Written by Asia Outten

With the switch being made from primarily in-person classes to online classes, more often than not you might find yourself with plummeting levels of self-motivation. Like many other students, you are probably struggling to muster up motivation for online classes, so it might be harder than it was before. To help you cultivate self-motivation more easily, I’ve modified these tips from Lifehack, making them more suitable for practicing continuous self-motivation while taking online classes. With these steps, you can take the fate of this virtual semester into your own hands by honing your ability to stay motivated.

The first step is to start (and stay) simple. You can start simple by keeping motivational triggers around you that will remind you to get work done. When taking in-person classes, professors constantly remind you of upcoming deadlines and assignments. Now that classes are online, it is easy to overlook or miss notifications and emails or skip parts of video lectures where professors remind you about assignments. Therefore, it is important to start simple by recreating your own self-reminders. This can be done by setting reminders or alarms on your phone for specific dates and deadlines, creating a calendar for upcoming assignments and exams, placing sticky notes around your room or work area, or creating a daily planner/to-do list. To stay simple is to not overwhelm yourself and avoid burnouts. Achieving this can look like doing a little bit of work each day, timing and pacing yourself to get work done, and dividing your work into small chunks. By taking these simple, habitual steps, you are bound to see progress in your motivation levels.

During pandemic times, it can also be important to surround yourself with positive, supportive people to keep you going. Keeping a supportive and motivated network can be difficult to do as sometimes it may seem like everyone is demotivated and over online classes. Luckily for you, almost everyone isn’t absolutely everyone. So, spend extra time with people who are positive, motivated and determined to make the best out of this semester. Although almost everything is online these days, it is still possible to connect with people via online chats, video calls, text messages, emails, or any number of other ways. You can also meet up with motivated individuals in person, provided you follow safe social distancing guidelines. If you are able to find someone like this, positive and motivated people will help you to stay motivated and get your work done.

The next step is to be able to see the good in the “bad” (that is, the change to online classes). Change can be difficult to get used to, and making the change from primarily in-person classes to exclusively online classes is no exception. However, it is important to keep in mind that whether you view this change as good or bad is solely based on your own attitudes and perceptions. On the surface, this change may appear bad, but to remain motivated, it's important to be able to see the good in the bad. If you’re struggling with this, try to focus less on the things you can’t control, like the fact that classes are online, and focus more on the things that you can control, that is, your attitude about this. Also, if you can’t think of any positive perceptions or attitudes to have about online classes, consider visiting my article about the benefits of online learning to learn more about seeing the good in the bad, or this article about taking online learning into your own hands.

“Stop thinking and just do” is another vital tactic when channelling motivation. Some days you may be too unmotivated to complete an assignment or study for an upcoming exam. As a result, you might find yourself overthinking tasks. To combat this, try getting started on something else - perhaps an easier task for the same or different class - to help you develop the impetus to begin the important stuff. Overthinking and worrying will only result in wasted time. If you struggle with anxiety, depression, or anything else impacting your mental health, you might find that you can’t help but overthink. For help, consider contacting The SMU Counseling Centre.

Keeping track of your moods and progress can also be helpful when cultivating internal motivation. Keeping notes on your emotions, feelings and moods can help you to keep track of days when your motivation is high and low. Once you keep a record of this, you will notice and become aware of a pattern that you can work around and develop. For example, you might find that you are most productive on weekdays than on weekends. You can adopt a similar method for tracking your progress. This will help to remind you of your progress and performance. Tracking your progress is really important in self-motivation. My to-do list is always set up where when I complete a task, instead of deleting it, I move it down to the "done" list. That way I can always go back and see all the things I have done and that helps me feel better about the things that are not done. When you see how well you’re doing, you’ll want to nurture your progress. Tracking your moods and progress can help you to stay focused, motivated and positive while taking online classes.

Last but not least, remember to help and share your ideas with others because helping others is helping yourself. What I mean by this is that spending time helping and seeing others do well in their online classes will motivate you to do the same. For example, if you assist a friend or a peer with an assignment and they receive a good grade, this might inspire you to work hard on your own assignments and get good grades too.

These steps teach that nothing is more crucial than possessing the right, positive and motivated attitude. One thing’s for certain, it's best to focus on the things that you can control (your actions and attitude) when practicing self-motivation rather than focusing on the things you can't (the fact that classes are online). The SMU Journal is determined to stay motivated for online classes this semester, and we hope you are too.

How to Self-Motivate for Online Classes

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