Getting motivated

Most of us have officially finished our first semester at university and are slowly coming back from the Christmas break to start the second one.

Around this time it is really easy to become unmotivated and feel a lack of enthusiasm towards our course. This is quite normal as most of us have spent the holiday around friends and family relaxing and not really having many responsibilities, and when we are being brought back to our studies we kind of fall into a slump.

Being in this mindset is difficult because you lack motivation and drive to do anything, well at least for me that is the case.

I’ve had a relaxing break, which for me was 6 weeks long, and I have found myself feeling tired a lot of the time and having no real effort to complete my essays and assignments that are due. Motivation is something I have struggled with my whole life, I have never really had a passion for getting things done and actually wanting to sit down and complete my work that is due. But this year I am hoping to change that.

A lot of the time I tell myself I am going to change my habits and start to become more organised, more motivated, and more helpful but it never seems to stick, but this year I am going to make a concerted effort to make these things happen.

If you struggle with the same things I do then here are a few things I am going to do to try and motivate me, and maybe you could try them to!

For starters I am going to not oversleep and stay in bed until midday. Staying in bed and lounging about is something that I do more often than I should and by doing this too often my body gets used to the ‘lazy’ way of life and my motivation plummets. So I am going to try waking up at a reasonable time and when I’m awake, instead of lying in bed on my phone for a couple hours, I will get up and get some breakfast and start my day.

Skipping breakfast or any meals is something I do on a daily basis as well, for me I never have the effort to make food so I just don’t eat anything until it gets to dinner, which is an unhealthy habit. 3 meals a day is important, they don’t have to be large portions, but they do need to be substantial. One way to get over this is to have good foods in your kitchen, so for me I have made the decision to have more fruit and veg in my fridge, and have higher protein foods rather than unhealthy snacks. Though it is important to have a healthy diet, having the occasional treat every week is something I am going to do, because I am not limiting myself to certain foods.

Thirdly to help keep me motivated and help improve my mindset I have decided to start exercising. Now as a uni student living in London I am tight on money as it is so I can’t afford a gym membership, so I have decided on going on short runs three times a week. I am planning on using a running app to start off with because I am new to running but I am going to make a commitment to running and actually go and do it. Setting this goal for myself is important because without it I probably won’t do anything. For peace of mind I am going to run in public parks to make myself feel safer, by making this decision I will be more inclined to run there as I wont have any reason not to.

With all this going on I am hoping I stick to it all, and I encourage anyone in the same position as myself to do the same; because with a better mindset and a higher level of motivation, focusing on my course, studies, and assignments will be a lot easier and more enjoyable.

©Lucy Roberts 2023