I'm lacking motivation when I need it! Any advice? Please help

Question

Hey everyone~~

I'm a 17-year old student who has been homeschooling for about 2-3 years now. I should be a high school graduate by now and should be starting my first year of college this fall..except I'm not. I'm still six courses shy from my high school diploma, and I'm planning to apply for Rutgers University and start my freshman year in Spring 2009 (January). I would've started college this fall, but, unfortunately, my laziness and lack of motivation in my studies (as well as days where I couldn't even do my coursework at all a.k.a "delays") has held me back.

This is my major problem.

Right now (besides the other six courses I have left to do) I'm working on a Physics and English course. My Physics course must be completed by the 28th of August; otherwise, I'm going to have to pay $100 fee for another six-month extension. Guess what? I'm not even HALF done with the course yet. In order for me to make the deadline, I'm going to have to complete one chapter a day (22 chapters total - three are done, so that's 19 left). The thing is, I'm having a terrible time focusing on my work, and getting my motivation up and running - especially since we're still on summer break. I honestly don't know what to do..I've been having this motivation/laziness trouble for months now - there come times with me where I don't feel like doing my coursework at all and I just drop everything for about two to three weeks..then when it comes time for me to seriously go back to working, I can't. This problem is what's leading me to start college in the spring instead of the fall..and honestly, the spring semester is my last chance - if I don't speed things up and get my diploma by at least Oct-November, I'll lose my chance to apply and then I'll have to wait till next year - and God Knows how much I don't want to start college one year late!

So does anyone have any tips/ideas on how I can increase my motivation levels, stop being so lazy, and get down to work? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on how I could speed up in my coursework and get things done a bit faster, without really rushing, so to speak? It's not that I don't want to work, it's that I can't find the willpower/interest for me to just open the textbook and get moving..plus, I feel so cooped up and alone in my room studying, while everyone's enjoying their free time downstairs. =(

Any past experiences, advice, tips, ANYTHING, would be appreciated! As you can see..I'm quite desperate, haha.

Thank you!

Answer 1

I will borrow a slogan made famous by Nike, Just do it! Don't wait around to study get it done first. Someone mentioned that you need to treat it like a job and that is so true if you don't do your work you get fired. So just do it.

Answer 2

Oh, you poor thing. You have Senioritis, except since you're alone, you don't have anyone to help push you past that so you can just finish. It'll happen every time you come up against the end of something (like being a senior in college, too). That's rough. Ideally, if you could hook up with someone who is doing the same thing as you, you could be study buddies and keep each other on track, but since that doesn't seem to be an option, could you try the following:

1. Set goals and rewards for yourself (the one chapter a day sounds reasonable). Give yourself a reward every time you reach a major goal, such as finishing a chapter (allow yourself one hour of computer time or something). Don't reward yourself UNTIL you've finished the work.

2. Think of your schoolwork as a job. If you were working, you'd be doing at least 6-8 hours a day or would get fired. That'll help make you more disciplined so you don't see it as an optional thing.

3. Set deadlines for yourself and meet them. Don't miss the first three, at least. Once you start meeting deadlines, you'll notice how much you're getting done and that'll help you feel more motivated.

4. Think about how much you're losing by not motivating yourself, but don't sit there being depressed and beating up on yourself for too long. Use that energy to decide what to do, even if it means writing it on post-its and putting it on a calendar and then taking it off the calendar (or crossing it out once you get there) to SEE the progress you make.

5. If you're not being motivated b/c you don't understand the material, contact your local college's faculty for some help (or tutoring center for home schoolers). My lack of motivation often stems from the material being too difficult for me or seeming to be insurmountable. Think about how long it takes to do one chapter a day. Is it REALLY that much time? Or is it something you could do in 2-3 hours? Seriously, out of 24 hours, that much of a commitment is nothing. Other people do lots more to reach goals.

Now go get that book open, young man! You can do it!!! Obviously, you're bright enough to get through home school, so you can DO IT!!!!!!!

Answer 3

your motivation should be getting a good job/career!!

Answer 4

There's a wonderful quote that goes something like this:

There is no motivation without a motive.

Figure out your motive. Why do you want these courses done by the deadline? Why do you want these courses at all? Keep that in mind.

You don't have to have the interest to do your work to actually do it. You really don't. You can MAKE yourself do it, no matter how much the feeling within you is negative.

Stop focusing on what other people are doing and how you are missing out and stop focusing on how it's summer. How does thinking about all that help? It doesn't. Make your focus your work. Let all other thoughts be put aside. If need be, go to the library a couple of times a week and do your work there.

You ought to have clear daily goals for what you are to accomplish and you stick to your work until it's accomplished. You know you have to do a chapter a day, so make yourself do your chapter a day. Have it written out which chapter you are going to do that day. Then do it. You might find that working on physics for an hour, then switching to English, then switching back to physics, then back to English, etc., may work well for you, or maybe 2-hour stints, switching each time. Let's say you decided to work from 8-12, then 1-5--it's doubtful that if you did 4 hours of physics in a row you'd be maximizing your time. Our brains can usually only handle that if it's something we're actually interested in. 1 hour is usually the recommendation. How many hours will it take you to do a whole chapter? The above schedule I gave gives you 4 hours of physics and 4 hours of English. Will that be enough? Or more than enough?

As for your spring admission, why don't you give yourself another year to finish high school? Can you really do 6 courses in a semester without burning yourself out? You're finding it hard at the moment to do 2 courses in a month, but that's not going to be much different than trying to do 6 courses in, what, 3.5 months? And how are you starting college a year late? What's the big deal? You're only 17. Most people finish high school at 18. Change your perspective on this and you won't worry about it so much. Part of me suspects that you are focusing on all the negatives so much, you're finding it hard to get going. Forget all the stuff. Let it go. Just focus on the work.