i should be working on exam revision
right now but i'm not i mean i know i'll
get it done later in the day or later in
the week but at the same time i know i
don't always get things done within the
time that i intended to get them done in
this means that i often end up shuffling
around my to-do list and my tasks and
usually everything is fine but as
students we're not always a hundred
percent productive as much as we'd like
to think that we are sometimes we just
don't want study sound familiar
[Music]
what is up guys karma medic here and
welcome back to another dose we've all
been in the position of feeling
unmotivated some of you might even
characterize yourselves as typical
unmotivated students but i don't think
that should be the case what if you're
having one of those days where the
thought of doing work is just the worst
thing that you can think of and what if
this happens to you on most days either
way i'm hoping that the tips in this
video can help because they're
realistically doable when you're just in
a really unmotivated place we've all
heard it before but it's honestly the
most important tip that i can give for
tackling the long-term issue of being
unmotivated it's all about reframing
this idea of motivation being the key
driving factor to us doing the work we
know we need to do it's actually about
intrinsic motivation motivation that
comes from inside within yourself and
creating habits that are long-lasting
regardless of how you're feeling on any
specific day or time how i like to think
about it is that you need to study in
the same way that you need to brush your
teeth we just brush our teeth it's not
something that we think about it's just
something that we know that we're going
to do twice a day no matter what's going
on in your life whether you're sad
whether you're happy whether you are
really sleep deprived or you have plenty
of time you're gonna brush your teeth
it's just a habit that you do and
studying is kind of the same in the
sense that you can turn it into a habit
like that the idea that you need to be
motivated in order to sit down and study
i don't think is true if you have an
upcoming exam and you know that you need
to study then there isn't two ways about
it you have an exam so you need study
how to create habits and the best way to
create habits is for an entire other
video but the main things i want to
touch on are the following one commit to
the habit initially start simple and
easy and then work your way up to longer
studying times or more stunning sessions
per day two is forming triggers so you
know for example that every time in the
morning when you finish your cup of
coffee it's time to go study and three
is compounding habits together stacking
a new habit onto an old one or an
existing one is a great way of making
sure that you get it done the reason is
most of us already have existing habits
in our daily routine and if we can just
tag along a new habit onto that existing
one it's a lot easier to get started
than you might think if you guys would
like me to talk more about forming
habits and make an entire video about
habits then just let me know in the
comments down below and i'll get to it
asap the next point that i want to make
is about reevaluating your frame of mind
going into studying the fact is that you
don't have to study like you just don't
have to go to uni right you don't have
to do any of these things nobody's
holding a gun to your head and forcing
you to do them your time is your own and
you are your own person and no matter
how much pressure you're under or how
you feel about your studying the truth
is that you could just walk away at any
time and you could just do something
else you could call a friend you could
play video games you could scroll
through tick tock you know go out to the
city go play sports whatever you're
probably not going to do that for a
number of reasons but the truth is that
you could and i think that what you've
got to think about is the reason why
you're not doing that why haven't you
stopped trying why are you still here
and this might sound like a harsh
question but what i mean by this is that
you need to think about and find your
purpose or your reason for studying you
know why did you apply to this
university in the first place why did
you apply to this course what's the
reason that you're doing this essay or
studying for this exam and even if the
task itself isn't fun you know where is
it going to get you and what is it going
to help you achieve not everyone loves
every part of their course and certainly
i've been through that before in my life
but you kind of have to do what you need
to do to get to where you want to go
instead of thinking about how you're
going to get through the next three
hours of studying it can sometimes help
to think about why you're sitting here
studying in the first place i often try
and remind myself of the reason that i'm
in medical school and the reason that
i'm studying and those reasons are not
for my family it's not for my friends
the reason that i'm studying and that
i'm here is for me i'm here because i
want to be a doctor and i want to be a
good one this sort of shift from
external motivation to intrinsic
motivation i think is really important
reframing the situation in this way can
give you the boost that you need to just
start doing your work it's usually quite
helpful to take a step back you know
think about studying this big picture
thinking instead of worrying about the
small stuff that can put you off from
even getting started to begin with i
started medical school to be the best
doctor that i can be to my future
patients and to be approachable and to
care for people within my own community
and abroad and i try to remember that at
times when i'm feeling a little bit
