hello! it's seo from tbhstudying and i'm here to talk about ways to stay motivated while studying.
i get this question a lot on different livestreams and a lot of comments and DMs i get so i figured that it might be useful
and helpful to make a whole video about it and this video is also sponsored by chegg!
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now, let's continue on with the rest of the video. and before we get into the ways to get yourself motivated,
let's talk about what motivation is and what kinds of motivation there are.
motivation is sort of what drives you to complete tasks and get things done
and when things get tough, motivation is typically what keeps people going.
but there are four types of motivation. there's positive, negative, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation.
i feel like most people know about intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation since that's what i see is most talked about online
but i think that there's positive and negative motivation as well.
so, positive motivation is when you're motivated to do things by focusing on positive things that will happen if you do it.
it's kinda similar to intrinsic motivation in that it's sort of like an internal reward.
for example, you are motivated to finish an assignment or to complete a course because it'll mean that you're closer
to finishing your goal, you know that there's some sort of positive thing that's going to happen after you complete it.
negative motivation happens when you focus on the negative things that will happen if you don't do the task.
for example, you're motivated to finish something because you're afraid you're going to fail
or you're not going to make it to your goal if you don't complete it.
intrinsic motivation is when you do something without the promise of an external reward.
you're just doing it because you're motivated and you're interested and it'll get you closer towards your goal.
extrinsic motivation is when you do things for the sake of a reward that's at the end of the road.
for example, if you get an A on this test, you're going to get some sort of reward, some sort of monetary compensation,
some sort of reward that's outside of yourself that motivates you to complete it.
although all forms of motivation do work, like, they're all different kinds of motivation, but at the end of the day,
positive motivation and intrinsic motivation are going to be healthier for you in the long term.
extrinsic motivation can wear off if you end up over-rewarding yourself
and negative motivation can be really damaging to your mental health if you focus on it for the long term.
again, that's not to say that extrinsic and negative motivation don't work.
in fact, some of those things are what motivate me as well in certain situations,
but i just don't want you to rely solely on negative motivation and extrinsic motivation to get you going.
when it comes to motivation, try to stay motivated in a positive, intrinsic way for a healthier, long-term effect.
now, let's talk about ways to get your motivation going.
i feel like in most articles or online videos that talk about motivation talk a lot about setting your goals,
making an action plan for yourself, and looking at the bigger picture.
these are pretty good tips, but since they're over-talked about, i don't really want to focus and spend too much time on them.
just know that they're good steps to begin with, but let's move on to some other tips that i think aren't talked about as much.
i think motivation comes up a lot in your mindset and the way you treat yourself, and essentially, how you talk to yourself.
after you figure out what your goals are and what your bigger picture is,
think about the way you visualize and encourage your own success.
i feel like a lot of the times, people start out by making really good goals for themselves.
they have the big picture in mind, but then along the way, they lose their motivation through their own self-talk.
self-talk is how you talk to yourself in terms of what you say to yourself and how you say those things.
if your self-talk is negative and harsh and judgmental, it's gonna be a lot harder for you to get things done
and to remember your goals and focus on them. although it might feed into that negative motivation mindset
that i was talking about earlier, it can actually be really damaging for your mental health in the long term.
instead of keeping you motivated for a longer period of time, negative self-talk is just going to feed your own guilt,
your frustration, your anxiety, and your sadness, and it'll cause more problems down the road.
it's definitely super easier said than done, but try to change the way you talk to yourself to be more gentle and to be
more positive and to be more encouraging. for example, if you don't finish an assignment completely,
instead of telling yourself that you suck and that you're not gonna make it and that you're gonna fail your class,
reframe that self-talk to tell yourself, "hey, i'm a little disappointed that i didn't finish, but i still put in a pretty good effort anyways."
instead of focusing on the fact that you didn't complete it, focus on the progress that you made and
the fact that you completed at least some of it and use that positivity to fuel your motivation going into the next day
or going into the next task. be careful not to let this fall into procrastination though because
the purpose of improving your self-talk is not to procrastinate but rather to steer yourself towards positive, intrinsic motivation.
i also think a lot of motivation comes after you start the task that you wanna be motivated on.
sure, you might feel motivated after watching this video or you might feel motivated if you go on study instagram
and see all these pictures and videos of people studying, but that motivation is sorta temporary.
it doesn't really last. motivation is usually the result of action, not the cause of action,
and you have to get started on your tasks in order to get your momentum going.
it's kinda like newton's first law if any of you are physics nerds out there.
objects in motion stay in motion, and think about motivation as a similar thing.
also, once you get started on your work, you're more likely to fall into a good work flow and keep working,
which will motivate you even further when you see how much progress you've made.
and if you find that you're losing motivation, i always think it's a good idea to take a quick break and
check in with yourself and see how much you've progressed. and remember to do this with gentle self-talk!
see how much progress you've actually made on your goals and if you have a hard time seeing the progress you've made,
try talking to someone else about your progress because i feel like a lot of the times,
we have a hard time visualizing our own progress, but other people around us and close to us
can see us progressing far more easily than we can ourselves. and oftentimes, most people tend to lose motivation
because they feel like they're not progressing as they should, so checking in with yourself
and assessing where you are can often help boost that motivation a little more up.
and remember that progress looks different for every single person.
and speaking of how progress looks different, i also want to mention that motivation doesn't look the same for everyone.
you're going to have some days when you're super productive and some days when you're not,
and different people have different limitations and different needs, and i don't want to encourage this
idea that you should be productive all the time and that you should be motivated all the time.
and speaking of how progress looks different for different people,
i also want to remind you that motivation and productivity looks different for different people.
everyone has different needs and different limitations and different schedules and different goals,
so don't feel like you have to be motivated all the time.
some days, you're going to be more productive and motivated and other days, you're not, and that's fine!
i just want to give you these tips and tricks so that you can be on the path towards a sustainable method of progress
and a sustainable method of motivation. these tips are designed to give you a healthier, more long-term effect
on your motivation and your mental health rather than focusing on toxic productivity or other ideas like that.
so, i hope this video helped and thank you so much for watching and let me know down in the comments
what your favorite method of motivating yourself or what your source of motivation is.
good luck with your studying and until the next video, i'll see you later. bye!