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Author Topic: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!  (Read 11876 times)  Share 

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paulsterio

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Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« on: September 14, 2012, 08:19:03 pm »
+38
I've been around these forums for a while now, not as long as most of the others, but long enough to have seen what happens at what point in time and it's now reaching the second half of September, with those Term 3 holidays just around the corner. What usually happens now? Posts about people losing motivation? "Burn-out"? Stressing for exams? Yeah, they come and go at around this time.

I was thinking about this on my drive home from uni today, how to rekindle the fire when you're losing your motivation. It's an interesting thought though, I've seen people so motivated to do so well just crack when it comes to exam time. So I've put together this guide, it's called "Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!"

STEP 1

This step is about figuring out WHAT you are getting motivated by. Don't ask yourself what motivates you, just because you'll probably say something textbook like wanting to get into a particular university course. The crux of the issue here is what's the actual drive behind your studies. The question to ask yourself is:

- Why am I losing motivation?

You'll probably answer something along the lines of "I'm not doing well enough on practice exams and I'm not improving" or "I feel like I'm letting down my parents" or "I'm afraid I'll fail and shame my family". Well there you go, you have very clear-cut motivations as to why you're studing - in this case:

1) Studying in order to get high marks
2) Studying to impress somebody else (parents)
3) Studying for the fear of doing badly

For me, I've always studied because I've been afraid of letting myself down and not doing what I know I'm capable of doing. Now that you know what exactly motivates you, time to move onto the next step.

STEP 2

This step is simply about taking a break. If you're at the point where you're "burning out" - it's time for you to go on a break. Take a weekend off with your friends or your family, even if you don't feel comfortable doing that, just take a night off, go to a nice restaurant with your friends or go see a movie you've been wanting to see for a while now. Whatever makes you forget thinking about your studies and just enjoy yourself.

Not only will this help you feel better about yourself, but it allows you to break your chain of thought that's been causing you to burn out over the past few weeks. Once you've done that, you're doing well, you'll probably be feeling better and more motivated to make your VCE work!

STEP 3

Well obviously if you're losing motivation, doesn't that say something about your motivation? Yeah, that what you once found motivating is no longer motivating. It's funny, but what motivates us as time passes changes. I remember that once upon a time, my motivation was to get a higher mark than a friend of mine (who I respected as one of the smartest people I knew at the time) but over time, I started to care less, so I needed to change my motivation.

If you've found that you've always been studying for the numbers, why not try studying for something different, have you ever searched for something to be proud of? Well why not make that your VCE.

Possibly you've always studied in order to get into a particular course and you know that you won't get there, so why not change your motivation to a numbers one? If you've always maintained that English was your strong subject, why not get that amazing study score and prove to yourself that you weren't talking crap all this time.

There's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to motivation, because for each of us, we value something different, for some, it's getting into that uni course they want, for others, it's scoring a scholarship, whilst some people just want to get an arbitrary number for no real good reason really apart from just earning that number. Then there are people who do it for others, maybe they want to show their parents they can achieve something, or maybe they think a 99.95 will attract the ladies.

STEP 4

Remember the facts. I've heard, time and time again, that the last stride in a sprint is always the hardest one, because at that point, you just want to give up already, but somehow you need to find that motivation to push harder.

The truth is, you're approaching that stage with VCE now, you're not far away from the finish line and if it were a race, you're a few strides away. Your legs ache and you're out of breath, maybe you're starting to lose out, but that's no reason to give up. You've ran a good race, you've made it this far and you've tried your hardest, why are you letting hardship and difficulty get the better of you?

If anything, use the fact that you've put hard work into VCE to get energy for that final stride. Remember, if you give up now, you'll just be wasting everything you've put in, and you wouldn't want that would you?

STEP 5

Get out there and change.

I can't emphasise this enough, so many people talk about change, so many people make plans, so many people set goals. For myself, I've never made detailed plans, nor have I ever made exquisite goals, but I've enacted the changes which I've wanted to, it's not about writing up that massive 10 page plan on how you're going to restructure your life, it's about having a good think and then making the actual change.

Like I have always said, you're responsible for your own VCE, not your school, not your peers, not your teachers and not your parents. If you want to do well, you're the only one who can make yourself do well, so if there's to be change, it has to come from you. If you're not motivated to do better, obviously there's something wrong. If you've read this, you now know how one person (myself) has managed to combat the issues which you are going through now. So you have the tools you need to stand up and make your change.

So what are you waiting for? You might not trust me, you might decide not to listen to me, well, I'm OK with that, everyone's different, but if there's any last words which I wish to leave you with, it's the fact that everything is within your hands, nothing is out of your grasp and certainly, you can't expect change without making it work.

