The SECRET behind staying motivated

We have all been there…assignment due in a day, exam next week,

but your motivation is nowhere to be

found. Welcome to ‘struggle street’, where

even cleaning the bathroom and pairing

socks becomes more of a priority than

handing in that final assessment piece.

Join us as we journey through the

backstreets of motivation and discover

just how to get back on track with study.

Bear with us for a minute while we give you a crash course in the theory behind motivation.

Motivation is more than a thought; it is a combination

of thought patterns and biological, emotional and social

forces, all working together to activate your behaviours.

You use motivation every day to get out of bed, hit

the gym or buy that chocolate bar from the vending

machine at 3pm.

In simple terms, motivation is why you do something.

You might be thinking, ‘but I know why I’m

doing this. I want to become a teacher (or

an engineer or a nurse).’ But there is more

to motivation than setting the end goal.

Motivation involves having the ability to persist through the barriers and challenges that life puts in front of us and continue to move forward.

There are 3 major components to motivation, including:• activation e.g. enrolling in your degree

• persistence e.g. continuing to enrol in courses even though they may be challenging, take time and cost you money

• intensity e.g. the level of effort or concentration it takes to move

through your study journey.

By understanding how motivation works, you will be

able to get yourself back on track to study success.

So, now that you know what motivation is, how can you stay motivated to answer that final exam question or hand in that last assignment?

By looking back

to why you began studying in the first

place, whether it be to achieve your

dream career, improve your confidence,

find out more about a particular topic

or to keep busy, you can help re-engage

your motivation.

But it can be hard to remember why you

started studying when it’s midnight and

you’re trying to write the final paragraph

of your assignment, or your friends are

seeing a movie while you’re at home

surrounded by textbooks.

The good news is that you can do things to help remind yourself that you are making study a priority.

For example, you can:• take a 15-minute break to calm your stress levels and refocus on

your end goal

• set small goals that will help you work towards your end goal. This might be reading a chapter in your textbook or writing the next 200 words of your assignment … every bit counts

• look at how far you’ve come and reward yourself for your efforts. Sometimes we get caught up in how far we have to go and forget how far we have come. Just like you keep a to-do list, keep a list of things you have achieved.

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So now that you know the secret to staying motivated to study is to remember why you started studying in the first place, make a left turn off ‘struggle street’ and re-engage your motivation to get back on track to study success.