Student issues with focus and motivation
It being the end of April means that we are seeing the end of our drawn out rainy days and beginning to feel the warmth that spring brings. The idea of beautiful weather is exciting to all, but especially to students just trying to get through the rest of the year so they can be relieved from school stress once summer hits. It becomes hard for students to focus in class when nice weather approaches and being released from school is such a freeing and exciting idea for most. While it is tempting to let your mind wander in the classroom and detach from schoolwork, it is important to stay motivated to end the school year off strong, with a good attitude and trying your best.
In school, I am usually pretty focused in class and get my work done, although when it comes to bringing work home, I struggle to stay motivated. I often procrastinate doing homework or projects until the day or two before they are due. While this is never a good habit, it gets increasingly worse as the school year goes on. I always finish my work on time and with care, so the only negative about the procrastination is that having an unfinished assignment stresses me out, although I can’t ever bring myself to complete it any earlier. Sometimes, I feel that I submit better work when I save the assignment for the last minute because while I still try to pay attention to detail and be meticulous, I am forced to work diligently since I don’t have enough time not to. It’s a good thing, that the time constraint pressures me to remain focused so I can turn the assignment in on time. I never turn any of my assignments in late, I just procrastinate doing them. After speaking to a number of students about this, a good portion of them treat at home assignments the same way, procrastinating them, mostly towards the end of the school year. These tips on staying motivated throughout the concluding months, should also help any personal procrastination habits you have, as procrastination can be an issue one has with motivation.
Staying motivated
In the final marking period of school, students of all ages, mainly high schoolers, suffer from a severe loss of academic inspiration. To stay motivated towards the end, students, and even teachers, should set academic goals, focus on self-care, keep up a positive mindset and environment, and celebrate successes of all sizes.
Set academic goals
- People set goals so they have something to work towards. If you set a goal and stick to working towards it, you may even subconsciously form a healthy routine and discipline yourself into doing at least one activity a day that will help you reach your goal.
- As to not lose steam, you must only set goals that are achievable for you. Try to stay focused and not get distracted or discouraged by the large or small goals of others.
- In my opinion, the most important aspect of setting academic goals to stay on track and keep your scholarly motivation even in the homestretch of the school year, is to never forget about the big picture. For most highschool students, getting into a good college is their large goal in terms of after high school plans. Work hard in school so you get exceptional grades and an awesome GPA you can show colleges.
Focus on self-care
- Get enough sleep so you don’t make it harder to focus in class from a lack thereof. Eat nourishing, fulfilling meals to energize you and improve your mood throughout the day. Having good eating and sleeping habits go a long way in terms of personal health, which impact your daily life and attitude each day. I know that I do much better in school, retain much more information, and am more attentive when I get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast.
- Prioritize your mental health while also pushing yourself to do better academically. Don’t forget about your needs and mental state. It is healthy to challenge yourself.
Positive mindset and environment
- Surround yourself with positive role models and good examples of the type of person you want to be. Being around motivated, aware students inspires you to be more attentive in class and resulting in good things all around. On the opposite end of things, surrounding yourself with friends that are bad students can have a severe negative effect on your academic performance.
- Having good relationships with classmates and teachers, and friends outside of school, can really boost your academic experience. Being able to bounce ideas off of each other and help peers with schoolwork, as well as get help from teachers outside of regular instructional time, leaves you with a greater understanding of whatever it is you need to know.
Celebrate successes
- Celebrate your accomplishments! From the little wins to the huge ones, all are important. After achieving your goals, reward yourself! Hangout with your friends, buy yourself something you have been wanting, rewatch your favorite movie, do whatever makes you happy and whatever it takes to accomplish your goals because you should celebrate once you do.
- No achievement is too small. Celebrating even the smallest of things keeps you engaged, excited, and eager to learn more and do better.
We only have around two months of school left, so push through and keep working hard. Your hardwork will always pay off.