It’s easy to lose motivation, especially when life gets tough. In college, you’re balancing many things: studies, work, career searches, internships, dorm life, time management, relationships, and more. It can often feel like your mind is going in a thousand directions and you don’t know where to start. These overwhelming feelings are normal, and if they aren’t handled correctly, they can lead to burnout. With that in mind, here are some tips to maintain motivation in college.
As a note, it is normal for motivation to ebb and flow throughout your college journey, and throughout life as a whole. There will be highs and lows, and that’s pretty unavoidable. You shouldn’t beat yourself up for this, but should instead consider that you will find another high when you are in a low. These tips will help to push you closer to the highs and mitigate the lows, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself to the point where it will be counterproductive.
Motivation Tip #1: Find Your Why
Throughout my credential program, one of the most commonly repeated phrases was “know your why.” Your “why” is why you are doing something, why you care, and why you should keep going. Your why can be practical–i.e., “I want to graduate college and get a job.” It can be personal–“I want to be the first person in my family to graduate college.” Better yet, it can be specific–“I want to become the first person to do _____ by the year___.” Whatever it is, it should be genuine to YOU and help you to maintain motivation in college because it is meaningful for you.
Motivation Tip #2: Set Clear Goals
In order to achieve a goal, it needs to be reachable and specific. I’ve talked before about SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, timely), and they’re important in this case as well. Sometimes, when you feel like there’s something you should be doing and have a vague idea of what to do instead of a specific one, it’s easy to feel frustrated. When it’s not specific enough, you’ll always feel like you’re falling short or off track.
To fix this, considering creating some specific (and reachable) short term and long term goals. Whenever you reach a goal, be sure to reward yourself. Allow your short term goals to build your confidence toward your long term goals.
Motivation Tip #3: Take Care of Yourself
Are you taking care of your health? Your social needs? Your mental and emotional wellbeing?
It’s hard to maintain motivation in college when your basic needs aren’t being met. For example, if you’re studying and stressing so much that you barely leave the house or eat, you’re probably going to feel burnt out. It can be difficult to find the time to fit everything in, but it is crucial that you are doing the things that you need to do to survive, but also to thrive. Some questions you can ask yourself are:
- Do I feel healthy physically? Is my body trying to tell me anything?
- Am I eating well? Exercising?
- How often do I leave the house and/or go out with people?
- Are there any events that I have had to miss because of other commitments?
- What percentage of my life is work/school occupying?
- Do I feel mentally and emotionally stable?
- Are the people in my life invigorating or draining me?
- What needs are not being met right now? How can I fulfill those?
From here, you can look at what you need to fix and get on it.
Motivation Tip #4: Figure Out Time Management
As I say in this article, the most successful people in college are usually the ones who manage their time best and take advantage of meaningful opportunities. If you feel it’s hard to maintain motivation in college, it might be because it feels like you’re always working or doing something for other people, not yourself. If your school and your work constantly overtake your personal life, it makes sense that you’re burnt out or struggling to maintain motivation.
Start looking into different time management methods, such as the Pomodoro Technique, a rewards system, ways to control your phone usage, making a priority list, and creating a schedule. Once you find a time management method that works for you, it will revolutionize the way you view work, and will (ideally) make more free time for you to do what you love.
Motivation Tip #5: Get and Stay Organized
Organization is another make or break topic. When you know where and when everything is, it makes life a lot easier for you. There are tons of organization methods, and I suggest some in this article. Find what works for you and stick with it. From making your closet neat to adequately scheduling everything, organization will help to make time management easier and give you some peace of mind. Taken together, this will help you to maintain motivation in college simply because life is easier.
Motivation Tip #6: Make Time for What You Love
Often, the things we love can get thrown to the wayside when other things come up. We constantly deny ourselves the things that we love in terms of what we feel we “should” be doing. Growing up, writing was always my passion. In college, however, I consistently denied myself the time to do that or felt like it was a waste of time or something I should feel guilty about doing. While I wasn’t miserable, it definitely made me feel like there was something missing. When I added an English minor at the end of my second year, however, it was a gamechanger in terms of helping me to maintain motivation in college.
Suddenly, I felt more engaged in every class because I had a “why” again. Writing no longer felt like a guilty waste of time because I had effectively scheduled in time to do it. Instead of feeling bad about not doing it, I had rearranged my priorities and incorporated it into my schedule. That year of college was my most fulfilling, even though it was also my busiest and most hectic.
You don’t need to find an academic path for what you love, but if you want to maintain motivation, you do need to find time for it. This is part of what makes you you, and you should embrace that. Life is too short to deny yourself the things that you love doing. Who knows–it might lead you to your true career path!
Motivation Tip #7: Have Different Spaces for Different Things
One of the best things I was ever told was to compartmentalize work and life. The example given was that if you constantly work your room, you will connect that to your stress, and you won’t be able to relax when it’s your personal time. I found out the hard way that this is true.
