No motivation to do college work or study

LegacyUser

When I started college I’d leave things essays and projects till the last weekend to do them, as the year progressed that became the night before… now in second year I can hardly find the motivation to even do them then.. Yes I left some things till the morning they were due… somehow got away with it and got decent grades.

Same thing with the exams. Starting in under a week’s time and have done no study, I just keep putting it off.

It’s not that I go out a lot (usually one night a week, or two max and that would be the weekend anyway), I go to nearly all of my lectures, tutorials and practical. I just procrastinate over study…. and it ends up making me feel terrible when I see everyone else studying the whole time or finishing essays days in advance.

Where to find the motivation?

I am MAN

Don't take offense but stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up off your ass.

tinkerbell

If you can't find the motivation to study, then go the library, find an empty desk and sit in it for a few hours. You'll have to do some work then, otherwise you will go insane by sitting in the one place for ages doing nothing!

Beruthiel

student2005 wrote:

Where to find the motivation?

have you looked to your future?
what sort of life do you wish to live?
a quality one or one where you will be scraping by every week?
you're not a kid anymore, gone are the times when you can just sit there and expect others to look after you, welcome to adulthood

Repli

Just think how much of a pain in the ass it would be having to worry about and study for repeat exams for the whole summer if you fail..

BuffyBot

you're not a kid anymore, gone are the times when you can just sit there and expect others to look after you, welcome to adulthood

Indeed. The motivation is in the fact that this is a big part of your future - and you need to focus on that.

Trust me, messing things up now will lead to you regret it in the future - so there is another aspect to your motivation, avoiding having thouse regrets later on in life.

skywalker

BuffyBot wrote:

Indeed. The motivation is in the fact that this is a big part of your future - and you need to focus on that.

Trust me, messing things up now will lead to you regret it in the future - so there is another aspect to your motivation, avoiding having thouse regrets later on in life.

Exactly. Add to that the fact that your getting a great opportunity at a decent 3rd level education, paid for by the state (Im assuming you get free fees here) which isnt available to the majority of the people on this planet. Motivation shouldnt be a problem. Your in a great position, take advantage of it.

Tbh maybe you should be asking yourself if your course is the problem rather than college life/study/projects in general.

memphis

I'm bck in college myself for the second time round, I've never been great to study, but I know I just have to get down and do it, its really as simple as that.

Don't fret, there is still time for you to get in some study, you just need to find the motivation to do so. Not wanting to repeat is a damn good reason for me. Added to the fact that I was in college before and failed. Do you wanna be stuck in a dead end job for the rest of your life... No? I don't think you do.

Study study study.

TerrorFirmer

student2005 wrote:

When I started college I’d leave things essays and projects till the last weekend to do them, as the year progressed that became the night before… now in second year I can hardly find the motivation to even do them then.. Yes I left some things till the morning they were due… somehow got away with it and got decent grades.

Same thing with the exams. Starting in under a week’s time and have done no study, I just keep putting it off.

It’s not that I go out a lot (usually one night a week, or two max and that would be the weekend anyway), I go to nearly all of my lectures, tutorials and practical. I just procrastinate over study…. and it ends up making me feel terrible when I see everyone else studying the whole time or finishing essays days in advance.

Where to find the motivation?

Wow, did I write this in my sleep and forget about it??

Anyway, I'm the exact same. Have written essays on day they meant to be handed in, and gotten decent grades even though other people spend days and days doing theirs, doing loads of research and study.

I find it impossible to study. The only times I can ever studay are literally the day before exams whenI suddenly realise I REALLY have to do it.

I've been like this since 1st year in school, and I managed a miracle with pulling off the leaving cert.

Dont think its working quite as well in college. I'm really going to have to seriously get something worked out....

rainbow kirby

Sounds like me too. To the OP: Are you really happy in your course? Because if you're not, finding motivation is almost impossible. I've been in that position for 2 years now.

seamus

Repli wrote:

Just think how much of a pain in the ass it would be having to worry about and study for repeat exams for the whole summer if you fail..

That doesn't work. I know from experience

You can't "find" motivation. Motivation is bestowed upon you by yourself. Sounds cheesy, but it's the truth. Save if someone offers to buy you a car or a house if you pass, there's nothing anyone else can do or say that will motivate you.

