How to do you motivate yourself to actually do work?

Since starting four AS levels in september this year. Any motivation I've had to complete any work is just gone. Maybe that's because I did no work last year and still got respectable grades.

What worries me is that I have no motivation, if it's the choice of completing work or not doing anything. It will be the latter. I've sat in my room for four hours before, no music on, no tv, no pc and I just couldn't bring myself to work.

University isn't a motivator. I know where I want to go and what I want to do, I know the grades I need and I know more than anything I can't wait to get away from my family, my school and my town.

I also hate my school. It puts me in a terrible mood where I just can't face going to school most mornings. There's nothing though that's really a reason, I have good friends, good teachers and it's a good school.

What's wrong with me and how can I change this?

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Reply 1

skatealexia

Think what would happen if you did have to stay with your family, and be on the dole without any job.

I don't.

Say to yourself that you're just gonna sit in your room and stare at your book. Whilst doing this your computer has to be off and your ipod / PS3 can't be around you. Eventually you'll open the book and begin to read it. Trust it works every time :wink:

Reply 4

Krakatoa

I have been asking myself the same question for the last 5 years.
Though all thoughts usually end with me having a nap.

Reply 5

Skadoosh

I just go to the college library on my own when I want to do work. No one to distract me, only thing to do is work.

Reply 6

Antifazian

I simply think of the consequences of not doing well. Pulling back the curtains and watching the chavs outside for a little while makes revision so much more appealing.

Reply 7

username163092

August AS results day... Dear God. It was horrible! I did far worse than I was predicted, I did badly in subjects I loved. I had recently dropped Maths and Chemistry to take History in a year to do Ancient History at uni and thought I'd be okay if I got decent grades at AS... I've been okay so far, but I'd love to go to the unis I'm still waiting on and no doubt they'll reject me because of my AS grades. That is one way I motivate myself. I think it's a lot easier to motivate yourself to work hard when you've really let yourself down before.

I nice day-to-view diary, to do lists are my thing. They help me see what I have to do and when. No ifs, no buts. Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail. Also, if I muck up again this year, I will relapse with my ED. I don't want that, so I need to work now. (I know this doesn't apply to everyone! :p:

)

Just do it. Don't be lazy. Don't be complacent. Do it, or fail. If you fail, you will be disappointed in yourself (nothing is worse than that feeling), your family will be disappointed with you, your friends may start to treat you differently (this did happen with me, something I didn't really expect) and you will feel like the idiot in the room of geniuses.

Nice stationery, lists of things you'd like to do this year and what you need to do to get them, rewards, staying hydrated etc all help. Also, listening to Radio 4 for me too - since accidentally tuning into it, I'm not only learning about the stuff they discuss, I'm also covering more work, strange but if it works, it works!

Reply 8

stef.strawbs.123

I'm not sure if many people can relate, but my Grandad died last year and now, everything I do, I do to make him proud :smile:

Anddd I wan't to get into a good uni :smile:

Reply 9

MissoLuxe

Make realistic lists of what you should/could to that day, and then write out a reward underneth the other stuff. The reward can be anything, something edible, tv show, xbox/ipod time?
Or is a rewards not your thing, then do a punishment if you dont do what you need to do?
Nothing extreme though! haha, just like... banning yourself from your ipod for a day? or something that youd not want to happen :smile:

Reply 10

Beautiful Nightmare

Aaaah my uni offers motivate me!! BUT I HAVENT REVISED LAW WELL AND MY EXAM'S ON TUESDAY!! FML.

Reply 11

Redders13

people have said it already, but lists really do help!! i always do it with my work and then i get really satisfied when i get to cross it off :smile:

Reply 12

Nathanielle

1. Library
2. You can start with learning just one or two hours. Use a stop watch, so that you can't cheat (drinking water, toilet, eating an apple). After some days you extend your learning time.
3. If it is too easy or seems to be, you have to learn how to learn for university. So learn to prepare you for University and try to opt for the maximum.
4. You should have fixed times for learning and fixed times for doing sports, meet friends...
5. Forget school, it shouldn't bother you.

Reply 13

username 32883

Alevels...They shall predetirmine you path in the life of education,

its make or break,
all or nothing
Life or DEATH :OO!!!!!! (ok slight exaggeration)

but the idea is, alevels are crucial if you want to havea successful future (in academic terms)

Reply 14

thetopnotch

I'm quite like this too. I usually have to wait till I get the fear of failure to actually start doing any work. I'm at uni now and I still have this. One thing I'm doing now is that I'm splitting everything up. Smaller bits means that I actually know that I'll be able to complete something rather looking at something from the beginning and thinking that I can't do this. Maybe you could try splitting everything down into small chunks of work. So say if it's a chapter from a book that you need to read, split it up so that you read and write notes for 10-15 minutes before stopping and taking a 5 minute break. It might be slow going at first but it could motivate you to get started with the work :smile:

(I'm trying this out now for my uni work and it's helped somewhat :yy:

)

Reply 15

DaniLou17

im on a2's i still dont have motivation only revised 4 my socio exam the day before i hoping when i fail that exam that will be my motivation ....i didnt work much for GCSE's or AS but really need to for A2

Reply 16

username163092

Oh, and posting what I need to do each day in this thread(it's now just a revision thread) helps me, then I know other people know when I'm not workin!

Reply 17

Nextmove

Think about the future...
about how hard it is to get into decent universities...
about how you'll be forced to make up for all the work you don't do now in the future anyway...

Reply 18

ourlastmemory

I have exactly the same problem. Generally I go to the school library in frees and work there as it's really quiet and I get loads done. Alternatively I just let the fear of the last minute work take hold, or I do it on the bus :woo:

Reply 19

XDaydreamer

I tend not to, I have to be in a certain mindset to be able to get anything done or it just doesn't work :frown:

When I'm in a working type mood though, I just get everything I'm going to need, shut off the internet, turn off my phone, hide the taskbar (for some reason I find it really distracting if I can see the taskbar as I constantly check the time or open new windows) and just work constantly for a few hours :smile: