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Thomas Frank Study Tips, How to Stay Motivated for the Entire School Year

How to Stay Motivated for the Entire School Year

- Every new school year brings with it

the same age-old problem: the constant war of attrition

that is fought against your motivation

as the semester wears on.

See, in the beginning of the semester,

your motivation levels are usually high.

You've got brand-new classes that you're excited to take

and there's usually not a whole lot on your plate

to stress you out.

But in the middle of the semester,

it's a very different picture.

You've got tons of assignments, deadlines,

projects all stressing you out.

And as a result, your motivational reserves can take a dip.

You just don't wanna go on.

And I know I dealt with this problem

during every single semester of my college career

and it's probably something that you've dealt with as well.

So, what I wanna do in today's video

is give you five different strategies that you can use

to maintain a high level of motivation

to do your work, to study diligently

all throughout the entire semester.

Now, everything we're gonna be talking about today

is either a habit that you can adopt

or an action that you can take in a specific moment.

We're not gonna be talking about any motivational mantras

or mindset hacks here.

Everything on this list

is something that you can actually do,

but it's still going to have a tangible effect

on your motivation.

So, let's get into it with the first habit on the list.

From the moment you walk into

your very first class this semester,

make the commitment to sit up front

and wring class for all it's worth.

Treat class like the active learning time that it should be.

This means, again, sitting up front,

taking notes the entire time, raising your hand,

asking questions, and participating in discussions.

If you can do this right from the start,

then you're gonna gain an implicit psychological pressure

to keep doing it throughout the entirety

of the rest of the semester.

And this is because humans have

a core drive to act consistently.

We wanna act in accordance

and in line with our previous decisions.

And this is something that Robert Cialdini talks about

in his excellent book

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

As he puts it, "Once we have made a choice or taken a stand,

"we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures

"to behave consistently with that commitment.

"Those pressures will cause us to respond

"in ways that justify our earlier decision."

And this desire to act consistently

was definitely something that I experienced

in my own college classes.

In the ones where I immediately sat up front,

took notes, participated in discussions,

I felt pressure to act in accordance with those decisions

the entire semester afterwards.

And on the other hand,

for the classes where I just maybe didn't care a whole lot,

sat in the back, sold computers on Craigslist,

and didn't pay attention, that colored my experience

throughout the entire semester as well.

So, think of your first week of classes

as your opportunity to establish

either positive momentum or negative momentum

because of this consistency principle.

So, that brings us to habit number two,

which is to make sure you establish regular contact

with your teachers and your professors.

And this is actually quite related to the first tip,

especially that quote from Robert Cialdini

that I just mentioned, because, if you remember,

he mentions both personal and interpersonal pressures

for remaining consistent.

And I've found that when you know your professors,

you actually feel a little bit beholden to them

because when you're in class,

you know that since they know you as well,

they are paying attention to how you are behaving.

They'll notice whether or not you take notes diligently.

They'll notice if you actually participate

in class discussions.

And again, you're gonna wanna act consistently

with both your own expectations of yourself

and what you've done in the past,

but also with their expectations

that they develop through observing you

in the beginning of the semester

when you're already highly motivated.

Tip number three is to have a plan

when it comes to your homework and your study time.

So, if you think about your class time,

that is highly regimented.

You have a specific place you're supposed to be

and the class is happening at a specific time.

And as a result, you almost always show up on time.

There's really no decision you have to make.

You just kind of do it

because you know that's part of your schedule.

So, why not apply that logic

to your homework and study time?

Instead of just saying, "I'm gonna study wherever I want to;

"maybe in my dorm, maybe in the library, I don't know,

"and I'll do it whenever I have time,"

instead, maybe at the beginning of every single week,

look ahead at your calendar,

see what kinda blocks of free time you have

and block out planned spaces of study time.

And additionally, know where you're going to study.

Maybe have a specific spot in the library

that you usually go to or create a specific study space

in your dorm room and plan to study there.

Again, when you have a plan ahead of time,

then you reduce the amount of decisions

you have to make in the moment,

which decreases the likelihood

that you're gonna take the path of least resistance,

which is probably playing video games

and putting off your studying until later.

Okay, so before we move on to tip number four,

I do wanna share one little bonus mini-tip with you,

which is to find yourself some good study music.

And this is a tip that comes from personal experience

because I've learned over the years

that I just enjoy researching,

doing my work, studying, reading,

I enjoy it more if I have good study music

to go along with it.

