7 Ways in Which Overburdened Students Can Motivate Themselves

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If you've been feeling depressed and unmotivated lately, we can assure you that it is only temporarily. Actually, you've got a lot of work coming your way, and you should get yourself ready for it.

It's OK for students to have motivation problems during their academic career or to go through various crises. It is only by confronting these difficulties that you can learn to deal with them most effectively, and this is exactly what we're going to be talking about in this article.

Below are seven ways in which overburdened students can motivate themselves.

1. Accept Reality as It Is

All students face motivation problems (and it's little wonder they do, given the stressful academic life they have). However, some of them manage to deal with hurdles much better than others, who often throw their hands up and say, "I give up." So, what do they do differently? They simply accept their current situation as it is.

The first step toward increasing your motivation is to acknowledge that you have a motivation problem. Make sure you do not feel like it at the moment and put off all important things, even though you should have done them a long time ago. Do not judge yourself, but be honest with yourself: you lack the motivation to deal with your tasks.

Identify your difficulties, but do not focus on the negative side. You must not sink into despair or self-pity; it's all about recognizing the problem and then focusing on finding a solution.

2. Assess Your Current Situation

Your studies are one of the most important things in your life. It is a long odyssey, and as such, it requires you to invest a lot of time and effort into it. Every day, you get confronted with new tasks and challenges, so it is vital to keep your cool and not to get frustrated.

If you take a closer look at your studies, you'll see that it is nothing but a collection of many small interconnected tasks. The abundance of individual assignments may look like a terribly big obstacle at first glance, and you can get easily discouraged.

You might quite literally be driven to madness by the multitude of lectures, exams, and assignments. Therefore, it is essential that you make a realistic assessment of your current situation and break big tasks into manageable chunks or hire somebody to "do my powerpoint presentation for me" if you can't cope with the curriculum. Otherwise, you risk getting bogged down for good.

3. Organize Your Thoughts

There are thousands of things you have to keep in mind and process daily. You are literally drowning in opportunities and are overwhelmed by too many tasks. They keep piling up in your head, and you end up snowed under them.

To clear up this mess, you need to arrange all the things floating through your mind in an orderly fashion. By doing so, you will free up your internal resources and be able to spend your energy more sparingly.

Move all the information in your head to an external location and keep it there until you need it. This is a particularly effective way of organizing your tasks into a simple list if you are overwhelmed with too many little things.

4. Make a Plan

When your responsibilities pile up, and your to-do list overflows, all you can do is work in a hectic mode. If you find yourself in a situation like this, and you have no strategy, you will most likely be overwhelmed.

Self-motivated students know that. That's why they do not rush headlong into a learning or working session. In fact, the first thing you should do is make a plan. That will help you work your way through your tasks step by step.

This plan does not have to be extensive or overly sophisticated. It will be OK if you organize your tasks into a simple list and then prioritize them. If you set a deadline for every assignment on the list now, you won't end up having nothing to do afterward.

5. Visualize Goals

Visualization is the magic word: as soon as you imagine your goals in detail, you will have a motivation to reach them.

It is not about confusing your wishful thinking with reality. Nor should you delude yourself that everything is alright and that you have a bright future ahead no matter what. Your future is in your own hands, and you can achieve success on your own.

However, to be able to do that, you should have a clear idea of what exactly you want to accomplish. Therefore, creating a vivid mental picture of each of your goals will guarantee that you'll be happy and contented once you have reached them.

6. They only think about the next step

If you want to be constantly overwhelmed and always get poor grades, you should try multitasking. Multitasking is the fastest way to lose motivation, burn out, and become unhappy.

If you want to study productively, you have to focus on what's here and now. Do not try to do many things at the same time. Singletasking should be your motto from now on: focus on your current task and do not waste your energy on anything else.

There's no point in doing too many things at once. The secret to success is to approach your goal slowly but steadily. That is exactly the reason why successful students never practice multitasking and always focus on one thing at a time.

7. Remember About Your Successes

Reminiscing does not usually get you anywhere. You have to look into the future, not allowing yourself to be stopped by things you cannot change. However, there is one exception - your successes.

Overwhelmed students know this and draw their strength from their past. Thinking of your personal accomplishments can inspire you and show you what you are capable of. You should remember your previous achievements and just continue where you left off. However, you shouldn't rest on laurels. Yes, you have achieved something big, but if you sit back and wait, you will soon have to do everything completely from scratch. Draw strength from your past, recharge your self-confidence and then proceed toward your goal with redoubled motivation.

Conclusion

If you take your studies seriously and have the right strategy, you will motivate yourself to go ahead and accomplish all your goals.

Self-motivation is one of the most important skills that you have to master as a student. In the course of your studies, you will constantly encounter new challenges that will make you feel desperate. If you ever face a situation like this, you shouldn't give up and just move on no matter what.