In part 3 of my 4-part miniseries of life and well-being advice/guidance seeking open letters from the community with my responses, Struggling for Motivation seeks support in managing their time and staying motivated while being in school:

Dear Coach Melanie,
I am a post-secondary student and lately I’ve been struggling to stay motivated. My class schedule is full-time and incredibly intense; I’m expected to dedicate several hours a week on a single class, and I can’t seem to find enough hours in the day to do everything, so I procrastinate.  I often know I need to be dedicating time to studying, but there are so many things I would rather be doing, such as playing video games, drinking, and watching Netflix. Sometimes, I get so involved in what I’m playing that I’ll be awake at 3am and need to be in class by 8am.  How can I get the motivation to finish my work?

Dear Struggling for Motivation,
Adjusting to both change and juggling competing priorities such as meeting your schooling needs and wanting to socialize can be paralyzing.  Being a full-time student is stressful with both the feeling of being constantly under the gun, and needing to perform at the highest level all the time.

The motivation to complete what you have started comes from you.  Your procrastination has become the arena where your needs are being pitted against your desires.  How many of those desires are also needs? How many of those needs are also desires?  For instance, you chose to attend school in order to achieve your educational needs, which in turn will support you in realizing your career desires.

Start budgeting your time and create a weekly schedule which allows for social time (time with your friends and family), “Me Time” (playing videos games, watching Netflix) AND education.  Plot out how much time is required to complete each class including studying, going to class and handing in school assignments.  Add you weekly schedules to your cell phone with reminders, so that you can see what is on the agenda for the day and start checking things off your to-do and needs-wants lists-  always a great, celebratory feeling!

There are 168 hours in a week.  You can accomplish a lot in this time when you know, organize your needs and priorities and make room for your wants.

If you have a question or situation you would like to see addressed in the “Dear Coach Melanie“ miniseries regarding life and stress management, navigating and balancing life, change and transition, well-being, mindfulness, self-awareness or personal growth email Coach Melanie at forwardmusesolutions@gmail.com, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter @forwardmusesoul.

Please Note: Not all letters will be posted. Thank you for connecting- Coach Melanie Christian 🙂