Good luck for exams, better luck for hitting your goals, but best of luck for making your life the life you want to live. Now go out there and kick-ass your VCE. Cheers for taking the time to read, hope I have helped you.

brenden

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2012, 08:27:05 pm »
+6
And don't forget the Motivation Corner! =]
✌️just do what makes you happy ✌️

soccerboi

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2012, 08:38:45 pm »
0
Thank you Paul  :D
This is exactly what i need atm, after the first component of my spesh SAC that i totally blanked out and felt horrible about.
2011:| Further | Accounting | Vietnamese |
2012:| English | Specialist | Methods | Chemistry |
2013: Bachelor of Commerce and Engineering @ Monash Uni (Clayton)

Hard work pays off. If you don't think so, you're not working hard enough.

Jenny_2108

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2012, 08:44:29 pm »
0
Step 4 is the best one :)

Btw, do you have any guide for exam preparation? :P Like how we can overcome stresses before the end of year exams?

nisha

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2012, 08:48:43 pm »
+1

Btw, do you have any guide for exam preparation? :P Like how we can overcome stresses before the end of year exams?
Re: Please Help - Losing Motivation.....
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rebeccab26

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2012, 09:41:49 pm »
0
I've been around these forums for a while now, not as long as most of the others, but long enough to have seen what happens at what point in time and it's now reaching the second half of September, with those Term 3 holidays just around the corner. What usually happens now? Posts about people losing motivation? "Burn-out"? Stressing for exams? Yeah, they come and go at around this time.

I was thinking about this on my drive home from uni today, how to rekindle the fire when you're losing your motivation. It's an interesting thought though, I've seen people so motivated to do so well just crack when it comes to exam time. So I've put together this guide, it's called "Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!"

STEP 1

This step is about figuring out WHAT you are getting motivated by. Don't ask yourself what motivates you, just because you'll probably say something textbook like wanting to get into a particular university course. The crux of the issue here is what's the actual drive behind your studies. The question to ask yourself is:

- Why am I losing motivation?

You'll probably answer something along the lines of "I'm not doing well enough on practice exams and I'm not improving" or "I feel like I'm letting down my parents" or "I'm afraid I'll fail and shame my family". Well there you go, you have very clear-cut motivations as to why you're studing - in this case:

1) Studying in order to get high marks
2) Studying to impress somebody else (parents)
3) Studying for the fear of doing badly

For me, I've always studied because I've been afraid of letting myself down and not doing what I know I'm capable of doing. Now that you know what exactly motivates you, time to move onto the next step.

STEP 2

This step is simply about taking a break. If you're at the point where you're "burning out" - it's time for you to go on a break. Take a weekend off with your friends or your family, even if you don't feel comfortable doing that, just take a night off, go to a nice restaurant with your friends or go see a movie you've been wanting to see for a while now. Whatever makes you forget thinking about your studies and just enjoy yourself.

Not only will this help you feel better about yourself, but it allows you to break your chain of thought that's been causing you to burn out over the past few weeks. Once you've done that, you're doing well, you'll probably be feeling better and more motivated to make your VCE work!

STEP 3

Well obviously if you're losing motivation, doesn't that say something about your motivation? Yeah, that what you once found motivating is no longer motivating. It's funny, but what motivates us as time passes changes. I remember that once upon a time, my motivation was to get a higher mark than a friend of mine (who I respected as one of the smartest people I knew at the time) but over time, I started to care less, so I needed to change my motivation.

If you've found that you've always been studying for the numbers, why not try studying for something different, have you ever searched for something to be proud of? Well why not make that your VCE.

Possibly you've always studied in order to get into a particular course and you know that you won't get there, so why not change your motivation to a numbers one? If you've always maintained that English was your strong subject, why not get that amazing study score and prove to yourself that you weren't talking crap all this time.

There's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to motivation, because for each of us, we value something different, for some, it's getting into that uni course they want, for others, it's scoring a scholarship, whilst some people just want to get an arbitrary number for no real good reason really apart from just earning that number. Then there are people who do it for others, maybe they want to show their parents they can achieve something, or maybe they think a 99.95 will attract the ladies.

STEP 4

Remember the facts. I've heard, time and time again, that the last stride in a sprint is always the hardest one, because at that point, you just want to give up already, but somehow you need to find that motivation to push harder.

The truth is, you're approaching that stage with VCE now, you're not far away from the finish line and if it were a race, you're a few strides away. Your legs ache and you're out of breath, maybe you're starting to lose out, but that's no reason to give up. You've ran a good race, you've made it this far and you've tried your hardest, why are you letting hardship and difficulty get the better of you?

If anything, use the fact that you've put hard work into VCE to get energy for that final stride. Remember, if you give up now, you'll just be wasting everything you've put in, and you wouldn't want that would you?

STEP 5

Get out there and change.

I can't emphasise this enough, so many people talk about change, so many people make plans, so many people set goals. For myself, I've never made detailed plans, nor have I ever made exquisite goals, but I've enacted the changes which I've wanted to, it's not about writing up that massive 10 page plan on how you're going to restructure your life, it's about having a good think and then making the actual change.