And for that reason, I have been curating a study playlist

over on Spotify for quite a few years now.

It's just about 10 hours long

and I'll put a link to it down in the description below

if you wanna check it out.

Now, obviously, music does not work for everyone,

so you might wanna experiment.

Some people like white noise,

and you can use white noise generators like Noisli

to create a custom soundscape for your studying,

but some people really do get

a motivational boost through music,

so at least do some experimentation.

And that brings us to tip number four,

which is to know when to quit.

And I don't mean quit the entire semester,

but know when to quit something

that is dragging down all of your other efforts.

And I wanna tell you a story here.

So, when I was in my junior year of college,

I was in the college's honors program,

which meant that I had to go to certain extra classes

in order to meet the requirements to graduate with honors.

But I got to thinking during my junior year,

"Do I actually need to graduate with honors?

"Do I need to take these extra classes?"

Because, really, the only benefit that I was gonna get

from the honors program

was graduating with a cord around my neck

and the ability to put 'honors grad' on my resume.

But the thing was,

I already had a lot of other irons in the fire.

I had a full course schedule, I had extracurriculars,

I had a side project that was growing into a business,

and a part-time job.

And I realized going through that semester

that all the extra requirements I had

because of that honors program

were just fragmenting my attention

and they were bringing my overall level of motivation down.

And when I really thought about it,

having that little bit on my resume

wasn't going to matter in the long run.

I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I wanted to work for myself,

so having accolades on my resume

really wasn't gonna get me a whole lot in the future.

So, I made the strategic decision to quit the honors program

to make more time to focus more deeply on my other projects.

And as a result, my motivation for those other projects

and for my other classes went up.

Now, I do wanna note that I'm not saying you should quit

when things just get tough, right?

You have to kinda go through this dip of difficulty

with anything that's worth doing.

But if you're realizing that your attention is fragmented

or you've taken on too many commitments

or the thing that you're doing

or one of the things that you're doing

just isn't really worth it anymore,

then it could be a good strategic decision

to quit that in order to raise your motivation

to tackle the other things on your plate.

And that brings us to the final item on this list,

which is to make real fun a priority this semester.

And I have to say this because I know a lotta people,

myself included, who will often feel too guilty

to let themselves do the things that are truly fun

because they feel like they need that time for work.

I know a lotta people

who will not go to movies with friends.

They will not play that video game they wanted to play

because they think they need every single spare minute

to get their homework done or to do more studying.

But these same people, and I'm gonna include myself here

'cause I catch myself doing this, these same people

will not work efficiently during their work hours.

They will take random breaks to go to Twitter or Facebook.

And the thing is, going to Twitter or Facebook,

that's not actually that fun.

That's just a distraction.

It just fragments your attention,

probably harms your mental health

because of what's on Twitter and Facebook,

and it certainly isn't mentally refreshing in any way.

But the other thing is,

when you allow yourself to do the things

that you feel are truly fun,

whether it's going out with friends

or playing Magic: The Gathering in my case,

that will hone your focus

and hone your attention during your actual work hours

because when you know you have a limited amount of time

to get your work done

because there's an actual plan later on,

you will use that time effectively.

And once you actually go and experience that fun thing,

you're going to get a mental reset in the process.

Part of the reason why a lotta students lose motivation

throughout the semester is that they work themselves

to the point of exhaustion and burnout.

You need that cycle of actual rest,

which isn't just sleep but it's respite from your work

and actual fun time, and work.

You need that actual interplay

between those two states of being.

So, all that being said,

make time for real fun this semester

and you're gonna find that your motivational reserves

maintain themselves

throughout the entirety of that semester.

And of course, when your motivation is high,

you work more efficiently and you have more time,

both for the fun things but also for pursuing some things

that can help you get ahead.

And one of those things that I would suggest doing

this semester if you haven't started the process already

is building your online presence.

It is never too early to start building relationships,

to establish a portfolio, and to start establishing yourself

as an up-and-coming expert in your field.

And one of the very first steps to doing that

is to get yourself a professional domain name.

Even if you're not yet ready to build a website,

you wanna get your hands on your domain name

as soon as possible

because if someone else comes along and registers it,

then you can't get it.

So, go and get your professional domain name

before someone else gets it.

And when you do, you should go get it at Hover.

Hover is the best place on the internet

to get your hands on domain names, not least of which

because they have over 400 domain extensions to choose from.

They have all your classic .coms, .mes, .nets,

which I think are great for a professional presence,

but they also have a lotta more fun ones,

like .ninja and .lol.

In fact, I have thomas.lol

and I'll probably end up registering more fun ones like that

in the future.

Additionally, with Hover, there is absolutely no friction

in the signup process.

If you have an account, you can actually buy a domain

in less than 30 seconds,

and, yes, I have timed myself on that.

And you can do that because there are no upsells.

There are no annoying popups.

And then, once you have your domain,

they have a couple of extra tools

to help you build your online presence even further,

including the ability

to create a professional email address,

such as mine, which is thomas@collegeinfogeek.com,

a little bit more professional than a Gmail,

plus their Connect tool,

which allows you to connect that domain

up to website builders like Squarespace

or even online store builders like Shopify.

So, if you're ready to get your hands

on your professional domain name,

then head over to hover.com/thomasfrank and get it there.

And when you do, if you're a new customer,

you're gonna get 10% off your first order.

Huge thanks, as always, goes out to Hover

for sponsoring this video

and being a big supporter of my channel,

and thank you for watching as well.

Hopefully you found this video helpful

and hopefully you stay motivated

throughout this entire semester

and all semesters afterwards.

Of course, if you wanna get more study

and productivity tips on this channel,

make sure you are subscribed

so you see new videos when they come out.

And maybe also grab a free copy of my book

on how to earn better grades right there.

Last but not least,

you can watch one more video on this channel

by clicking right here

or check out our latest podcast episode right here

if you haven't listened to that.

Thanks again for watching.

And I would say best of luck this semester,

but luck isn't what you need.

You need systems and self-discipline

and, well, I believe you've got it.

How to Stay Motivated for the Entire School Year So bleiben Sie für das gesamte Schuljahr motiviert Cómo mantener la motivación durante todo el curso escolar Comment rester motivé pendant toute l'année scolaire ? 学年を通してモチベーションを維持する方法 Como manter a motivação durante todo o ano lectivo Как оставаться мотивированным в течение всего учебного года Tüm Okul Yılı Boyunca Motivasyonunuzu Nasıl Koruyabilirsiniz? 如何在整个学年保持积极性 如何在整個學年保持積極性

- Every new school year brings with it

the same age-old problem: the constant war of attrition das gleiche uralte Problem: der ständige Zermürbungskrieg

that is fought against your motivation

as the semester wears on. wie das Semester voranschreitet.

See, in the beginning of the semester,

your motivation levels are usually high.

You've got brand-new classes that you're excited to take Sie haben brandneue Kurse, auf die Sie sich freuen

and there's usually not a whole lot on your plate und es gibt normalerweise nicht viel auf Ihrem Teller

to stress you out.

But in the middle of the semester,

it's a very different picture.

You've got tons of assignments, deadlines,

projects all stressing you out.

And as a result, your motivational reserves can take a dip.

You just don't wanna go on. Du willst einfach nicht weitermachen.

And I know I dealt with this problem

during every single semester of my college career

and it's probably something that you've dealt with as well.

So, what I wanna do in today's video

is give you five different strategies that you can use

to maintain a high level of motivation

to do your work, to study diligently

all throughout the entire semester.

Now, everything we're gonna be talking about today

is either a habit that you can adopt

or an action that you can take in a specific moment.

We're not gonna be talking about any motivational mantras

or mindset hacks here.

Everything on this list

is something that you can actually do,

but it's still going to have a tangible effect

on your motivation.

So, let's get into it with the first habit on the list.

From the moment you walk into

your very first class this semester,

make the commitment to sit up front

and wring class for all it's worth.

Treat class like the active learning time that it should be.

This means, again, sitting up front,

taking notes the entire time, raising your hand,

asking questions, and participating in discussions.

If you can do this right from the start, Wenn Sie dies von Anfang an tun können,

then you're gonna gain an implicit psychological pressure

to keep doing it throughout the entirety um es während der gesamten Zeit zu tun

of the rest of the semester.

And this is because humans have

a core drive to act consistently.

We wanna act in accordance

and in line with our previous decisions.

And this is something that Robert Cialdini talks about

in his excellent book

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

As he puts it, "Once we have made a choice or taken a stand,

"we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures

"to behave consistently with that commitment.

"Those pressures will cause us to respond

"in ways that justify our earlier decision."

And this desire to act consistently

was definitely something that I experienced

in my own college classes.

In the ones where I immediately sat up front,

took notes, participated in discussions,

I felt pressure to act in accordance with those decisions

the entire semester afterwards.

And on the other hand,

for the classes where I just maybe didn't care a whole lot,

sat in the back, sold computers on Craigslist,

and didn't pay attention, that colored my experience

throughout the entire semester as well.

So, think of your first week of classes

as your opportunity to establish

either positive momentum or negative momentum

because of this consistency principle.

So, that brings us to habit number two,

which is to make sure you establish regular contact

with your teachers and your professors.

And this is actually quite related to the first tip,

especially that quote from Robert Cialdini

that I just mentioned, because, if you remember,

he mentions both personal and interpersonal pressures

for remaining consistent.

And I've found that when you know your professors,

you actually feel a little bit beholden to them

because when you're in class,

you know that since they know you as well,

they are paying attention to how you are behaving.

They'll notice whether or not you take notes diligently.

They'll notice if you actually participate

in class discussions.

And again, you're gonna wanna act consistently

with both your own expectations of yourself

and what you've done in the past,

but also with their expectations

that they develop through observing you

in the beginning of the semester

when you're already highly motivated.

Tip number three is to have a plan

when it comes to your homework and your study time.

So, if you think about your class time,

that is highly regimented.

You have a specific place you're supposed to be

and the class is happening at a specific time.

And as a result, you almost always show up on time.

There's really no decision you have to make.

You just kind of do it

because you know that's part of your schedule.

So, why not apply that logic

to your homework and study time?

Instead of just saying, "I'm gonna study wherever I want to;

"maybe in my dorm, maybe in the library, I don't know,

"and I'll do it whenever I have time,"

instead, maybe at the beginning of every single week,

look ahead at your calendar,

see what kinda blocks of free time you have

and block out planned spaces of study time.

And additionally, know where you're going to study.

Maybe have a specific spot in the library

that you usually go to or create a specific study space

in your dorm room and plan to study there.

Again, when you have a plan ahead of time,

then you reduce the amount of decisions

you have to make in the moment,

which decreases the likelihood

that you're gonna take the path of least resistance,

which is probably playing video games

and putting off your studying until later.

Okay, so before we move on to tip number four,

I do wanna share one little bonus mini-tip with you,

which is to find yourself some good study music.

And this is a tip that comes from personal experience

because I've learned over the years

that I just enjoy researching,

doing my work, studying, reading,

I enjoy it more if I have good study music

to go along with it.

And for that reason, I have been curating a study playlist

over on Spotify for quite a few years now.

It's just about 10 hours long

and I'll put a link to it down in the description below

if you wanna check it out.

Now, obviously, music does not work for everyone,

so you might wanna experiment.

Some people like white noise,

and you can use white noise generators like Noisli

to create a custom soundscape for your studying,

but some people really do get

a motivational boost through music,

so at least do some experimentation.

And that brings us to tip number four,

which is to know when to quit.

And I don't mean quit the entire semester,

but know when to quit something

that is dragging down all of your other efforts.

And I wanna tell you a story here.

So, when I was in my junior year of college,

I was in the college's honors program,

which meant that I had to go to certain extra classes

in order to meet the requirements to graduate with honors.

But I got to thinking during my junior year,

"Do I actually need to graduate with honors? "실제로 명예롭게 졸업해야합니까?

"Do I need to take these extra classes?"

Because, really, the only benefit that I was gonna get

from the honors program

was graduating with a cord around my neck

and the ability to put 'honors grad' on my resume.

But the thing was,

I already had a lot of other irons in the fire.

I had a full course schedule, I had extracurriculars,

I had a side project that was growing into a business,

and a part-time job.

And I realized going through that semester

that all the extra requirements I had

because of that honors program

were just fragmenting my attention

and they were bringing my overall level of motivation down.

And when I really thought about it,

having that little bit on my resume

wasn't going to matter in the long run.

I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I wanted to work for myself,

so having accolades on my resume

really wasn't gonna get me a whole lot in the future.

So, I made the strategic decision to quit the honors program

to make more time to focus more deeply on my other projects.

And as a result, my motivation for those other projects

and for my other classes went up.

Now, I do wanna note that I'm not saying you should quit

when things just get tough, right?

