• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

No motivation!!!!! (1 Viewer)

lyssaluck

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Cardiff
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
i have lost all motivation for school
i rather watch playschool with my little sisters :speechless:
has anyone got any ideas to help me get my motivation for school back before i fail
 

michaeljennings

Active Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2009
Messages
2,074
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
I know it might seem like you have no motivation right now but consider the regret you will feel when ATARs come out and you didnt get into the course you wanted. I know its very easy to transfer into what you want after a year of uni but its still the easiest path to get into your course straight out of high school.

You should try find something that motivates you though other than potential regret. Ive always been a competitive person so my motivation was to compete with my friends.
 

lyssaluck

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Cardiff
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
thankyou so much
im just struggling to find that motivation
 

CaffeineMotor

Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2012
Messages
197
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
This has been mentioned before but sometimes an ATAR goal is just not tangible enough to be a good motivator. I have my ATAR on my whiteboard so it's always visible, but it doesn't always make me get some serious work done. (A lot of these holidays were spent relaxing, which i guess isn't entirely bad).

What do you love to do? Sports,hobbies.... etc. For example Target shooting is my sport and it's my favourite part of the week (Friday nights and Saturday Arvo) So I make sure I work really hard throughout the week, with adequate breaks so you don't go nuts and then reward yourself on the day you do whatever it is that you love.


EDIT: The m83 remix of The Great Dictator Speech is far far superior (and motivating :p) to the inception remix.
 

Sunners

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
58
Location
Eastern Suburbs
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
Consider this saying which we got lectured at our school in Term 4 last year: This'll be the last year of school. Make the most of it. You'll never have to study like this again, some opportunities you have you'll never get to experience again.
 

Maryanayeah

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
105
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
Try and learn to love studying, rather than seeing it as something which you hate or forced to do, if you learn to love it.. you will do heaps better at it :)
 

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,906
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
The problem you are having with motivation sounds pretty common. As I have said many times on BoS, "it's easy to commit to an idea, but it's hard to commit to a process" - having long term ATAR goals is all well and good, but it often fails to motivate people in the day to day process of studying.

In order to rectify this, I think you need to focus the way in which you approach study - the HSC is all about attitude and by altering the way you work you can greatly improve your attitude. I found that the best way to do this is by breaking your study down into small achievable goals. The reason for this is as you achieve these small goals, you will feel much more confident with work and this will increase your morale and motivation. A lot of people leave work to the last minute or set unrealistic goals - when you fail to achieve these goals your motivation and morale go down, which makes the problem worse.

Obviously, that advice is a bit simplistic and you will need to work out the specifics, but I strongly believe that the way to maintain motivation throughout the year is based on how you design your study strategy.
 
Last edited:

hayabusaboston

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
2,387
Location
Calabi Yau Manifold
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
FOr motivation, think if there's any intellectual rival/s you have at school, remember the moment you beat them, the feeling you had, how awesome it was, and then think of the time they beat you, how shit that felt, and ask yourself, to you want to have the satisfying feeling of beating your intellectual rival/s or do you want to feel fucking shit about yourself until the next exams? that helps me with motivation :)
 

funstudy

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
170
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Think of the end-term goal and the fact that it's only one year. It may seem like a long time, but just remember it gets easier after that/
Perhaps speak to someone about getting your motivation up.
Take breaks, eat well, sleep well and if you feel completely unmotivated, do something you enjoy until you can feel you can study. No point spending time on study while unmotivated.
 

jnney

lemon
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
1,437
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
A few days ago I was reading this book at the bookstore (instead of buying it, heh), and something that really struck me was the author's perception of motivation.

Basically, what he said was that motivation isn't something that you wait around for all day hoping that it's going to come knocking on your door.

Motivation doesn't come first, and study second. In fact, it's the other way around. Just do it, was what he said. Do what you need to do, and motivation will come later - and that will push you to continue on.

That reminds me of a time at the beginning of year 12 when I just didn't know whether I was going to do well that year or not. Because I didn't know, I just studied because that was the only thing I could do. To my surprise, I topped biology and chemistry, but failed very miserably in maths. Both of these outcomes gave me the motivation to continue on.

Take it one step at a time. Think about the next exams that you have. Prepare for those. Don't wait until you have to fail for you to realise you immediately need to fix your habits of not study. You're not spending your time doing anything else anyway, so make use of it.


I think something very important is to have a reason to study, perform well, or mediocre. What are you doing the HSC for? Do you want to go to university? If so, what course do you want to get into? If you don't know, it's time to research now. If you still don't know, i think it's important to still do the best you can to ensure you're able to get into a wide range of courses. Do you have an ATAR goal? It might be worth it have one. So that you are working towards something. Always have something that you are working towards.

