How I Plan on Increasing Motivation Before Spring Break

It’s the Thursday before spring break and there is still so much I have to get done before I can finally leave campus. For starters, I have 2 exams and 2 quizzes to get done and I haven’t studied for any of them. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but like I said it’s the Thursday before spring break and motivation levels are at an all-time low. It’s virtually impossible to sit down and find the motivation to study for these exams. All I can think about is not having to do anything related to school for a whole week. To make matters worse, many of my more fortunate peers have the opportunity to leave campus early and get a head start on their spring break adventures. This makes it extremely hard to sit through class when I know many of my friends have already started their spring break festivities.

Writing this blog is the first step towards finding motivation for these next two days. I’m hoping that by starting with this blog post I will be able to jumpstart my brain into becoming more productive over the next two days. It’s like when a professional boxer needs to “get in the zone” before a big fight, I need to get my brain in the zone to get everything done between today and tomorrow. Music is also going to be an essential part of getting into this productive state of mind. Basically, I am going to put on a pair of noise-canceling headphones, crank them to max volume and force myself into my own little bubble. This will allow me to eliminate any outside distractions such as my roommate or other friends passing through my room. Although music is usually my saving grace when it comes to studying, sometimes it isn’t enough to bring me out of my lackadaisical funk.

In rare cases when isolation through music isn't enough I turn to extreme measures. These include waking up at 5:30 a.m., brewing a full pot of coffee, turning my phone off and forcing myself to sit down and grind through whatever it is that I am working on. I don’t know what it is, but there is just something about waking up super early in the morning that has a serious effect on my productivity levels. My best guess is that when I wake up at 5:30 a.m. the subject I am studying is the only thing my brain is focused on and there hasn’t been an opportunity for my brain to be exposed to any distractions that I would normally face later in the day such as an upcoming assignment for a different class or maybe a cute girl I saw earlier in the day. I also believe the high amount of coffee hyper focuses my brain on whatever I’m studying and allows me to look at it from different angles and come up with answers that I never would have even thought of before. Although this practice can be highly beneficial, it does take its toll on my body for the rest of the day. After an early morning of grinding, I am usually dog tired for the rest of the day and must squeeze in naps whenever I can to avoid passing out in the middle of class. I wouldn’t recommend this practice to everyone, but if you are like me it is a great way to get a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time.