You have to kinda go through this dip of difficulty

with anything that's worth doing.

But if you're realizing that your attention is fragmented

or you've taken on too many commitments

or the thing that you're doing

or one of the things that you're doing

just isn't really worth it anymore,

then it could be a good strategic decision

to quit that in order to raise your motivation

to tackle the other things on your plate.

And that brings us to the final item on this list,

which is to make real fun a priority this semester.

And I have to say this because I know a lotta people,

myself included, who will often feel too guilty

to let themselves do the things that are truly fun

because they feel like they need that time for work.

I know a lotta people

who will not go to movies with friends.

They will not play that video game they wanted to play

because they think they need every single spare minute

to get their homework done or to do more studying.

But these same people, and I'm gonna include myself here

'cause I catch myself doing this, these same people

will not work efficiently during their work hours.

They will take random breaks to go to Twitter or Facebook.

And the thing is, going to Twitter or Facebook,

that's not actually that fun.

That's just a distraction.

It just fragments your attention,

probably harms your mental health

because of what's on Twitter and Facebook,

and it certainly isn't mentally refreshing in any way.

But the other thing is,

when you allow yourself to do the things

that you feel are truly fun,

whether it's going out with friends

or playing Magic: The Gathering in my case,

that will hone your focus

and hone your attention during your actual work hours

because when you know you have a limited amount of time

to get your work done

because there's an actual plan later on,

you will use that time effectively.

And once you actually go and experience that fun thing,

you're going to get a mental reset in the process.

Part of the reason why a lotta students lose motivation

throughout the semester is that they work themselves

to the point of exhaustion and burnout.

You need that cycle of actual rest,

which isn't just sleep but it's respite from your work

and actual fun time, and work.

You need that actual interplay

between those two states of being.

So, all that being said,

make time for real fun this semester

and you're gonna find that your motivational reserves

maintain themselves

throughout the entirety of that semester.

And of course, when your motivation is high,

you work more efficiently and you have more time,

both for the fun things but also for pursuing some things

that can help you get ahead.

And one of those things that I would suggest doing

this semester if you haven't started the process already

is building your online presence.

It is never too early to start building relationships,

to establish a portfolio, and to start establishing yourself

as an up-and-coming expert in your field.

And one of the very first steps to doing that

is to get yourself a professional domain name.

Even if you're not yet ready to build a website,

you wanna get your hands on your domain name

as soon as possible

because if someone else comes along and registers it,

then you can't get it.

So, go and get your professional domain name

before someone else gets it.

And when you do, you should go get it at Hover.

Hover is the best place on the internet

to get your hands on domain names, not least of which

because they have over 400 domain extensions to choose from.

They have all your classic .coms, .mes, .nets,

which I think are great for a professional presence,

but they also have a lotta more fun ones,

like .ninja and .lol.

In fact, I have thomas.lol

and I'll probably end up registering more fun ones like that

in the future.

Additionally, with Hover, there is absolutely no friction

in the signup process.

If you have an account, you can actually buy a domain

in less than 30 seconds,

and, yes, I have timed myself on that.

And you can do that because there are no upsells.

There are no annoying popups.

And then, once you have your domain,

they have a couple of extra tools

to help you build your online presence even further,

including the ability

to create a professional email address,

such as mine, which is thomas@collegeinfogeek.com,

a little bit more professional than a Gmail,

plus their Connect tool,

which allows you to connect that domain

up to website builders like Squarespace

or even online store builders like Shopify.

So, if you're ready to get your hands

on your professional domain name,

then head over to hover.com/thomasfrank and get it there.

And when you do, if you're a new customer,

you're gonna get 10% off your first order.

Huge thanks, as always, goes out to Hover

for sponsoring this video

and being a big supporter of my channel,

and thank you for watching as well.

Hopefully you found this video helpful

and hopefully you stay motivated

throughout this entire semester

and all semesters afterwards.

Of course, if you wanna get more study

and productivity tips on this channel,

make sure you are subscribed

so you see new videos when they come out.

And maybe also grab a free copy of my book

on how to earn better grades right there.

Last but not least,

you can watch one more video on this channel

by clicking right here

or check out our latest podcast episode right here

if you haven't listened to that.

Thanks again for watching.

And I would say best of luck this semester,

but luck isn't what you need.

You need systems and self-discipline

and, well, I believe you've got it.