How To Motivate Yourself?

Vinh Nguyen

Many students do poorly in school because they procrastinate and wait until the last minute or day to get started on their homework or project. As a matter of fact, 26 percent of Americans are procrastinators according to this article. So how can one motivate oneself to work more efficiently? There are 13 tricks or tips that can help one to increase his or her self-motivation according to this article. Some of the tricks that I personally find most useful are going back to "why", going for five, moving around, and getting a partner. Going back to "why" basically means that one needs to keep reminding him or her of why he or she is even doing the task in the first place. This strategy will help one focus on the assignments and enhance one's performance. Moreover, it will make the task more appealing. The next advice that I find helpful is going for five, meaning taking a one-minute break every five minutes of working and start increasing the working time gradually. Doing this will motivate one more because the break every five minutes mentality will make one think that the workload is less than it actually is. One thing that is important to keep in mind is that the break can't be longer than one minute; otherwise, it will ruin the purpose of this strategy. Some things one can do during the break is check his or her phone for text messages or computers for any instant messages. In addition to constantly reminding oneself of the whys and a short recess every five minutes of working, moving around such as stretching or standing up also improves ones concentration and focus since doing this will decrease the likelihood of falling asleep and getting tired while working on the assignment. Lastly, working with someone else is great to motivate oneself because that person will motivate you to work when you would normally just quit. There are 9 more tips but I will save them for another post, or readers can follow the article I hyperlinked earlier.