It’s safe to say that having to learn at home is completely different to learning in a school environment.
Being surrounded by distractions isn’t particularly ideal, and it can be difficult to motivate yourself to actually complete the work that has been set for you. As a school student myself, there have been times where I’ve procrastinated for days on end, simply because I lacked the motivation needed to do the tasks that I had to.
However, recently I’ve been using certain techniques to enable me to focus on the important things and get them done when I needed to. I hope these may help you too.
Creating a timetable is a brilliant way to maintain motivation, as it implements some kind of routine into each day. If you wake up on a morning and have no idea what you want to achieve in that day, the chances of you actually achieving anything are pretty low.
So, map out how many subjects you are going to cover each day, and in what order you will do these. That will allow you to stay motivated, as you know exactly what is coming up. If possible, you could try and make your timetable mirror your school timetable; that way, you are already used to this routine, so it won’t take you as long to settle into it. And of course, remember to give yourself breaks and not work for too long without stopping, otherwise you will stop taking in information, and you won’t be able to work to the best of your ability.
An important thing to remember is to make sure to take some time to yourself. If you only do schoolwork every single day, you’ll lose interest pretty quickly. You should take a few hours every day (and the whole days on a weekend) to do things you enjoy. Now that we have so much free time, there is a golden opportunity for you to do things that you may have always wanted to do.
If you’ve always wanted to learn to play that ukulele that is gathering dust underneath your bed, now’s your chance! If you’ve got a playlist of dances on YouTube that you’ve been longing to master, start now! Even if it’s something as simple as wanting to watch a whole five seasons of a Netflix show, make the time to do it. By establishing that balance between schoolwork time and ‘you’ time, you will feel more motivated and excited about the activities you are going to do each day.
Something that has worked well for me in terms of staying enthusiastic towards my work, is rewarding myself afterwards.
For example, if I’ve had a particularly lengthy essay to complete on a hot day, instead of putting it off I’ve stayed inside and completed the essay, then rewarded myself afterwards by sitting in the sun with an ice cream.
If you have a clear reward waiting for you at the end of a session of work, it will give you an incentive and ultimately the motivation to finish the task.
Finally, remember to not push yourself if you’re having a bad day. Everyone has those days, especially in the current situation, where you’re feeling down about everything. Although sometimes working on days like those may help you feel better and take your mind off what you are feeling, this is most definitely not always the case.
A lot of the time it is best to concentrate on yourself and your emotions on these bad days. Talk to people about your feelings and take time for self-care and mindfulness.
Most importantly, try not push yourself, and don’t be angry at yourself for not doing the work you had planned. The work will still be there tomorrow. The most important thing right now is you.
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