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Laura
Hi! I'm Laura, a 23-year-old millennial girl discovering who I am by sharing my life experiences on my blog. You'll find me writing about me discovering my personal style, my growing wanderlust or giving any sort of style, uni or mental health advice.

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styleandsushi@outlook.com

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HOW I MOTIVATE MYSELF FOR UNI



If there’s one thing I struggle with, it’s to sometimes motivate myself to get to work for uni. As much as I love my education and going to university, I sometimes find it hard to get myself back to uni work. I think we all struggle with finding your motivation again, which sucks. I can never really pin down why I feel less motivated and I think it’s normal to feel this way. As you might know, I am in the middle of my final year at university, so over the years I have learnt a lot about finding that motivation to get back to work. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share a few tips with you.



Write things down

I usually tend to feel extra demotivated when I feel extra overwhelmed by how much work there’s still left for me to do. I usually have this saved somewhere inside my head. But this only makes me feel worse and super demotivated. That’s why whenever I feel demotivated I always like to write things down everything I have left to do.

Besides writing this down when I feel overwhelmed by how much work I have left to do, I also always write things down in class. This way I can’t ever forget about course work I need to, but this also means I don’t forget about deadlines. But it also means that you can usually find me typing away while the professor is talking. This is just to make sure that I have everything important that has been said during classes written down. Writing things down really helps me feel like I am in control of what I have left to do, which helps to keep me motivated while being at uni.

It’s all about lists

Once I have everything written down and I feel super overwhelmed and demotivated to get to work, I usually start to panic a bit. This is the time where I feel most comfortable making lists. I make lists per course I follow on what course work I have left to do for that week, that month and for bigger deadlines at the end of term. Making lists is something that usually helps me feel more in control of everything. I have written everything down already, but all there’s left for me to do now is to put end dates to my tasks, which is usually why I make a separate list.

Lists usually are also known as my to-do lists. One thing my professors’ have always told us during uni was to not block your whole day with boring university tasks. They always told us to have about 4 tasks planned per day and to also plan some fun things during the day. When I first heard this I thought they were crazy. They encouraged us to do plan fun things? It seemed like the world was upside down. So in my first year of university I usually did not stick to that plan. Somewhere throughout my third year of university I was really spending a lot of time writing and sitting behind my laptop. That’s when I really started to notice that it’s no good to put more than 5 big tasks onto your to-do list. It only demotivates you even more. Ever since I took my professors’ advice and planned two bigger tasks on my to-do list, followed by 2 smaller tasks and one ‘fun’ task. This has really helped me stay motivated throughout this past 1,5 year of my uni work.



Go to the library

I’m not sure if this is just me, but if I study or work at course work at home, I somehow always find other things to do. One moment I am creating a PowerPoint presentation for an upcoming presentation and the next moment I am checking out what’s inside the fridge so I can munch on something else. I find that there are a lot just way too many distractions for me at home. That’s why I usually end up going to the library to get lots of work done. This is what works best for me. I find that I work best in the library at my university; this is basically a no-talking zone with separate little corners to really focus on your work. However, I can also often be found in the public library of my hometown to get lots of work done.

Start doing it

If I feel unmotivated to get uni work done, I also tend to have this nagging feeling of feeling guilty because I am not doing anything. This is usually guilt I feel building up for my future self. I’m not sure if that makes sense? But the later I start working on course work or big deadlines, the more my future self hates me for not getting things done earlier on. So that’s why when I feel this way I usually just start doing work. This usually means I will try to pick a few uni tasks that I either like doing or that I know won’t take me all day to finish. This is one of those things I do to slowly get myself into course work or assignments again, without feeling like it’s a very big step to get work done.


Take a break

Taking a break is so important. This doesn’t mean that I want you to stop going to university or to just stop your course immediately. It means that when you feel like you’ve been working on one task for too long, it’s time for you to step away from your computer. Take a little break. Go get some food, stretch your legs or grab a quick coffee. This is what works for me, especially when I am starting to feel demotivated and distracted by the work I am doing. Stepping away from something is always good when you’re feeling uninspired/demotivated by the work you’re doing at that moment.

Stepping away from your work or taking a break also does its wonders if you suffer from writers’ block. Writing is such a big part of my course. I study communications so we are always writing new articles or reflecting on our work. It comes as no surprise that writers’ block has been a reoccurring struggle throughout these past four years of my university life. That’s why it is best to then just step away and go do something completely different. Inspiration always comes when you least expect it. This is something I have learnt with university, but also definitely with other aspects in life such as work or during my internships.

Reacties

  1. The best tips ever! I feel like no one go to the library anymore winch it's a shame! There's many good information!

    She Walks Blog
    It's Shewalks Instagram

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    1. Thank you Ester! I always go to the library because I feel most motivated to get stuff done there! :) xx

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  2. Great tips, love how informative this is! Lists are everything for me, I need them to function!

    Anika | anikamay.co.uk

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    1. Thank you Anika! Me too, I couldn't go a day without writing a list of things to do! xx

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