Change yourself. You know what the single biggest way of motivating yourself is? Find something else that you want to do, and motivate yourself to do it. Want to lose weight? Go and do it. Pretty soon you'll find yourself confident that you can do other things, and you'll *want* to do them. The less you procrastinate, the less you *want* to procrastinate, and conversely the more you procrastinate, the more you'll want to procrastinate, and the deeper and deeper you'll sink into this rut.

Change your diet. What you eat has a massive effect on how you feel and how you act. Ask any mother of a child "diagnosed" with ADD, what the child is fed, and very often you'll find them being fed canned foods, pizza, chips, burgers and all sorts of other processed crap seven days a week. Changing your diet isn't even that hard. Have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a freshly-made sandwich for lunch, and something, anything that needs to be cooked, for dinner. If it can be put in a microwave, or ordered over the phone, you don't want it. Stop eating sugar. Remove chocolate and sugary snacks from your diet. These are the single biggest cause of your laziness and apathy. "I can't afford it" is no excuse. Buying ingredients and making it yourself is much much cheaper than buying it in a packet.

Change your routine. Routines are easy to change. For the next two weeks, go to bed before 12am, get up before 9am. Simple as that. Eat around the same time each day.


What you do at the moment is make excuses. Unless it's life or death, then all your excuses are just different ways of saying "I don't want to". Until you realise this, or find out why you don't want to do it, you will continue to make excuses.

Repli

Different strokes for different folks. Some people are easily motivated, whereas some have to completely change their lifestyle in order to do so.

--Kaiser--

rainbow kirby wrote:

Sounds like me too. To the OP: Are you really happy in your course? Because if you're not, finding motivation is almost impossible. I've been in that position for 2 years now.

yep, been there, try 4 years
oh well, I got my degree so I guess I won

scojones

Just go and do it. If you don't, you'll have all the time in the world to sit on your bum when you're on the dole, with no girlfriend, and you can't afford cigs and so on. You're not in college to be lazy, just go and do it. Once you get the ball rolling, it's easy to keep doing it.

NOW GET OFF BOARDS.IE AND DO SOME WORK!!!

deedee lepoopoo

It's not that you are not motivated, you just have a different workstyle to other people. When I was in college I always left everything to the last minute and passed everything. When I went back to do my Masters I promised myself I'd do projects etc. way before they were due, but no, I didn't change.

I did personality tests (12 basic kinds) a while ago, basically I'm a innovator(you must be too), which means when I'm given something to do I will be enthuastic about it at first but then leave it to the last minute, our mantra is 'I work best under pressure' - which is true.

As for one week left, this is time for the 'burst' of work. take a subject a day or whatever, you will at this stage have to discard some of the course material and focus on preparing answers.

If you cannot get motivated, then sometimes it's easier to study in groups, to encourage each other and maybe if one does one topic and another does another etc,etc.

Laguna

Well i'd like to be able to tell you i'm the same but i tend to get things done pretty much as soon as possible, simply for the fact that i want to to achieve a good grade in the assignment and get it out of the way as not to stress about it with two days to go or whatever. If you're in second year and asking yourslef the question why can i be bothered, one thing sure as hell that isn't going to happen is someone waving a magic wand over you and suddenly making you enjoy college next year. Mayber you should consider if you want to carry on the course at all, there's no point being there if you're not going to put the work in, it's a waste of your time.

Jonny Arson

Will some people go easy on Student2005. Student2005 asked tips for finding motivation not people having a go at saying the words, lazy etc. Grow up people.

Well student2005 I myself have no motivation to study. Exams start next week. I've done all my coursework, gone to most lectures but I'm not arsed studying and I always hand in my coursework at the very latest. I only started studying yesterday. My problem is partially 1) I absolutely hate study 2) I have hated my 1st year in my college and I no more want to go back next year. As someone also mentioned do you have any worries or troubles out in college? Any troubles do effect study.

