I’m sure at some point, every student on this planet has had a difficult time starting homework days before it’s due. Or studying in advance for tests. Or cramming projects the night before. We’ve all had our moments. In genuine honesty, it’s just very difficult to find the motivation to start work, especially when it’s in a subject you
dislike.
According to solvingprocrastination.com, “about 80-95% of students find themselves procrastinating to some degree”. Procrastination is also fueled by anxiety, exhaustion, or any other personal issues that can take a toll on schoolwork. High school is notorious for being difficult for students, especially junior (11th grade) year, and it’s common to see students exhausted all the time. But this level of overworked-ness that often comes from trying to
balance extracurriculars and academics is unmanageable. Tied together with procrastination, and now you have students who barely sleep and take care of themselves to maintain their pace.
Now, here’s the real problem. When you start to fall behind on your work, the flow of the classroom never stops. You’ll have missing assignments, get less-than-satisfactory scores on your tests, and then your mental health declines. So, how can we possibly combat this never-ending struggle?
For me personally, I’ve struggled with procrastination ever since I began high school, especially because my first year was online due to COVID-19. Honestly, I think being at home to do school greatly affected my study habits, and it’s carried on for years. However, this year, I’ve begun implementing some habits into my daily life that I think have helped fight my lack of motivation to work. I’ll be sharing some of them so maybe anyone reading this can see if implementing them benefits them as much as it did for me.
1. Cleaning your room when you get home: I don’t know if it’s just me, but I cannot work in messy environments. I get distracted easily, and I’ll find myself drawn to play around with whatever’s lying on my floor. So the first tip would be to tidy up your room the minute you get home. This also encourages you to maintain a work-mindset as you prepare to begin your work.
2. Writing in your school planner: Every year, my school passes out planners to write out homework assignments and plan ahead for tests. I’ve been using it every year for school since seventh grade (middle school). It might not be effective for everyone, but it sure is for me. If I don’t plan out all the work I have, I’ll most definitely forget it. It’s also super satisfying to slash out or highlight the assignments you’ve completed in your planner. In my opinion, planners are a super good way to motivate yourself!
3. Put your phone upside down somewhere off your desk: When your phone ringer’s on, or if you can see the screen light up with notifications, it’s so easy to get distracted and be tempted to check it immediately. The amount of times I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of scrolling on Instagram or on Tiktok when I simply opened my phone to check a message is...interesting, to say the least. This will take some effort on your end for sure - you have to maintain focus on your work and resist the temptation to flip your phone over and see if there’s anything for you.
4. Playing classical music: According to Healthline and various research done, listening to classical music while studying improves your mood, concentration levels, and improves brain memory and stimulation. However, be careful with applying this to lyric-filled songs, as listening to music that has lyrics in them can distract you. It’s good to play music in the background that’s just sound so your brain can focus on the tasks at hand.
5. Refrain from taking naps prior to studying: When you nap for more than 20 minutes, your brain automatically goes into sleep mode. So when you wake up after your extensive nap, your mind is still sleepy and won’t be able to absorb as much information as an active brain would be able to. This is why it’s important to either take brief naps, or stop taking naps entirely. And, speaking from personal experience, the temptation to go back to sleep after you wake up can be very strong. So, in conclusion, it’s better to sleep early and have no naps than sleep late and have
multiple naps a day.
6. Have a study buddy: Whether you’re on call together or in person, or even just texting to check in once in a while, it’s helpful to have someone else holding you accountable for your work. Just make sure that when you’re not actually getting more off-track by talking with this person while studying - you both need to hold each other accountable!
7. And last
but not least, think about your goals for the future. If you’re planning on a further education, then you’ll most definitely need to maintain your grades to the best of your ability. If you can imagine what you want in the future, it’ll be much easier to have a stronger mentality to focus on your work.
Thank you for reading, you can do it! Go ace that test, go do that project!
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