unmotivated and it just helps me to
reframe the situation something that can
drive me to keep me going instead of
something that can hold me back i think
something that students don't realize
especially when they first start
university is that you need to be
realistic about what university and what
studying is the truth is that we all go
from high school where we feel supported
by our teachers and everything is kind
of handed to us in a way that it just
isn't at university at university you
need to be extremely proactive and
actually seek out the help that you need
you're not going to have someone who's
checking up on you or making sure that
you're submitting your homework on time
or studying enough throughout the year
or anything like that and at medical
school for example you don't always have
a bunch of past papers or help with
learning different exam techniques and
so in a way you're kind of left to fend
for yourself and actively try to reach
out for help if you need it it's such a
big jump from school days where you know
we're used to having all the support and
it feels like 50 of a teacher's job is
just to help you pass exams and get into
university if you're at university and
you miss an assignment no one's going to
call your parents and tell on you
professors are there to teach and to
give you information and pass on their
expertise and then after that it's kind
of up to you what you do from there
unless you ask for it the help isn't
really going to reach you i think that's
the first thing that we need to be
realistic about as students we shouldn't
expect to find everything as easy to
understand as we did in school and not
finding it easy is totally okay and
that's the reality for most students
you'll likely need to read around the
subject use multiple resources or reach
out to tutors and peers in order to get
some help a lot of the time students
feel that they don't need to do this and
i think it leads to the feeling of not
wanting to continue to work if you're
struggling with it as soon as we kind of
face a hurdle it means we're not excited
to do the work anymore but this
shouldn't really be the case i think we
should expect university level work to
be harder and more challenging than what
we did in high school and that's
something that's okay it's something to
take as a challenge as opposed to avoid
it the second thing to be realistic
about when you go to university is to
have a realistic understanding of the
amount of work that's gonna be expected
of you speaking to students in the years
above you or your academic tutors about
how much work is reasonable for you to
be putting in for the subject you're
studying or for the year that you're in
can be really helpful it's easy to watch
youtube and instagram study tubers like
myself and think that studying is as
simple as sitting down turning on the
camera and having the time lapse but you
know it's not really like that a lot of
studying is sitting at the desk and just
doing the boring act of studying itself
and i think once you're realistic about
the amount of studying that you need to
do and the difficulty of that studying
then you know what best to expect and it
can help you better manage the mindset
that you have around studying a simple
one that people forget really easily is
to adapt your work environment in order
to work in your favor the goal is for
you to study and you can make this
easier by reducing as much friction in
your way to get to studying as possible
one of the things that you can do is to
make your study space work for you
making sure that it's quiet and free of
distraction is really easy to do and can
have significant effects on your ability
to focus and get work done it's usually
not a good idea to sit on your bed or on
your couch and do work because these two
physical locations are associated with
relaxing and with sleep i've never done
a single piece of work on my couch or on
my bed i do all of that at my desk
because when i'm in bed i like to just
sleep another thing is to look back on
and reflect on the days where you wanted
to study but you got little or nothing
done and think about what stopped you
from studying what was in your way what
were the obstacles that you were facing
it could be that you woke up late and so
that knocked off the time that you had
for your breakfast and then you needed
to walk your dog and then suddenly you
had to do some shopping and you know
before you knew it the whole day had
passed and you've done no work it could
also be that you sat down at your desk
to get work done but there were just
five people in the house and they were
making too much noise or there was
construction outside or your friend
called you and distracted you you know
it can be a million things these kinds
of scenarios happen a lot but with a
little bit of planning and adapting of
your environment i think that they can
mostly be avoided and even just sitting
down and thinking about these factors
identifying those factors that made it
difficult for you to study in the first
place means that you can work on
eliminating or at least reducing them
the next time you sit down to study
reducing the number of decisions that
you need to make in a day when it comes
to studying can also be really helpful
even meal prepping on the weekend or
deciding what you're going to have for
breakfast the next morning or what
chapter you're going to study the next
day can reduce the amount of decisions
that you need to make and just make it
so much easier and simpler to sit down
and start studying of course for you
your situation is going to be completely
different than mine and then other
people so find the ways in which you can
make your studying as friction free as
possible this is something that i think