Its a fact, some people have great ability to get stuck into the books and some haven't like us 2. There is nothing wrong with that its simply different strokes for diffetrent folks. I detest studying and thats the bottom line and nothing will ever change. You obviously have the brains if you're at college so its really a case of getting stuck in and thats not easy to do. One of the main reasons I cant study is that I cant concentrate. Studying at home is impossible becuase there are so many distractions like the CD player, TV, Playstation, mobile phone etc. The only way I can really get stuck in is by going out to college and go to the library. There you have no distractions and you force yourself to study. It worked for me this week despite the fact I know sweet FA about my course and I will be lucky to pass some of my subjects. Also try to get a good nights sleep for the next week. Go to bed early and you will be mentally refreshed for the following day.

Best of luck in the exams!

Tobias Greeshman

I always went for the approach that I was going to fail, all through college. I also put un-needed pressure on myself as to what would happen if I screwed up, I guess I work well under pressure. I suppose everyone's different, but if you can find something that you enjoy with your course, then motivation is made a hell of a lot easier to achieve. If your getting really sick of your course should you really be in it? motivation will not happen very easily.

Unpossible

Wow, it sounds like me, except what makes it worse for me is that the rest of my class seem to study like crazy (Im not being racist, but it does seem like the asians have a great attitude towards work).
What eats up most of my time is my afterschool activities, Im involved in two different clubs (waterpolo & han moo do), I also do weights & when there was snow I was out on the slopes as well. I just find it easier to motivate myself to do something physicaly challenging then to go studying.

being fed canned foods, pizza, chips, burgers and all sorts of other processed crap seven days a week. Changing your diet isn't even that hard. Have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a freshly-made sandwich for lunch, and something, anything that needs to be cooked, for dinner. If it can be put in a microwave, or ordered over the phone, you don't want it. Stop eating sugar. Remove chocolate and sugary snacks from your diet

hmm, my diet has very little sugar/chocolate and no canned foods, I only eat fast food once a week. Appart from my coffee addiction I think Im eating very healthy.

I suppose we just have to force ourselves to work.

Q: Are there any subjects in your course you find interesting? How much work do you put into these?

D

I find that the tired cliche of getting into a routine works. All you have to do is get your brain to associate the library with study(instead of surfing the net or checking out the talent). For example I try to never study or work at home as my brain has associated this with relaxing. Also I always used to tell myself "aw i can only do half an hour now I'll leave it till tommorrow and come in and make a big push and get loads done". This is a bad habit to get into and hard to break. Even if you have 10 minutes, learn off one thing. All those ten minutes will add up at the end of the semester, and as time grows on they will naturally grow to 25 minutes. After every 25 minutes take a 5 minute break (and I mean five minites, so no wandering off to post on boards. I generally practice juggling go talent spotting. The reason for this is that after 25 minutes the brain's ability to learn degrades and the 5 minute break gives the brain time to assimilate what you have learned. Then you can go back to work with the brain in high gear, and drink plenty of water as this helps the brain efficently working. Also your mother was right when she said fish was brain food.

uberwolf

In my honest and humble opinion this excuse it trundled out year on year. You either care about your exams or you don't. You posted so you obviously do.

Next step - are you fubbared for your exams - quiet conceivably. So what you left with. Bothering and still failing, or not hassling yourself and remaining content in the illusion that if you'd bothered you'd a passed.

I'm not trying to be high and mighty. I've done this every which way myself. I'd a great summer the year I repeated every subject. But I had no money the following year.

Most of the problem in getting the finger out is knowing where to start.
1) Pick your first exam, look at the exam paper, look at the previous year. \
2) Have realisation that you're in college and q's repeat.
3) pick those q's, compare with your class mates to assess what hints the lecturer gave
4) Order the q's, from most likely to least likely.
5) Leave library, have a smoke, coffee.
6) return to library, get the highest ranked question, write a sample answer.
7) Next Q, repeat step above.
8) Next Q, repeat step above.
9) return following day and learn the main points to your answers - there'll only be three or four.
10) pick next three questions and redo steps 5 through 9.
11) get a degree, realise that whomever employs you purely on its basis is gonna be stung.

You may still fail, but you'll return in Autumn, wonder what all the fuss was about, pass and be non the wiser when in Sept you're in the next year.

Now, let me back to my exams, I've finals next week.

