5 Tips for Staying Motivated
By: Claire Duarte
The quarantine and stay-at-home order have certainly made working and doing school from home even more challenging. From managing schedules, classes, meetings, calls, zoom-sessions, Homework - you name it, it is not easy trying to get into a new rhythm and routine with so many new factors at play! We have gone from a time where our homes are supposed to be our place of comfort, rest, relaxation, family-time, and support - to a new reality where our homes have become offices, schools, entertainment, gyms, and more.
Now, more than ever, finding and maintaining focus and motivation has become that much more difficult to do, and this goes for students and workers of all ages!
When I start to work with new clients, I always ask what goals they are hoping to achieve during our time together. Some can rattle off what they know they need to work on immediately, while others have a harder time identifying this for themselves. One thing that I hear a lot of clients say is that they want to be more motivated. Interestingly enough, I often tell them that I can’t change that for them. Meaning, motivation is intrinsically controlled. Much like working on any habit! No coach or individual can MAKE you do the work to see the improvements that you want to see for yourself. While motivation does come from within, there are still steps and strategies you can do to help improve this area for yourself!
MINDSET
Motivation can be fueled by our mindset. If we are happy and excited, often that energy will keep flowing outwards into the tasks and activities we have to do. Same goes for the opposite, when we are feeling sad and frustrated. Now, we can’t always wait to feel happy or excited when doing homework, for instance, and the other reality is that you may not ever necessarily feel HAPPY OR EXCITED when it comes to getting your work done. So how do you overcome this? One activity I suggest to help release some of these negative thoughts and energies is to do a brain-dumping exercise. The goal here is to take what is inside our minds and get it all out onto paper (this can also be a typed exercise too). The idea here is to release our thoughts, ideas, emotions, and even those swirling “to-do’s” onto paper, so that you can then gain some clarity on what it is that you have to do:
2. MAKE A LIST
Once you’ve “dumped your brain” and cleared your mindset a bit, from here I recommend making a list (or several different types of lists as needed!). If after doing the first activity brings up several different types of tasks for instance, group them into categories (ex: HW, chores, personal, sports, family, etc.). Starting with homework or the most important to-do items first, write out what you have to do for that night.
Then, to the right of the list, write down your overall time estimate for how long each task should take (this does not need to be a perfect science, but it can help in your planning process).
After you’ve done this, look back at your homework or to-do items - do you understand the content of each one? Do you need to seek clarification from a teacher or friend? Do you understand all the instructions? Can it be broken down into smaller pieces? (ie, Write English paper - has a lot more steps than simply just writing it! For instance, can be broken down into paragraphs, inserting quotes/research, etc.).
Once you’ve answered these questions for yourself, then to the left of your list, rank each HW item in order of priority - #1 being the most important, and listing from there. This will become your tackle & conquer list!
3. SET GOALS
Let’s revisit that English paper example. For most students, writing a whole entire paper in one evening is just not doable (and something I would not recommend!). Instead of thinking of the paper as one whole task, practice breaking down these larger assignments into smaller pieces. I often recommend breaking down paper writing, studying, projects, etc. over several days so that you can slowly be working on that larger assignment, while also crossing off items on your to-do list. So if you have a 5 paragraph essay due Friday, at minimum, I would suggest start working on this on Sunday - and do a paragraph a day. You could even break this down further, to give yourself more time (or add it onto your current schedule), by adding in a day to write out your outline, as well as giving yourself time to edit and review the final product. It’s not always easy to take the time to break down the larger assignment into smaller pieces, but much like eating, breaking things down makes it much more digestible! Another helpful visual tool:
4. SCHEDULE
Next, take a look at your daily and weekly obligations. This can help for making sure you can plan ahead for the work that you need to do. Do you have a meeting after school? Sports practice? Dr’s appointment? Club get-together ? Write all of these out in your calendar or planner, as this helps to visualize exactly what is going on for your schedule day-to-day. From there, you can start to see the actual pockets of time you will have to do the work you need to do. (Want more tips on planner usage? Take a look at our previous blog post: Planners).
5. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
Finally, work to eliminate other distractions in your environment. This can be anything from how your desk/work space is set up, where you chose to do your homework (in your room vs the kitchen table) - down to blocking social media apps, etc.
First - I recommend starting with your workspace. Choose a clean and clear working area where you can spread out your materials. If your room is your only quiet space in the house, make sure you are not working on your bed, and that your desk is clean and clear of clutter.
Second - I encourage you to reduce the technology. You can start with easy things like putting your phone on airplane mode, leaving it in another room, and/or avoiding using your computer or tablet if not required for a particular homework task. If you do need to use the computer for online homework, paper writing, research, etc. - some apps that I recommend for helping stay on task are:
Third - Make sure to have a good balanced snack, and sip on some water or tea. I don’t recommend pouring a cup of coffee at 8/9pm just to stay focused and get your work done as that added caffeine does not = productivity. Another helpful tip is to make little prepped bags of snacks (ie: popcorn, nuts, chips, etc) to avoid the “standing in front of fridge” syndrome, or eating the entire bag. This makes it easier for a quick grab-&-go!
Try some of these tips before sitting down and jumping right into your work! Carving out 5-10 minutes each day to make yourself a plan can help you to mentally prepare for the work ahead. By knowing what to expect for your day it can help you to plan how long each task will take. Just as I mentioned earlier, it all starts in your mindset. So the earlier that you can start to mentally plan ahead, the more you can then plan the rest of your day around what it is that you need to do. As you check items off your list, celebrate those wins! No matter how big or how small, or brains feed off of accomplishing tasks, so make sure to be proud of the work and tasks you complete! Although many of the examples above are about homework, these same principles can be applied to any items on someone’s to-do list including work projects/tasks or household chores.