“What is this thing called motivation?”
You plan to start kick-ass preparation from today, you are so excited that you plan for 6 months in advance and create that killing schedule to wake up at 5am in the morning and study till 12am at night. That indescribable feeling of positivity that keeps you going till late in the night and the next day. Next two days are little different waking up at 7am and taking more time to set the mood for studies, it comes down day by day and one day, you have lost all your positivity, all the motivation to keep your studies going. Studying two hours a day looks really difficult now and there go days without opening a book.
Why does it happen to everyone? Why does it happen every time you plan something big?
Dear student, it happens because motivation has something to do with the science of psychology and it’s not positive always. Positivity can get you going for sometime but then you need to understand there is something beyond positive energy or the popular ‘Law of Attraction’ to sustain, to keep your plans alive.
Next motivational scenario is when your colleague or friend is studying regularly and scoring high marks in mock tests. You think if she can do it then why can’t I? True that! You too can do it but not because she can. You can do it because you have required calibre to do it.
Let’s look at the motivation for exam preparation differently now. We introduce here a short series on ‘How to Keep yourself Motivated to Study’. In this three-article series, we will look at a few strategies to keep you motivated throughout the duration of your preparation.
Motivation is not something you should search outside but it’s something you should find within yourself!
In this article, we will look at Goal Setting through following reflective activity. Think about following questions and write down answers for each of them. You will come up your plan at the end of this questionnaire.
Things to note: Create a comprehensive plan with above mentioned pointers. Break your plan into monthly targets. Break it further for creating weekly plans. Don’t plan too much in advance. You just need to have clarity about overarching agendas for next few months but have a detailed plan for next two weeks or maximum for one month.
You already know what you want. It is just that it should come on paper so that there is a clarity in thought process. Once you set your targets and know strategies, you have a clear action plan to follow and once action plan is ready, you can take one step at a time towards the long-term goal.
It is important to understand that there is no best way to work towards your goal but you should know your way. Which means, you need to know what you want to achieve, how you want to break it in small tasks and what is the plan.
Preparing for competitive exams is a self-directed task that’s the reason why it needs much more efforts to motivate yourself than others. Because in this case, it’s either your gain or loss, it’s you who succeed or fail. There’s no other beneficiary than yourself. There is no monetary gain until you get the job, your boss is not going to fire you for not doing it, your family members will question you only till a point. There are limited external factors to motivate you to do well. Hence it is your job to keep your preparation going with or without motivation.
In ‘How to Keep yourself Motivated to Study’ short series, we will be looking at goal planning and motivation for self-directed learning. In next two articles, we will see some hard-hitting facts and a few brilliant strategies which will work for sure.
Happy reading and preparing!
Verifying, please be patient.