about all the time and i'm constantly
trying to refine and make better and
genuinely i think it helps a lot
something for those of you that might
find it difficult to study in silence
and just can't bear the thought of it is
to use multitasking to your favor it's
not always ideal but if you're making
the decision between you studying with
multitasking or not studying at all then
this is quite a good trick it's good to
use something that is already familiar
to you so that it's known it's
recognizable it's just there in the
background as opposed to something
that's new and fresh that might take up
more of your attention something like
simple music or background sounds you
know classical music low-fi beats
rainforest sounds fire crackling etc is
quite ideal i went into detail about
this in my video about whether you
should listen to music when studying and
if so what music should you listen to
i'll leave that link somewhere up over
here if you want to check it out but if
music isn't your thing and you just
can't seem to get into the studying zone
then maybe putting on something like a
familiar tv show in the background might
give you just enough of a boost of
energy to keep you going and focus on
your work now i obviously wouldn't
recommend this for tasks that involve a
high level of concentration but if you
just really feel like it's one of those
days where you can't get anything done
and the alternative is doing nothing
versus putting on an episode of friends
or something like that and then working
while that's in the background then i
think it's a pretty easy choice to make
another great way to keep you focused
and accountable when studying is having
studying partners if you've got friends
at university that you can go to the
library with then honestly that's ideal
it's such a vibe but if you don't or
like most of us nowadays we do a lot of
working from home or studying from home
then it's really helpful to hop on a
zoom call with a couple of friends and
keep the community and the togetherness
vibe going just this reminder that
you're all in this together personally
what i found invaluable recently while
studying here at home is studying with
you guys on discord if you join the
karma club via my patreon then you get
access to the community live study with
me that i think are really motivating
and it means that you have this group of
people from all over the world studying
with each other motivating each other
chilling chatting as well and just
having a really good time for my most
recent exam my medical school finals
which i did a whole vlog about somewhere
up over here this discord study with me
group was crucial for me and honestly i
couldn't have done it without you and so
a big thank you to everyone who's
studying with me in that discord server
i'll leave a link to my patreon in the
description down below and on screen
over here if you guys want to check it
out and join the family sometimes the
thought of having to do a huge pile of
work means that students just end up not
doing anything at all it all becomes too
much and the pressure gets the best of
us at the end of the day doing something
is better than doing nothing so keeping
your plans realistic but also making
sure that you're not going to give up if
you can't stick to them either is a good
way to go let's say you've planned to do
three hours of studying but you're just
really feeling drained and unmotivated
and you don't want to do three hours of
studying okay fine doing one hour out of
those three hours of studying is still
going to be better than just doing
nothing at all personally for myself i
have this sort of unspoken rule that if
i don't feel like studying then just
doing something even if it's not the
actual studying that i wanted to do but
something else useful that i would
otherwise have to do at another time is
so much better than just doing nothing i
need to do something even if it's 20
minutes it's worth it and then
oftentimes just getting started and
doing those initial 5 to 10 minutes is
gonna keep you going for the next hour
half the battle is just getting started
no amount of chipping away at that work
is useless all of this adds up and it
means that we're regularly interacting
with and working with the material and
the topics which means we're going to
help learn them better over time don't
over complicate your work just start
with things that you know you can do
that you might find easier to do that
can get you started and motivated to
then move on to those longer and bigger
tasks simply put doing something is
better than doing nothing trying some of
the things mentioned in this video might
help but i think it's also important for
us to all balance this with knowing when
to stop and recharge please don't push
yourself beyond your limits spending a
few hours or a few days off to rest and
relax is a good investment into your
future productivity taking a mental
health break is totally okay and should
always be an option without the restful
time away from studying you'll find that
you're not working to the best of your
ability and you'll feel awful doing the
work i just wanted to mention that in
case anyone watching this is actually in
need of a break instead of these tips on
how to get going and get out of a
productivity slump if you found this
video useful then you'll probably find
these two videos useful as well please
do check them out and let me know what
you think in the comments down below and
i'll catch you in the next one peace
[Music]
how to create habits and the best way to
create habits is for an entire other
that's my email what you're going to
study the day before makes it
email
reduces a lot of the decisions okay
all right buddy you're getting muted
right now
right now my guy
you're done
you're done kid