How to stay motivated

Yesterday I received an ask from an anon on Tumblr asking me about any advice I had regarding motivation. I know how it feels to loose all motivation. You think that you won't get out of that rut. Not all hope is lost! After all, all of us have gone through some point in our lives in which we had lost complete motivation. So I've complied a list of all helpful tips and tricks I use to stay motivated!

1. Set realistic goals 

Don’t try and complete all 20 things on your to do list all in one day. It won’t work. Trust me. You’ll just end up burning out and loosing focus. What you should do instead is to look at this huge list you've written and pick and chose tasks that are the most pressing and reevaluate what it is you set yourself as a goal. Here are a couple of examples for changing unrealistic goals to realistic ones.

Task 1: Clean up room 

- the problem with this one is that it doesn't specific where to start 
- look around your room and chose the most important parts that have to be cleaned/tidied up/organised 

Realistic Task 1: Organise desk // Sort out laundry // Organise bookshelf etc.

Task 2: Do (insert class here) homework 

- by writing something like this you are essentially setting yourself up for a long session of procrastination 
- focus on specific elements to this homework 

Realistic Task 2: Do 5 math questions // Finish introduction for Bio IA // Read 10 pages of 1984 etc.

If you followed these tips and tricks for your to-do list, you'll soon notice that you're getting more things done throughout the day than you usually would. By ticking off 50 smaller tasks on your to-do list you become motivated by just looking at the list you have created yourself. One of the reasons for being unmotivated is that you loose perspective on everything you have achieved so far. So take a look at that to-do list and be proud of your accomplishments!

2. Prioritise 

If your to-do list does have like a million items on it, break it down. I usually divide my list into three sections. 
a) Must complete by the end of the week 
b) Aim to finish by next Friday 
c) Must finish before the end of the monthThis way you can start working on the most urgent tasks first and feel less stressed knowing that the most important tasks are done. You can try making a to-do list by cutting out pieced of paper or using sticky notes and putting them up on your wall. I have this massive white board hanging on my room wall and what I do is use sticky notes and paste them in one of the above 3 sections. Through this I'm able to shift tasks from section b to section a and so on. If you're a visual person like me, this will come in handy, especially in those months where a lot of assignments are due.

3. Reward yourself

I know that seeing posts in which people lay a candy bar after each chapter in their textbook seems a bit too much, but bare with me here. What I’m talking about might be a little more reasonable. You could set yourself a small goal such as finishing a chapter, five questions for a homework assignment, a quarter of your math homework etc. and allow yourself to just chill for 30 min after each of these small bursts of concentration. What I do is usually make myself a cup of tea or watch a youtube video when I’m taking a break. This way you will successfully recharge your mind, and be able to work more effectively throughout the day. 

4. Procrastinate with something useful

Alright, bare with me here guys. You're probably thinking, "But Izzy...if you procrastinate by doing something useful...how is that still procrastination?" I see your point. Procrastination is usually something we engage in in order to escape from the dreaded work load awaiting us. However, one you have prioritised your work, you know that there are some things further down your list that aren't as important and necessary for you to complete. I'll give you guys an example to show you how I apply this to my life. So lets take my IB Film assignments. For now all we really have to be doing is working on our independent study and our production portfolio for our final film. When it comes to the final film, I'm taking on the role of the Director as my primary job. However, because I'm working in a group with just one other person, I'm also taking on the roles of the script writer, editor and cinematographer. So what I would do when "procrastinating" is to do something like creating the title slate for the film, or edit some of the footage by color correcting it and cutting. These are necessary things that have to be done eventually, but aren't actually pressing tasks. So when I'm done with them, I have relaxed and regained some energy but also completed a minor task that will elevate future stress.