Staying motivated.

Staying motivated can be hard, especially at this time of the year when there are so many distractions and other things that could be more fun than doing work and revision.

I find, in order to stay motivated, finding reasons to stay motivated really helps:

• Get the work done that needs to be done in time
• Get the grades/marks that you need/want
• Consequently, leading to a better and more achievable future
• It stops you from wondering what to do and being bored, which I know, personally, is a horrible feeling.

These are some of the things that I do in order to stay motivated:

Have a future plan. What do you want to be when you are older? How can you get to that? I want to be a clinical psychologist and have applied to University. The University of Buckingham (which is the University I wish to go to) are asking for all C’s in my subjects as the offer has been brought down after my interview with them. This means that I know how I can get to where I want to be when I am older by getting all C’s and getting into an undergraduate Psychology degree.

Plan your revision and incorporate short but useful breaks into this. Everybody plans differently when it comes to revision. Make sure before you start revising, you know the work that needs to be done and what needs to be revised. I would do this by tracking my progress in each subtopic in a unit (so like cells in biology, the subtopic would be blood cells). I use to do lists which give me a sense of accomplishment after ticking off each of my tasks. I still plan what I revise over the week but don’t put times to it meaning that it is much more flexible. This is what works for me but you can also create a timetable of all the revision that is needing to be done. When planning your revision, ensure that there is a sufficient amount of breaks in there and these breaks should involve useful tasks to keep you motivated, like cleaning your room or filing your schoolwork.

Use revision techniques that work for you. Different subjects require different types of revision. I find that the Pomodoro timing technique can work easily for all subjects. This is where you work for 25 minutes straight with no distractions and then have a five-minute break in between. After 4 Pomodoro’s, take a long break but still make this break productive. Here is a video explaining the Pomodoro technique.

Make your revision/work space cosy. This helps you to feel comfortable when revising and then makes you more motivated from this. My ways of doing this are making my bed (with throw pillows and, of course, teddies), lighting candles and making a nice tea to drink while revising.

Adopt a growth mindset and make your revision fun. As much as I know it is drilled into you at school, a growth mindset can actually be really useful and can apply to every “negative” situation. Let’s use this as an example: I got a test back the other day and I got a U. I want C’s, as I have said. I dwelled on this result for 10 minutes as my fixed mindset had kicked in. Then I thought, “is this really worth my energy”. So instead of putting my energy into sadness and thoughts of failure, I found what I did wrong and made a plan on what to do next. Gandhi once said “the mind is everything. What you think is what you become”. Think positive and have an open mind, and life will become the same.