Study Motivation for When You’re Feeling Low

My Top Tips on How to Keep Going


Different things work for different people, but how to stay motivated is one of my most frequently asked questions, so here’s a summary of the things I do when I find motivation lacking. (I apologize in advance if they’re obvious! What I’ve noticed about study motivation is that it’s not so much about the tips, but about how ready you are to hear them.





1. Find your intrinsic study motivation

No one, except you, can motivate you. People come to me looking for study motivation, but sadly this motivation has to come from within yourself. Here are some tips on how to discover (or reignite) your intrinsic drive.
  • Flicking through motivational quotes: “Remember why you started,” and “I didn’t come this far to only come so far,” are some of my favourites.
  • Gratitude: when I remember how lucky I am to be where I am, studying what I am, it really puts everything into perspective.
  • Envisioning your future, the goals you’re working towards. What you do today will get you closer to that, I tell myself. And it helps, as I imagine interactions with my future patients or answering questions correctly on the wards.

2. Staying away from distractions

Addiction to Social Media : 

The use of social media has been multiplied in recent years. Social media addiction has gotten to the point where some people prefer Facebook over sex, do status updates from the bathroom or upon waking at night. But a new study finds that social media distraction in the classroom interferes with visual, but not auditory, learning in college students. The paper is published in Advances in Physiology Education. So, it surely has detrimental effects on one's studies. Almost half of all college students use social media for an estimated two to five hours a day. Previous research suggests that unless social media activity in the classroom is related to academic work, "distractive multitasking" on social media sites leads to a lower grade-point average and poorer overall academic performance. This is largely because students who focus on mobile devices during class are not likely to fully acquire lecture information delivered visually. However, whether or not they are able to retain information presented verbally is less clear.

10 ways social media is distracting:

  • You seemingly have to watch what everyone else is up to: liking posts and following the live feeds. Otherwise you might miss something – right?
  • You find yourself stalking people… wondering what they’re up to at any given time…
  • You get drawn into content that might be interesting, but isn’t relevant to your studies or purpose.
  • You end up taking Wiki walks, even if you didn’t mean to. (Randomly following Wikipedia links (or others) and reading articles, which ends up wasting a lot of time) The longer the walk, the more unrelated the articles become.
  • You end up watching each account in case anyone contacts you directly
  • If anyone does contact or mention you, you drop everything you’re doing and respond instantly to any comment or communication that comes your way.
  • There are too many accounts and feeds to focus on.
  • There are too many people to follow.
  • You find yourself wandering the social mediasphere aimlessly, looking for relevant content.
  • You ended up looking at what your friends were up to all day instead of doing your work.

 Sound familiar?

I know people who have punted and just said no to using social media. While that is a solution, it’s not a very relevant one for those of us who do want to be effective in connecting with people near and far. A better one is making a conscious choice about how you use your time moment by moment. Here are some actions for avoiding social media and personal technology distractions:

·    Turn off alerts and notifications (do not disturb for iPhones and there are apps for Android users).
·    Check e-mail only three times a day.
·    Use a second monitor (to decrease window-switching time).
·    Schedule regular blocks of time to turn off your phone.
·    Try creating a “3 Most Important Things for Today List” at the start of your day. Then at the end of the day, look at it, reflect on what you did – and plan for tomorrow. The hard part is to not go online or check email until you get your three things done. We can practice this in session.
10 ways not to be distracted by social media:
  1. Close news and social media sites: A helpful tip is to create an aggregated feed of all your favorite news sites. This helps you avoid wasting time wandering the Internet for headlines and updates.
  2. Close your Internet browser when you’re working: The precious seconds it takes to load the browser when you feel tempted to go online may be just the moment you need to become conscious of the time you’re wasting. If you must be logged in on a continual basis, try restricting yourself to three or four browser tabs for work-related sites. Close everything else.
  3. Plan times to interact with it: You may need to schedule when you will use social media, check Facebook or post selfies. If you allow yourself scheduled time each day to do this you can focus more on getting your work done instead of wondering where that time went. Stick to those times!
  4. Stick to the plan: Be disciplined, trust your plan, stick to it and review how it’s working, when you said you would. (It’s ok not to be on IG (Instagram) all day, really!)
  5. Reflect and adjust: You will want to closely monitor yourself on a daily and weekly basis and make adjustments. You should regularly ask yourself the following questions. While these are related to your studies and how to better acquire new skills, you could just as well use them in any work or life situation.
      • What is my main goal?
      • What is my goal for the week?
      • What do I need to do today?
      • Where am I at the moment?
      • Is this technique/schedule/place/relationship/situation working?
      • Is it worth improving? How can I improve it?
  1. Find the right place to study or work: Picking the right place to study is crucial because it has a major influence on the efficiency of the learning process. While you might like to study in your room, you’ll easily be distracted by TV, video games, or fashion magazines lying next to your bed. A coffee shop might seem like a good option but it can be noisy at times. Be sure to find a quiet and well lit place. If you are planning on spending long hours working or studying, it’s a good idea to make sure that your chair and desk are ergonomically designed for greater productivity. A bad physical setup can mess up both your posture and your work efficiency. And don’t forget snacks!
  2. Managing Physical Space. When you see clutter in your physical work spaces, try to take that as a sign that you need to hit a pause button. Usually it is because you are doing too much.
  3. Try online quarantine. For extreme measures, install Freedom, Anti-Social, SelfControl, or RescueTime, which put a temporary barrier on your access to certain websites on the net. Add all your social media sites to the blacklist. We can do this in coaching!
  4. Cut down. Choose and use the right types of social media. You don’t have to have or use every one. 
  5. Just Say No (#YOLO). Maybe you are going to say no to social media for a day and go to meet with people, read a book, or take a walk. When I’m feeling most overwhelmed, I take a break. Even if it is just to get up and walk around my desk. The important thing is to disconnect every now and then so you can re-center & focus.
Social media is awesome but when it starts interfering to the point that your grades are suffering, you can’t or aren’t getting anything else done it is time to try some of the above techniques. If you feel your social media use is to the point where it is really out of hand (see below for a few signs) please let me or someone else you feel comfortable with know.

