Keeping Motivated
Staying focused and retaining your motivation can be difficult when it comes to meeting deadlines and especially at exam time but there are a few things you can do to help yourself.
1 – Face your feelings head on – It’s ok to have feelings of low motivation so accept that they’re perfectly normal and acknowledge you must do something about them. Remember, you’re not on your own, many of your fellow students will be feeling the same way.
2 – Don’t doubt your abilities – You’ve been good enough to get this far and you can certainly go all the way so believe in yourself and don’t let self-doubt creep in. Stay positive.
3 – Analyse your studying style – Take a look at the way you’re studying, what breaks you take, the hours you work and speak to other students to see how they study and for how long. This will give you a great benchmark to work from. See if there are any areas you can improve on.
4 – Focus on the most important tasks first – Being late for deadlines is stressful and can reduce your motivation so prioritise the most important tasks and get those done in advance. You’ll feel so much better for it.
5 – Address your time management – If you’ve a tendency to procrastinate, recognise that, take responsibility for it, and diarise your tasks so you have a schedule to work to.
6 – Keep a routine – Get into a routine so you know what you’re doing each day and at what time. You’ll soon get into it and things will run like clockwork, so you’ll know you’re on track.
7 – Try studying with friends – It can be difficult studying alone so try studying with other students, a great way to keep each other motivated. Just make sure you stick to your schedule and don’t be tempted to turn it into social time.
8 – Look after yourself – Eat healthily, take regular exercise and drink plenty of water to keep hydrated especially during the hot spells we’ve been having recently. A well hydrated brain performs much better than a dehydrated one.
9 – Take regular breaks and rewards – After an hour of study take a short break and reward yourself with a drink, listen to some music or do something to refresh your mind. Time yourself so you know when break time is up.
10 – Always remember your end goal – Never lose sight of why you’re doing all this. It may seem like its tough going at times but it’s necessary to get you where you want to be in your career. Remind yourself of this regularly, it will be worth it in the end.
We hope our blog, ‘Keeping Motivated’ helps you through your studies and if need additional support Sheffield Hallam University have some useful information on their website at: https://www.shu.ac.uk/wellbeing
Please remember if you need any help with your student accommodation in Sheffield, we’re just a call away on 0114-2666 300.
