Does anyone know a good way to set up a proper study routine and remain motivated?

I'm a student doing her A-levels as a private candidate, which means I'll have to dedicate my time and effort to study by myself, quite obvious. However, I find it incredibly difficult to get motivated and remain motivated enough to study.

I realize that motivation can't always be there and everyone has off days and still will pull themselves together to study nonetheless; I can't do that cause studying has never been a habit for me, and the thing is, when I'm sitting in my table with all my books in front of me, I don't even know what to do and I give up.

I have nothing else to occupy my time and I just end up wasting it and sleep through the days which is pathetic and it makes me feel pathetic as well.

I really want to get my life together, I just don't know where to start.

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

okay first picture where you want to be in 5 years or what career you'd like to do, aim high ! if you cant picture which career you'd like to, figure that out and then come back to this.
then use this image of yourself as your motivation, research unis and figure out the grades required but regardless of the grades needed aim very high as this is the only chance you have to prove to yourself.
write down those grades needed and stick it up on your wall so you can be constantly reminded this is what your working towards.
this is going to sound horrible but it is plain facts: realize no one gives an f about you. being lazy doesnt effect anyone BUT YOU
this means take accountability! be your own motivator, dont be that person that looks at what they couldve been.
BEING LAZY IS A PRIVILEGE. most people cannot be lazy as they cant afford it. acknowledge that. i recommend the wizard liz on youtube - my biggest motivator..
on a less harsh note! make a study schedule, every week, figure out what your gonna revise and when, MAKE A PROPER PLAN, make sure you have a clean room, tidy space=tidy mindset, if not go to the libary or a cafe and do not leave until everything planned for that day is done.

WATCH ON YT BY WIZARD LIZ: how to stop being lazy and pathetic

good luck girl, sorry not sorry if im being rude but irs the honest truth

Hi @haunted.

Thanks for being open about your issue.

I want to give you some tips that helped me in my journey.

The best motivation is keep reminding your goal every day. What is it you really want to achieve? Where will your studies take you to? Will they allow you to have good paid job with better life?

And how to deal with procrastination? Procrastination is a real problem of humanity but there is a way to overcome it :smile:

Start with small. Do not put too much onto you in one go if you know you struggle and dont know where to start. You need to use your analytical mind a bit and separate your great task (which makes you feel overwhelmed) into small doable tasks and start with the first one. Proper planning, preparation and organization is the enemy of procrastination. So let's say you have 1 task - to study the whole chapter of a book. Let's split it into doable tasks - subchapters. so the whole chapter has 30 pages and there are 10 subchapters, which means that 3 pages is manageable step. You can start small - start with a goal of reading one page with making notes (which helps with remembering the topic): this can take you 30 mins max. So you can set the first DOABLE GOAL - taking 30 mins and reading 1 page of the first subchapter. That is not unrealistic goal at all. So what do you need for that - a book, laptop or notebook with pen, quiet place, PHONE AWAY from you with flight mode :biggrin:

.

Once you get into it and you finish your first goal in 30 mins, you plan another goal coming after this one - this should be to read another page or even two pages (if reading the first one was maybe much easier than you expected), which means you would finish the whole subchapter.

Once we start with a small goal, its not that difficult to continue to another - so we end up doing more than we set before.

Just a recap:
1) Remind yourself the motivation every day - write it on the paper - stick it on the wall
2) planning - write a plan on A4 paper - divide the whole book into chapters, and the first chapter into subchapters, the first subchapter into pages and here we go (do this before each task)
3) preparation - always think ahead what you need in order to finish what you have to do (pen, paper, quiet place, water, phone off etc). It is better to be ready and way more productive, than to get distracted by little things
4) Just do it - do not think about it, just do it. It is just the first resistance that comes in the beginning but with times it goes away.

It takes some time and patience to build this kind of focus and discipline, but if you start small and keep consistent, you will get there and your mind and body will get used to the "new way of living" :smile:

Lucie
1st year PhD
Student ambassador
Cranfield University

Reply 3

haunted

OP

4

Original post by Anonymous

okay first picture where you want to be in 5 years or what career you'd like to do, aim high ! if you cant picture which career you'd like to, figure that out and then come back to this.
then use this image of yourself as your motivation, research unis and figure out the grades required but regardless of the grades needed aim very high as this is the only chance you have to prove to yourself.
write down those grades needed and stick it up on your wall so you can be constantly reminded this is what your working towards.
this is going to sound horrible but it is plain facts: realize no one gives an f about you. being lazy doesnt effect anyone BUT YOU
this means take accountability! be your own motivator, dont be that person that looks at what they couldve been.
BEING LAZY IS A PRIVILEGE. most people cannot be lazy as they cant afford it. acknowledge that. i recommend the wizard liz on youtube - my biggest motivator..
on a less harsh note! make a study schedule, every week, figure out what your gonna revise and when, MAKE A PROPER PLAN, make sure you have a clean room, tidy space=tidy mindset, if not go to the libary or a cafe and do not leave until everything planned for that day is done.

WATCH ON YT BY WIZARD LIZ: how to stop being lazy and pathetic

good luck girl, sorry not sorry if im being rude but irs the honest truth