Some Signs Your Social Media Use is Out of Hand
    • Losing track of time online
    • Having trouble completing tasks at work or home
    • Isolation from family and friends
    • Feeling guilty or defensive about your Internet use
    • Feeling a sense of euphoria while involved in Internet activities

3. Take a guilt-free break

Counterintuitive as it may seem, sometimes taking a break is exactly what I need to get pumped again. Taking a deliberate break is significantly more useful than spending hours procrastinating and feeling dejected. Here, the key is the “guilt-free” part: there is absolutely no point in taking time off from studying if you will spend it beating yourself up.
If you can afford to, take a break and enjoy it. Watch a movie, spend a few hours binge-ing a TV show, get a drink with a friend. Try your best not to overdo it (don’t stay up late and ruin your sleep schedule, or waste a study day with a bad hangover) but enjoy yourself. Eat some yummy food, work on your hobby, or read a book.
The next day, you’ll be as good as new: well-rested and itching to get studying. Remember, forgive yourself. Everyone needs breaks.

4. Listen to inspirational music

I prefer not to constantly listen to music while I’m studying, because studies have shown that even a bit of multitasking can be detrimental. But if I find myself losing focus or feeling demotivated, music can really lift my spirits. 

5. Find a study buddy

Misery loves company, didn’t you hear? Humans are social creatures and spending hours upon hours in solitude can be draining. If you’re able to study well with a friend, call them up and ask if they’re up for a review session. Or just simply sit and study in the same room, taking breaks together — the laughs we have over lunch really re-energize me for the afternoon study session. Whenever we feel like life is too monotonous and we’re in severe need of study motivation, my med school friends and I schedule a cafe study day that we know might be less productive, but way more fun.

6. Change the scenery up

This is my go-to tip for long bouts of studying, as in during our 6-week exam period. The monotony of sitting in one place day after day can take its toll, which is why I often find new spots to study. I rotate between three types of locations: cafes, libraries and studying at home. I’ve explored my city enough to know which cafes permit me to study long hours with minimal purchases, and I know the pros/cons of the libraries I frequent.
If you can’t study effectively in someplace other than a library, for example, consider switching rooms, or even desks. A small change can make a big difference.

7. Reward myself (Pre- or Post-Study)

Studying day-in, day-out is incredibly draining, so I find ways to keep my morale up. This often comes in the form of food (which isn’t the healthiest, I know) or delicious coffee. It’s much easier to talk myself into getting started with a revitalizing, yummy coffee in my hand. Since I’m an “instant gratification” kind of person, I usually reward myself PRE-study session, before I’ve even gotten anything done, but it still works.

8. Plan my to do list before going to bed

Somehow, this works almost every time. When I plan my day out the night before, I actually envision myself studying and I usually get excited to make that vision a reality. Then I go to sleep having something to look forward to: an ultra-productive day, and that positive outlook goes a long way.
It’s also helpful because when I wake up refreshed, I don’t have to spend precious energy on determining where or how to start: I’ve already got my game plan, all ready to go.

1 comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2020 at 10:09 PM

    Such a nice blog and such great tips. I'm a med student aswell and I'm also focusing on not using social media frequently thanks for this Info.

    ReplyDelete