My name is Alphie and I'm a 5th Year Med Student studying at UCL. So with the current pandemic,
it seems like everyone is doing online classes and whilst this might have been
quite nice at the start being able to do class in bed and having snacks on the side. It looks
like online classes are gonna go on for the rest of the year, and it's starting to get quite hard
it's hard to stay motivated. It's hard to not get distracted by things like your phone.
So in today's video I wanted to go over 5 easy tips that help me stay motivated for
online classes and with that out the way let's get into the video!
Tip Number 1: Don't Sleep In! With all the classes being online and often being recorded
you don't have to get up, wash up, get changed and make your daily commute to uni. So the temptation
to just stay in bed is definitely there but trust me you'll be much better off getting out of bed
and actually getting on with your day. Even when the world seems a bit crazy and the most
comforting thing to do is to just lie in your warm covers, trust me you gotta get out of bed!
So Tip Number 2: Build Your Own Routine! With online classes being all over the place and
lectures most of the time being recorded, it's hard to keep yourself motivated and want to do
things on time and not laze around. If I can re-watch a lecture later on then why
do I have to get my day started early and just get things going. I think the
best way to create this is to have a daily routine and stick to that. So for example,
if every morning you would have woken up at 7 am to head to lectures then maybe with online classes
you'll get up at 8. But you got to keep that time consistent and you got to keep doing that
and if every morning you have a coffee, you jump in the shower and have some breakfast then keep
doing that don't fall into a slump and after you finish your daily routine jump into some scheduled
things to do! So for me the night before I like to plan out what I want to do the day after.
So for example, from 9 to 12 I'll schedule a block just to study. So in that block that's all I get
to do and then afterwards maybe I have some lunch and then I might dedicate an hour or two to do
something which I want to do after that. So for example I could go for a walk...
could go for a run, after that from 2 to 6 I might have another dedicated block of study time I can
just do whatever I want for the rest of the day. Now obviously if you have scheduled classes then
make sure you attend those and then tailor your schedule to that. But the key with this
is instead of relying on your university or your professors to give you a timetable that you can
structure your life around, you're going to take that first step and try and structure your own day
Tip Number 3 is Having a Dedicated Space to Study! So with classes being online you're probably not
going into uni or the library to get some work done. So instead it's useful to have a dedicated
space that you can just focus on doing your work and when you're on that spot it's probably better
not to do other things like eat at your desk and the reason for that is because if you can
try and block out a certain area and just do one task in that place then your brain can make an
association with that place. So for example, if every time you sit at your desk you know
okay I need to get some work done then you'll get into the rhythm and the habit of that
Okay so we're going to switch things up and do things outside until it starts to rain again
but Tip Number 4: Set Some Small Goals and Have Some Rewards! So sitting at your desk just doing
lecture after lecture can be quite tiring so one of the ways I keep myself motivated is I set these
small goals and rewards! So for example if maybe I set out a two hour block to just do question banks
then after that I'll make a mental note that I've done one of these small goals and then I'll reward
myself by maybe having a snack or maybe playing one or maybe more games of smash! You can't be
too tough for yourself to think that you can just power through the day without doing the things you
Alright, so moving on to the final tip, Tip Number 5: Having a Study Buddy! So depending on the
measures of where you live it may be difficult for you to see your friends and maybe work together
but that doesn't mean that you can't keep each other accountable and so during my revision period
one of the best things I did was every week, maybe once a week I would try to check in on my friends
and call my friends and we would have this sort of group study session and it'd be really good
because we could test each other on difficult concepts and kind of try and talk through that and
beyond that it's also good to just you know look after each other and make sure everyone's okay!
So those are my 5 tips to help keep you motivated during online classes.
So I know that everyone's experience right now is a little bit different but one thing we all share
in common is that nothing feels quite right at the moment but that's actually okay and I think it's
easy to be too tough on yourself and think that you have to be productive every single second
of the day but that's not actually the case. I think the most important thing is trying to
find a balance of work and things that you enjoy during these difficult times but anyways that
wraps up this video I hope you guys enjoyed it and until then I'll see you guys next time peace!