How To Stay Motivated In College

In college it's easy to get overwhelmed when you've got lots of projects due. Never fear-here’s some helpful tips to lift your spirits and keep you motivated.

College is an amazing experience. It’s the place where you really discover yourself, where you learn what life really is and where you educate yourself in preparation for whatever career lies ahead of you.

As amazing as college can be, with all the essays, presentations and deadlines that are no doubt being thrown your way the whole experience can sometimes be a bit overwhelming too. When you’re snowed under with work, motivation can be a hard thing to find and without it your entire college experience can seem lacking.

Don’t despair though. College is meant to be where you have the time of your life so don’t let that dream go just because you’re lacking a little motivation. Here’s some easy and effective tips to get you back on track.

Focus On Small Goals

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When you find yourself faced with a 25 page paper due it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How can you be motivated to write the whole thing when you don’t even know what to write for the first line? Instead of stressing and tackling big projects head on, break your work into bite size pieces. Set yourself a goal of writing 5 pages at a time, that way the project won’t seem so big and scary and you’ll be able to better evaluate your progress.

Setting yourself small goals is a great way to motivate yourself and you can do this with all your work no matter the size of the project or how close the deadline is.

Celebrate Success

Making sure you take the time to celebrate all your successes will definitely put you in the right frame of mind.

Reward yourself for completing a project or getting good grades, you deserve it! If you decide upon the reward ahead of time you’ll feel motivated and will find yourself working harder to achieve it too. Your reward or celebration doesn’t have to be big either. If you finish an essay you could reward yourself by going out for a coffee before you start another project or if you get a great grade you could buy those gorgeous heels you’ve been eyeing up. The bigger the success the bigger the reward deserves to be so make sure the rewards you choose are fitting.

Rewarding yourself with a biscuit after you get an ‘A’ won’t motivate you but a new bag or a concert ticket is sure to have your fingers flying across your keyboard!

Find A Support Group

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Very few of us would ever survive college were it not for the people we surround ourselves with. We need the support and encouragement of others to help us believe in ourselves which in turn helps to motivate us. Support can come from any number of people or places including friends, family, our classmates and study groups.

If you’re struggling with a certain subject then try to get involved with other people who study it. Maybe you’ve got a friend in that class or there’s a study group you could join? Seeing others in the same situation will help you feel less alone and you’ll all be able to feed off of each others’ energy. Make sure whoever you choose for your support group is as motivated as you want to be though – it’s no good spending time with someone who’s very negative and is ultimately going to have an adverse effect on you.

Let Your Hair Down

Despite what our parents and teachers may say, college isn’t just about good grades and studying. College is the place where we really discover ourselves so it’s important that we look up from our laptops every now and again so we can do just that. No matter which college you’re at, there’s bound to be loads of social events going on every day-parties, clubs, events, you name it! Take a break from studying now and again and let your hair down. By the time you hit the books again you’ll be feeling energetic, refreshed and motivated. Letting your hair down now and again will ensure you stay positive about your studies while ensuring you get the most out of college life-it’s a win, win situation!

These tips are simple and easy to follow but they’re essential if you want to stay motivated throughout college. Yes, there will no doubt still be days when things get a bit stressful but just remind yourself of the bigger picture, take a deep breath and remember to enjoy your college experience.

Happy studying!

About the author

Nichola

Writing is Nichola’s passion but she's also an avid reader and a massive film geek. Like most of us, Nichola spends way too much time surfing the web, mostly reading blogs on the weird and wonderful or rumours of who's got the lead role in next years hottest films.

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