Motivation is the golden goose when it comes to study – everyone’s happy to study if they feel like they want to. But it’s difficult to find when you’re feeling burnt-out and tired. And now that we are heading into the second half of the year (with some of the biggest assessments on the horizon), finding motivation is harder than a needle in a haystack.

The first step with summoning motivation from the void is ensuring that you are maintaining healthy study habits: 

  • Take good breaks during long study sessions. This means not looking at screens, moving your body, and keeping the time spent resting consistent. As much as the TikTok scroll sounds appealing in the moment, it will make locking back into focused study much harder. 

  • As simple as it sounds; keeping your eating healthy and your water intake high will do wonders for your study. Your brain is a muscle, and functions best when it has good nutrients and plenty of hydration! 

  • Do your best to study during the day so you are getting natural light and sleeping well! Sleep is your biggest friend when it comes to healthy information retention, so try and schedule shorter sessions in the evening. 

Next, don’t be afraid to reward yourself: 

  • Motivation comes easier via positive reinforcement (reward) rather than negative reinforcement (punishment). Trying to magically produce good quality study via fear of punishment will not only tank your results, but mess with your overall mental health. As stated above, healthy brains are smart brains. 

  • Rewards can be really simple, suited to your preferences/schedule and should be chosen to match the complexity/difficulty of the task. 

    • Rewards could be going for a walk, watching an episode of your favourite TV show, going out for a sweet treat or anything in between!

If you are struggling on your own, work with friends;

  • Working with a larger group can ease stress and tension, ensure you are kept accountable in completing tasks and can offer more active and engaging study techniques to stave off boredom, such as testing each other!

Big tasks can be overwhelming, so break them down: 

  • This technique is called chunking, and involves breaking a big task/goal/assignment into smaller more manageable pieces. One of its big advantages is that it makes study feel less intimidating, reducing procrastination 

  • Once you begin completing tasks, your brain is more likely to fall into a rhythm, benefitting from the endorphin release experienced when a goal is achieved. 

  • With lowered stress and procrastination, the quality of your work will improve also!

The easiest step of all; the to-do list:

  • Being able to clearly see the tasks young have already completed can do wonders for your motivation. 

  • It demonstrates your capability, which can reduce stress/panic. 

Happy studying!