*edit: I just saw in your sig that you want to pursue a career in business/teaching - it might be worth it to find out what the ATAR requirements are for these courses at the uni that you want to be studying at.

Start now. Start today, not tomorrow. If you tell yourself that you're going to start tomorrow, you'll never start, trust me.


Anyhow, I hope this has helped you. Good luck on the HSC and I hope that everything works out for you. If you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to ask us. :)
 
Last edited:

LoveHateSchool

Retired Sept '14
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
5,136
Location
The Fires of Mordor
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Jnney has solid advice ^ :)

So motivation is a changing thing, there are points in the HSC where you'll be very enthusiastic, others where you feel totally burnt out from study etc. and it's important to remember the HSC is not a race but a marathon.

So in vein of that, here is my advice.

1) It's all well and good, to have an ATAR goal. It can make it more tangible if you have a uni/course to go with that. But I found breaking that big "distant" goal down, into assessment goals and report goals etc. to make it far more achievable and approachable.

2) The impulsive part of your brain is far stronger than the logical one that knows that study and such now, will pay off in the future. The way I moved around this was to have to do lists, I'd have what study I wanted to get done for the night, however, I would have a little incentive if I ticked off some of things, and then also for all of the things. (Meant I got more stuff done in the time I did study, and lots of time to do other things for the year to have balance and feel well rested). The incentive may have been something little, like take the dog for a 20 min walk, but on the weekends and such I'd often have a better incentive like have an 18th or something to go to if I got the work I needed done in the arvo.

3) Sometimes little "triggers" can help you get into the study swing. I had a couple songs that helped psyche me up, some people will do some exercise or that, some find organising their desk and such helps get them in the study swing. I also used to push through a little extra study in the night by becoming a tea addict in the HSC. Some people subscribe to motivational quotes, think "I run long on the road, before I dance under the lights" etc. Some like to have a very good report pinned up in their room to maintain, or a bad one up to improve on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6krIHvs4aDQ

It also helps to think past the HSC to what you want to get out of life, as it's too easy to become HSC institutionalized. That's why I like the above vid :p

3) Learn from mistakes, don't dwell on them. It doesn't help to mope the maths exam you fail, it does help to strategically know how to rectify it the next time.

4) Some people like to visualise the regret/disappointment they feel and study to avoid that visualisation actualising.

5) And the most important thing with motivation, is that it can't be born of competition, sibling rivalry, parents pressure etc. That type of motivation can come in spurts, but the longest running motivation comes from within.
 

jnney

lemon
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
1,437
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Some really good advice Lovehateschool. :)
 

DancingAnz

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Messages
67
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
I can completely relate here. I have simply gotten very bored of school at the moment and the idea of going back to school is very painful! I think because we've been on holiday mode doesn't help either... Hopefully fellow teachers and students provide you with enough motivation to do well in your hsc :)
 

lyssaluck

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Cardiff
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
nawwww thankyou so much!!!
you have no clue this helps so much
A few days ago I was reading this book at the bookstore (instead of buying it, heh), and something that really struck me was the author's perception of motivation.

Basically, what he said was that motivation isn't something that you wait around for all day hoping that it's going to come knocking on your door.

Motivation doesn't come first, and study second. In fact, it's the other way around. Just do it, was what he said. Do what you need to do, and motivation will come later - and that will push you to continue on.

That reminds me of a time at the beginning of year 12 when I just didn't know whether I was going to do well that year or not. Because I didn't know, I just studied because that was the only thing I could do. To my surprise, I topped biology and chemistry, but failed very miserably in maths. Both of these outcomes gave me the motivation to continue on.

Take it one step at a time. Think about the next exams that you have. Prepare for those. Don't wait until you have to fail for you to realise you immediately need to fix your habits of not study. You're not spending your time doing anything else anyway, so make use of it.


I think something very important is to have a reason to study, perform well, or mediocre. What are you doing the HSC for? Do you want to go to university? If so, what course do you want to get into? If you don't know, it's time to research now. If you still don't know, i think it's important to still do the best you can to ensure you're able to get into a wide range of courses. Do you have an ATAR goal? It might be worth it have one. So that you are working towards something. Always have something that you are working towards.

*edit: I just saw in your sig that you want to pursue a career in business/teaching - it might be worth it to find out what the ATAR requirements are for these courses at the uni that you want to be studying at.

Start now. Start today, not tomorrow. If you tell yourself that you're going to start tomorrow, you'll never start, trust me.


Anyhow, I hope this has helped you. Good luck on the HSC and I hope that everything works out for you. If you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to ask us. :)
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top