While you obviously might be limited by certain circumstances, keep this in mind. Do you have a study spot? Or, if you do prefer to study at home, do you have a place to go where you can unwind? Are you always at home, or do you get out, too? Figure out what works best for you both mentally and physically, then go from there.
Motivation Tip #8: Look for Patterns
Oftentimes when you feel unmotivated, there’s a pattern behind it. When I was a sophomore in college, I felt exhausted. I didn’t feel like I was taking on too much in terms of work, course load, and life, but I felt disproportionately tired. I became very grumpy and started dreading the weekend and having fear about the future and post-college life.
After I noticed these feelings, I started to pick up on the fact that I’d feel them more strongly toward the weekend, which was when I worked a job that I hated. To be completely honest, I didn’t realize exactly how much I hated this job and how much it was impacting my life until I noticed this pattern. It sounds silly, but part of it was that I didn’t want to admit to myself that I wanted to quit, even if it meant looking for a new job.
Quitting wasn’t an easy decision because it felt like a failure, but once I was out of the toxic work environment, I realized that it was all fine, as I quickly found a new job that was more in line with my interests. While it might not always be easy to look for patterns, it is certainly helpful. You can use this insight to highlight what you need to change and where you need to focus to maintain motivation in college.
Motivation Tip #9: Journal/Ask Yourself the Big Questions
It’s not always easy to ask yourself to big questions, especially if they mean you might need to change something big. That’s why it helps to journal about how you’re feeling. Like I mentioned above, you should look for patterns to analyze what’s working and what’s not working. You can read back on what you wrote and see what keeps coming up and what has changed for the better. What are you writing about when you feel motivated? What are you feeling when you’re finding it hard to maintain motivation in college (and beyond)?
Beyond that, you need to ask yourself the big, sometimes uncomfortable, questions. These might look like:
- Am I truly happy (or content)?
- Are my relationships giving me what I need?
- Is there something in my life that I don’t want to admit is dragging me down?
- What changes do I really need to make to get rid of this feeling?
- Do I have mental patterns that need fixing?
- Is there outside support that I should be getting?
- Do I need to change my priorities to make life more doable?
- Am I taking on more than I can handle?
It’s not always fun, but it can help you get to the root of things.
Motivation Tip #10: Create a Visual Representation of Your Dreams
With everything that college throws at you, it can be hard to hold onto dreams. However, it is crucial, as it goes back to your “why.” Sometimes, it helps to create a visual representation of what you are working for. Whether this is a collage, a Pinterest board, a collection of saved videos on Instagram, a drawing, a bunch of quotes, a painting, or something entirely different, you should have some visual medium through which you encourage yourself to maintain motivation in college. Whenever you feel down or unmotivated, look at this. Remind yourself why you are doing this. Tell yourself that you can do it. Remember that each step you take is one step closer to your final destination.
Motivation Tip #11: Lean on Your Support Network
Your support network is often bigger than you think. You have your immediate people (family and friends), then you have the next ring of people. This might be classmates, acquaintances, colleagues, coworkers, etc. You also have your more professional connections, such as professors and bosses.
You obviously don’t want to have emotional outbursts with near strangers or employers, and you should judge the best way to interact with each group of people. With that being said, however, you should take advantage of what each person can offer you. For example, do you go to your professor’s office hours? Do you seek out the help that you need, or look for conversations and insights in a subject that you love? Are you engaging in classes and talking or studying with your classmates? Are you leaning on your friends when you need to?
The general point is to not be an island. Social networks exist for a reason, and you can’t isolate yourself. If you want to maintain motivation in college, you need to connect with the people around you.
Motivation Tip #12: Be Kind to Yourself
This is cheesy, and it’s often frustrating to hear, but it is important to say. We are often incredibly hard on ourselves. It makes sense. We’re in our heads 24/7, and we see our failures best. Unfortunately, failure is a part of life, as is flexibility.
If you’ve read any other posts on this website, you’ll know that I’m not the type to tell you to solve everything with a face mask and a spa day. That might make you feel better in the moment, and it’s certainly a nice thing to do, but it won’t fix your problems in the long run. A mindset change will.
It’s incredibly difficult to see failure as a step to success or to accept it. Especially if you grew up in a household that valued success or are a perfectionist yourself, it’s hard. However, it is necessary to keep yourself afloat. Learn how to forgive yourself, adapt, and move on when things don’t go according to plan. Often, setbacks truly are doorways to new opportunities. I know that sounds super cliché, but it’s proven true.
A Final Word
It can be difficult to maintain motivation in college. While it doesn’t come easily, there are steps that you can take. These range from self-evaluation to organization to finding your reason for doing what you do. By combining multiple methods, you can help to keep yourself going, even when it gets tough. What else do you do to stay motivated? Drop it in the comments.
Photo via Unsplash
