks since school started and I have to say that my work ethic is a good ways better than last year. Do I still have a long way to go? Hell yes! But am I making progress? 100%.
The biggest challenge for me was not panicking the minute I didn't understand something. I always did that, still do that. But what I've started doing is first getting all my notes done on time. Trust me on this, getting behind on notes is a nightmare! It takes hours to catch up on the notes and then you fall behind on your other work and have to catch up on that. So please, just stay on top of your notes. A few hours a day keeps the stress away.
The second thing to do is write down a study plan: what you hope to accomplish in one day. For me, it isn't about accomplishing everything I write down in that day, usually because I write down 10 things to finish in three hours. But it serves as a guide of what work I need to get done this week. It also helps me prioritize my work so I know what to get done first.
Also, to stay motivated to work, I go to a place where more people are doing work. I stay away from comfort as much as possible because once I get comfortable, my brain automatically tells me to sleep or relax and watch Netflix. I usually go to the library or a study lounge to get work done and avoid going to my room. Seeing others work makes me want to work, too. It's like a competition because I try to not use my phone for a longer period of time than the random person sitting next to me. This keeps me from procrastinating too much.
Lastly, seeing progress really helps me want to continue working. I watch myself for even the little successes. Just yesterday, I got really anxious about this hard biology topic and then took a step back to notice what I was doing at the moment; I was taking notes for today's lecture, a lecture that I hadn't had yet. This meant I was ahead of the game. It made me feel better because I saw myself putting in effort and I know that effort and hard work always pays off.
These little tips, tricks, and pieces of advice will help you at least start feeling more motivated and get more work done.