Hester

student2005 wrote:

When I started college I’d leave things essays and projects till the last weekend to do them, as the year progressed that became the night before… now in second year I can hardly find the motivation to even do them then.. Yes I left some things till the morning they were due… somehow got away with it and got decent grades.

This was me in 1st year. Things got progressively worse in 2nd year where I couldn't motivate myself to do assignments/study at ALL. I failed my first semester exams badly sometimes not even able to force myself to study the night before an exam. I've improved a bit this semester but if I don't get my act together I'm going to end up dropping out a second time. I was one of those people who did really well in school without having to study. I sailed through my leaving cert. and now is the first time in my life I've needed to study.

One of the most important things is time management. I hate study timetables and all that crap, but it helps to have an idea of the hours you want to spend studying. Work them around other activities and don't let yourself get distracted. It's so easy to decide to just check your email and then stay online for hours. Set an alarm if it helps!

Another thing you can do is to make a list of your goals. Make sure that they are attainable, write them down and then feel the satisfaction as you cross them off (or maybe the guilt when you don't will motivate you!) You have plenty of time to go through past papers and work through the questions. There's no point in trying to get through folders of notes at this stage - it will only cause you to panic.

Lastly, see if you can arrange to meet up to study with your friends in your class for a few hours. If you see that they're studying, it might motivate you to do the same! But make sure that if you do this, that your friends are serious about getting work done otherwise it will probably do you more harm than good.

I hope this helps... I'd be doing well if I followed my own advice Remember that it's only a few weeks out of your whole life so you may as well give it your all. Good luck!

LadyJ

student2005 wrote:

When I started college I’d leave things essays and projects till the last weekend to do them, as the year progressed that became the night before… now in second year I can hardly find the motivation to even do them then.. Yes I left some things till the morning they were due… somehow got away with it and got decent grades.

Same thing with the exams. Starting in under a week’s time and have done no study, I just keep putting it off.

It’s not that I go out a lot (usually one night a week, or two max and that would be the weekend anyway), I go to nearly all of my lectures, tutorials and practical. I just procrastinate over study…. and it ends up making me feel terrible when I see everyone else studying the whole time or finishing essays days in advance.

Where to find the motivation?

Are you sure you're not me with a second account?

arbeitsscheuer

LadyJ wrote:

Are you sure you're not me with a second account?

ditto

Esel

To the OP - are you a smoker, perchance?

LadyJ

esel wrote:

To the OP - are you a smoker, perchance?

Good point!

Having a go at the OP is not helpful at all. I am in exactly the same boat, of course I realise that I'm lucky to be at college and don't pay course fees, but at the end of the day I find it incredibly hard to study. Some people are good at getting motivated, others are not and I honestly think there is nothing you can do about it, really. Every year I convince myself that this year I will get my essays done early, get loads of revision done weeks in advance and I never do. Last year I made myself miserable by setting targets for myself and then getting angry with myself for not reaching them. I simply cannot study without an exam date, something concrete to aim for and put the pressure on. I get distracted way too easily and cannot concentrate at all.

However, when it comes down to it, a few days before the exam, I really *study*, go to the library at 9am and stay there until 6pm. I can go for 3-4 hours without a break which probably isn't recommended, but that's how I study and it usually works. It's kinda stressful, but you will have to just study really hard right before the exams. There's not really any option at this point, anyway. If you still don't have motivation or nerves the day before the exam, I'd say you're doing the wrong course.

Sangre

Funny how everyone defending the OP is in the exact same position. Don't like someone calling you lazy? No?
Well I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to because with this attitude you'll be called lazy you're whole life.
And there is a difference between last minute studiers and no studiers, some people thrive on doing 10 hours a day.

Basically stop making excuses, that is all your doing. The sooner you admit that you're the only one who can change your attitude the sooner it can change. No one can do this for you.

Find the study plan/method that works best for you and stick to it.

Unless of course you're one of these people who is afraird to try because they mighten succeed...well there is only one way to find out. Start studying.

Nightwish

i get that do and the first question u must ask yourself is are u in the right course. It happened me in first yr of college and unfortunately i didnt do anything about it and now im getting a degree in something i have no interest in or have any intention of ever working in. i dont believe its pure laziness, though it simply can be just that, it is very hard to motivate yourself to study for something u dont like.