Like I have always said, you're responsible for your own VCE, not your school, not your peers, not your teachers and not your parents. If you want to do well, you're the only one who can make yourself do well, so if there's to be change, it has to come from you. If you're not motivated to do better, obviously there's something wrong. If you've read this, you now know how one person (myself) has managed to combat the issues which you are going through now. So you have the tools you need to stand up and make your change.

So what are you waiting for? You might not trust me, you might decide not to listen to me, well, I'm OK with that, everyone's different, but if there's any last words which I wish to leave you with, it's the fact that everything is within your hands, nothing is out of your grasp and certainly, you can't expect change without making it work.

Good luck for exams, better luck for hitting your goals, but best of luck for making your life the life you want to live. Now go out there and kick-ass your VCE. Cheers for taking the time to read, hope I have helped you.

wow amazing advice paul!
thanks for that
:)

WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!
VCE 2012:

Chemistry (33),
Methods (34),
Biology (35),
English (36),
Health and Human Development (48)

ATAR: 91.60

Jenny_2108

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2012, 09:46:49 pm »
0
WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!

Can we? Only 2 weeks left, not enough time to finish prac exam papers ==
2012: Bio | Chem| Spesh | Methods | ESL | Vietnamese
2013-2016: BActuarial studies/BCommerce @ ANU

Thanks to gossamer, TT, pi, laserblued, Thus for helping and supporting me during VCE

99.00

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2012, 09:58:28 pm »
0
WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!

Can we? Only 2 weeks left, not enough time to finish prac exam papers ==
plenty of time to finish trials. Could sneak in 40 in that time :P

rebeccab26

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2012, 10:00:13 pm »
+2
WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!

Can we? Only 2 weeks left, not enough time to finish prac exam papers ==

you don't need to do every paper.
don't be so negative!
its over 2 weeks.
doing even 4/5 papers for each subject before then can greatly improve how you go in the exam
and you can definitely achieve more than that in this time
you are only revising, not relearning, so you'll get the hang of things soon.
don't stress you'll be fine :)
VCE 2012:

Chemistry (33),
Methods (34),
Biology (35),
English (36),
Health and Human Development (48)

ATAR: 91.60

pi

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2012, 11:25:31 pm »
+1
WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!

Can we? Only 2 weeks left, not enough time to finish prac exam papers ==

LOL

There's plenty of time left! Here's what I suggest you do:
1) Get off AN (after reading my post)
2) Get some prac exams out
3) Do them
4) Sleep, eat, rest, whatevs
5) Next day, check previous exams, do more, don't procrastinate


Simple.

Jenny_2108

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2012, 11:48:53 pm »
0
WE CAN DO THIS GUYS!
It's not too late - it's never too late.
Anything you do will help :)
Good luck everyone!

Can we? Only 2 weeks left, not enough time to finish prac exam papers ==

LOL

There's plenty of time left! Here's what I suggest you do:
1) Get off AN (after reading my post)
2) Get some prac exams out
3) Do them
4) Sleep, eat, rest, whatevs
5) Next day, check previous exams, do more, don't procrastinate


Simple.

Its nearly 12am. I can't do prac exam now
But I promise I won't procrastinate since tomorrow. If someone ever see me wandering on AN from tomorrow until the end of year exam, ban me immediately!
Good bye and good luck year 12 ANers!!! Lets smash the exam together! WE HAVE TO DO IT!
2012: Bio | Chem| Spesh | Methods | ESL | Vietnamese
2013-2016: BActuarial studies/BCommerce @ ANU

Thanks to gossamer, TT, pi, laserblued, Thus for helping and supporting me during VCE

pi

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2012, 11:51:54 pm »
0
If someone ever see me wandering on AN from tomorrow until the end of year exam, ban me immediately!

I'm going to hold you to this :P

paulsterio

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2012, 12:41:59 am »
+3
Remember it is not the number of practice exams you do that counts, it's what you learn from doing each practice exam. I could swear I did less than half of the number of practice exams some of my friends did for subjects like Methods and I still got a higher study score than them, because I went over my mistakes and made sure I learn my lessons so that I never make the same mistakes again, very crucial - no point practicing if you don't improve and learn!

Devva[R]

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2012, 01:56:33 pm »
+1
I just wanted to say, the way you worded your title, I thought the thread was gonna be something about the Kindle Fire. ;p

And just to add value to my post, you guys can check out Cal Newport's Study Hacks blog which has some interesting articles on doing well in school, albeit with a North American focus.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2012, 01:59:00 pm by Devva[R] »
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2015: Graduate!

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Re: Burning Out? Time to Rekindle the Fire!
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2012, 05:48:38 pm »
+1
Motivation:

« Last Edit: December 17, 2012, 05:51:04 pm by SING »
"A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths." - Steven Wright

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I love the quotes in your sig :)