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One of the greatest setbacks people face when studying online is a lack of motivation. A lack of motivation can have a serious impact on your studies. Not only can it cause you to fall way short of your academic potential, it can also cause you to fail your course completely. In turn, failing your course could mean failing to get the new job or promotion you’ve been trying hard to get.
Keeping your motivation levels as high as possible and maintaining them is not only essential for helping you to successfully complete your studies, but also to gain a far more rewarding learning experience. The good news is: getting back the motivation you need to get your studies back on-track is just as easy as it may have seemed to lose your motivation to begin with.
Here are our top 3 tips for how to get motivated to study online:
1. Remember why you chose to study online
It may seem pretty basic, but remembering why you chose to study online in the first place can have a big impact on how motivated you are to study. Did you study online to:
• Land a new job;
• Get a promotion;
• Make more money;
• Learn something new;
• Or do something else?
Whatever your motivation was to study, it’s this specific motivation that’s exactly what you need to keep in mind when you find yourself facing a dead-end between you and your studies. Taking the time to reflect on why you chose to study your online course will help you to:
• Say “no” when you feel tempted to give up your study time
• Stop making excuses for why you can’t study
• Keep focussed on your personal and/or career goals
2. Improve your time-management skills
A factor that can play a big part in how motivated you feel to study can be your time-management skills. If you’re not managing to balance your studies effectively alongside your work and other commitments, you could be feeling like something’s got to give – and that “something” is usually your studies when your income is part of the equation.
But there’s an easy way to avoid this hurdle – plan your time more effectively so that you can comfortably manage your studies alongside your work and other commitments:
• Before the start of each week, calculate how many hours you’ll need to focus on your studies to be able to complete all the course materials for that week and work on any assessments;
• Split the weekly total into manageable chunks of daily hours and block out the times you’ll focus on your studies each day in your calendar (the times of day you choose might vary, whether they be first thing in the morning or after work, but the daily total hours should remain the same);
• Set up calendar reminders to notify you when it’s time to get away from distractions and sit down and focus on your studies. It might not seem like much, but planning your time more effectively and improving your time-management skills can give you the boost you need to realise that you can comfortably manage your studies alongside your work, and to get your studies back on-track.
3. Change your mindset
If you’re seeing your studies as just another chore to add to your list – something you simply have to do – it’s time to change your mindset. Like everything else, studying can’t always have its exciting moments. Like everything else, too, studying might not always be at the top of your list when it comes to things you want to be doing right now. But if you take the time and effort to look beyond those less-than-exciting moments, you’ll realise studying offers a wealth of great benefits from both a professional and personal perspective – from expanding your career opportunities, knowledge and skills, to keeping your mind active and engaged with the world around you.
So, rather than seeing your studies as just another mundane chore on your to-do list, see them for what they are in reality – a great investment in your career and personal development.
Falmouth Flexible offers a range of online masters courses that you can comfortably fit in alongside your work and other commitments. All courses are delivered through Falmouth University – a TEF gold-standard university – and designed to help you reach your career and personal goals.
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