# Not motivated to do work



## silvergyrl (Nov 4, 2008)

Hello everyone. So I have an assignment due tonight, as well as a proposal due on Friday. I haven't started on either yet and I'm freaking out! Why do I never have any motivation to do the school work?? Even if it is interesting, I feel like I don't know what the assignment is talking about and therefore it'll only be done half-a** anyways. What to do....


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## jellyfish (Jul 3, 2008)

I have motivation issues sometimes too.  The more I procrastinate, the worse it gets, because I feel like it's a heavy load when it isn't really. Getting started is the hard part for me. Sometimes it helps if I promise myself to do 20 minutes, then take a break if I'm still not into it. Usually, after 20 minutes, I'll be engrossed and want to keep working. Yesterday I ended up working for almost 16 hours without a significant break (except bathroom breaks and to grab food from the kitchen), and I didn't even mind.  

If you don't understand how to do the assignment, though, that's another problem. Asking a teacher/classmate for clarification would probably be best, but I can never do that.  When I don't understand something, I usually try to figure it out from the textbook, class web page, other websites about the same subject, or whatever else I can get my hands on.


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## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

I hear you, I have nearly 450 pages to read in 5 days but I just can't motivate myself to put in 10-12 hours a day that would be needed to get through all that material. yesterday, I timed myself at 6 hours plus 2 hours for a school related activity. It's So freakin boring, I can't wait till I am done with this program. 2 more years after this one..


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

no motivation for me either and I dropped out of college a year ago after five years of studying but I have to work instead but sometimes I dont want to do anything.


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## silvergyrl (Nov 4, 2008)

I still haven't done either...why can't I just sit down and do it? I'm home everyday but I never make the time.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I find it really hard to do work while I am at home. Over the past couple of days I spent about ten or twelve hours in the library, and I got so much done, way more than I could have done at home. 

I'm staying at home today because I was too tired to wake up in time to catch the train. I don't expect to get very much work done, unfortunately; it's amazing how little motivation I have when I'm at home. On Sunday I rolled around in my bed and cried for three hours instead of just forcing myself to do the work. Bad choice.


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## shy67 (May 2, 2008)

What I do when I don't feel like studying but have to is I go to the library. That way I don't have any distractions and usually get a lot of work done. When I'm at home I usually get distracted and go on the internet.


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## Agr1ppa (Nov 19, 2008)

I had the same problem. It's one of the main reasons I've not signed up for further education.

From my school daze I can recommend setting a specific time to start, and most importantly, a specific time to stop. That way if you've not written anything within the alloted time, you don't feel the increasing anxiety that you have to get something done.
You can drop your pen, enjoy yourself and come back at another time until eventually something clicks into place. If you build up anxiety around homework it's only going to make you want to avoid it.

Also try to keep work and play separate. If you associate your bedroom with fun, it's not the best place to try to work as your brain subconsciously expects to be doing something entertaining. Try working in an office or somewhere that you consider to be a workplace. A library may be a good spot if you feel relatively comfortable with people milling around.

Thirdly I've found that having some music on helps. It just keeps that chatter at bay and may even inspire your to be more creative. It doesn't have to be chill-out or something boring either in my experience. I found that I worked best listening to dance and trance music.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I had no motivation to do work ever since gr 7. This was unbeknownst to me because of my undiagnosed inattentive ADD.


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## silvergyrl (Nov 4, 2008)

polythene said:


> Do you enjoy what you're studying?


Yes, I don't mind it. I actually switched from something I didn't like to something that I love doing practically. Let me explain - I was in nutrition and then I switched to food industry management - I work as a food service supervisor at my school, which is very fortunate that I got the job. It's what I do.

I think with me it's all about control. If the situation is not perfect, like if my laundry isn't done, or I don't have all the possible materials I need, then I can't focus. It's just more excuses to avoid the situation.


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## SAgirl (Nov 15, 2003)

I love all my courses and all my prof's but just hate papers. I don't understand formatting whatsoever. Following formats seems to be a difficult thing for me to do. I don't know why. 

I can hang out in my room and try to do school work, but I get distracted by the computer. Once, I hear music playing on youtube, I just want to go watch videos. I know this isn't going to help me get through school AT ALL. I am really going downhill fast getting 50's on my assignments and on exams. Plus, once I get one paper where I get a 50, I convince myself that what is the use of trying since I'm not going to do well on the next assignment anyway. Which, makes me feel worse and worse, more worthless and more depressed. I'm so hard on myself that it takes me about a month to look at my marks. I just have great difficulty looking at them since I beat myself up about it so badly. It's all a crappy cycle. If my motivation doesn't bounce back quickly, I may be repeating this year. ARGH!


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## nito (Nov 7, 2008)

I also find it hard to get going with stuff. If i am at university i take too many frequent breaks which makes me come back with less motivation than i had before i took the break ironically. Secondly when i am at home, on the pc, i unfortnately end up looking at adult sites practically within 10-15 minutes of logging on. My solution? Have none frankly!

cheers


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