Our Student Life Content Creator, Bethany, talks about how to keep yourself motivated to achieve new years resolutions related to your studies.
New Years is associated with new beginnings, often accompanied by bursts of motivation to achieve your goals. For many of us, we will be working towards similar goals: academic success, gaining work-experience, saving money etc.
But how can you set your goals, and perhaps more importantly, how do you keep going in order to achieve them?
- Outlining Your Goals Clearly
It may seem obvious to outline your goals, but outlining them in the clearest and most detailed manner possible can help you stay motivated. For example, if your goal is “I want to try harder with my studies” you can break this down into: “I want to read an article a day for ‘module x.’” This broken-down version of the goal seems much more achievable than the original because the goal gives directions and is measurable, and sets smaller targets for you to achieve. This can make you feel more accomplished in a shorter period of time, and means you aren’t waiting to see an improvement in your grade to know you’re doing well.
2. Organise Your Space
Cleaning and organising your space can help keep your motivation to achieve your goals. For example, if your desk is clean, you are more likely to use it to study. Further, having a dedicated space where you study is going to help you get into the mindset to work, for example, if you study in bed it might be a lot harder to focus as that’s where you’re used to scrolling on your phone and watching things on Netflix. You can also organise your mind by using to-do lists, or even use the to-do list feature on Outlook.
3. Remind Yourself of Your Goals Regularly
Visual reminders can be really powerful in motivating you to meet your goals. Find somewhere to make a display of your goals that you will see daily. For example, you could create a vision board and display it in your room or even on your lock-screen. This can keep your motivation ignited for longer because each time you see that vision board, you’ll be reminded of why you are doing everything in the first place. You could add things like a picture of a cap and gown, pictures of people in the career that you want. or even younger siblings that you want to inspire.
Following these tips, you should be able to keep your motivation levels up to achieve all your goals this year, whatever they may be. I believe in you!
Still struggling to self-motivate? Why not check out the Life Tools sessions running all term, including Ignite Your Motivation and The Learner’s Mindset.