How to feel more motivated in college?

How can I feel more motivated & driven?

• Lately I've been feeling completely unmotivated, dead, tired, exhausted, you name it. There are a billion things I desire accomplishing (drawing, reading, writing a story that I've been planning on finishing since last year but have only gotten through 1/20th of it...) but I can't get around them. I feel like I get too easily distracted. I want to study at Oxford when I graduate from college (college in Québec is different from college in the US or UK) but I need to be at the top of my grade for that. My current average is 82.8 (out of a 100) and the girl with the highest average in my class has a 91. My school counts science and maths too much though; my English, French, history, etc grades are the top ones of the class but because I get 70s and 60s in science and math, I can't get a 90 as average. I don't feel motivated at all. I've even started eating like a pig, and feel the weight piling on whereas it took me such a long time and so much effort and pain to lose it. I'm basically at a confused stage of my life, and need anything that can get me motivated and inspired to get greater grades, accomplish what I want to and eat well. Can you care to help? Congratulations if you made it this far without falling asleep.

• Answer:

  Are you absolutely sure you're not me? Because you sound exactly like me. No kidding, either. I went through this stage where I was just not motivated at all to do anything academic related, and I just was not interested in doing schoolwork that I felt did not help me to do what I want to do the most, and I was just not interested in reading about the Arabella Sermon or the anatomy of a pig or whatever. To be completely honest, I'm still not interested in anything that I'm learning in school right now. I'm just doing the work because I absolutely have to, and not because I absolutely want to, because, to be honest, I would rather stay home all day and write than go to school for seven hours to basically learn the exact same thing that I learnt last week or yesterday, and I would much rather go home and write some more instead of going home to Kilimanjaro's of homework and lines to memorize for the spring production, *after* having to go to SAT prep. It's just not appealing to me, and it's not appealing to many teenagers, I know. To be completely frank, I don't know why I do the homework. I never used to do my homework, or very rarely I did it, and my grades were still pretty healthy. But I think something clicked this year, me being a high school junior, and I just realized that I need to do my homework. And it sort of paid off, because my lowest grade last semester for me was a C, and it's usually in the D range. And I got four As. Still, I don't know why I'm suddenly motivated to do school work, because I never wanted to go to college, because I always thought, "It just doesn't seem like it's for me." But I'm doing well in school, and I'm doing my homework, and I don't know why, so I can't really give you any good advice on how to motivate yourself. So, what I'll do is post this guide I found from a website on how to motivate yourself. Step 1 Break down the task you dread into manageable parts. Instead of staying up to 2 a.m. cramming for the chapter test, read a few pages every night. If the subject is really boring, set a timer and read for 20 minutes. Complete other school work for an hour, then resume reading for 15 minutes. Step 2 Reward yourself if you achieve your goal for the day. If you’ve managed to read for a total of 35 minutes, have a candy bar, listen to a favorite song or play a quick video game. If you know that there is something good waiting at the end of the task you hate, you will be more likely to do it. Step 3 Study something that really interests you. When you were in high school, you probably had little choice in what you studied, but as a university student, you have the option of changing your major. If you are an accounting major, but find your eyes glazing over whenever you prepare a balance sheet, then maybe accounting is not the right career for you. Step 4 Surround yourself with motivated people. Their enthusiasm and motivation may rub off on you. If not, they may be able to provide you with tips to regain your motivation for the subject. Step 5 Find more interesting ways to study. Form a study group and quiz each other. Write information on flash cards and create a game. The first person to correctly identify the concepts on 10 cards wins. Look for books and movies about the subject that may make it seem more interesting. Step 6 Ask for help. If you don’t understand a subject and feel like you are drowning, reach out for a lifeline. It’s hard to be motivated when you have no idea what you are doing. Find out if your school offers tutoring and sign up. If you can’t find a tutor, consider online tutoring services. Step 7 Keep your ultimate goal in mind. Picture yourself as a successful graduate with a good job. Think about how happy you and your family will be when you graduate. If that doesn’t work, think how dismal your life will be if you don’t graduate. I know a lot of people who do some of the things listed above -- heck, sometimes I even do some of them without actually trying to motivate myself to better in school -- and it seems to work, so I would definitely give this a whirl, because it could motivate yourself. The most important one in your case would be Step 7 -- "Keep your ultimate goal in mind." Just keep remembering that you want to draw, read and write, and maybe that will help you read, write and draw more. And, as far as your story, I would use that as your reward for the day -- regarding Step 2. If you've done X amount of homework for X minutes, sit down for an hour and just write your story. I am a writer myself, and sometimes I submit to writing before actually doing my homework, but I just need some time during my day to write and have some "me" time, y'know? If it means that I'm not going to read those pages for History, I really just say, "So be it." I need my "me" time, and you should have your "you" time to just do what you want to do. So have your "you" time, and use your writing or drawing as a reward for doing certain amount of work for a certain period of time. All the best ♥