How to Stay Motivated for School When you Don’t Want to Do Anything

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I wear a ton of hats.  I am a business owner; I take university classes, tutor, and work one-on-one with clients on their study skills.  I also have a family, and I just opened a medical clinic.  It’s a lot! There is not much more I can squeeze out of my day.

The number one question I get is, “How do I stay motivated?”  I get this question all the time, especially when it’s so easy to burn out.

There have been days when I feel like I am constantly fighting burnout.  I don’t want to do anything except lay in bed and binge on Netflix or YouTube.  And do you know what I do on those days?  I lay in bed and binge-watch Netflix and YouTube!

Staying motivated is a delicate balance, and it requires you to coordinate many moving parts.  That’s why today I’m going to share my tips on how to stay motivated to work.

I remember one semester, I was so overloaded there were times when all I could do was cry.  I just felt like there were so many deadlines closing in and so much to be done.  I had no idea how I could balance everything, and yet, I had no other options.  All I could do was put one foot in front of the other and keep pushing forward.

One day, I went into a physiology lecture and realized that I had a project coming up that I hadn’t finished.  It’s not that I had forgotten about it, but I just had so much else due.  All I could do was put it aside and not think about it to avoid having a full-on panic attack.

As I sat in the class, the professor started going over how strictly he was planning on grading this project.  He had high expectations of his students, and he would not tolerate silly mistakes and shortcuts.

Did I mention that he was the head of the Physiology department which was my major?

He also discussed how he would take 10% off the final mark if you are 1 minute late with your submission and 50 % the following day.  I was terrified!  I hadn’t even started the assignment.  I had barely read the instructions!

I’m sure that much of this was due to sheer exhaustion.  I had never handed in an assignment late before.  But the idea that there was such a harsh penalty scared me.  What if my computer blew up?  What if my house was overrun with lemmings and the Wi-Fi went down in my entire neighbourhood?

Luckily this class was off in a quiet corner of the university campus.  After class, I quickly ran to the bathroom in a dark abandoned hallway to have myself a good cry in a stall in peace.

Unfortunately, someone was already sobbing in one of the corner stalls, and I didn’t want to intrude.

I did hand in that assignment on time, and I did better than expected despite my constant feelings of impending doom. But I learned something far more important from that experience.  Motivation is a delicate equilibrium.

You must be able to realize your limitations and take care of yourself to get the results you want.  Sometimes you will get better results by stepping back and taking care of yourself first than plowing ahead and forcing yourself to be even more productive.

That’s why I am sharing this simple strategy with you today.  It will lead you through how to fight burnout when you don’t want to do anything.  But some of the steps might be surprisingly counterintuitive.

Oh, and by the way, my laptop DID blow up that weekend… but that is a story for another day!

What is Motivation, and Why Does it Matter?

Motivation is actually feeling like you want to do something.  When you have the drive and determination to start and continue to work on a task without forcing yourself to do it.

Let’s take early mornings, for example.  Many people hate mornings, so they are not really motivated to wake up early.  Your bed is so warm, and you are comfortable. You just want to stay there all day.

However, you want to open presents on Christmas, so you are motivated to jump out of bed and join your family around the tree.  You don’t have to be called or bribed.  You don’t have to remind yourself of all the reasons to stay on the path. You just want to, so you do.  That’s motivation.

Motivation can stem from several factors, from physical rewards on Christmas or satisfaction with a job well done.  In College and University, it’s harder to stay motivated because the incentive of a great mark or your graduation is so far.  That’s why it’s essential to give yourself rewards to keep you on track.

How to Stay Motivated for School When you Don’t Want to do Anything.

So, how do I stay motivated? What are my tricks?  How do I balance running three businesses and a family?  How could I have possibly made it through University while working 60 hours a week and going to school full time?

I can tell you it was not easy.  There were times that I went from sunup to sundown with a completely packed schedule.

My very first secret is that I absolutely love what I do.  Sharing these tips with you and working with clients doesn’t feel like work.  I love helping people and feel genuinely rewarded when I get to.

10 Motivation Killers that will come between you and your goals.

My second secret is time management and pacing yourself.  Just because my schedule is packed doesn’t mean that I didn’t set aside time to unwind.  By keeping a plan within my day and selecting my priorities, I can get a ton of stuff done and take care of myself as well.

How to stay motivated to be productive

Pursuing your education and building a business have several things in common.  First, you are working to increase your capital, whether monetary or knowledge-based.

Knowledge is the currency of the education system.  All of your efforts in school are rewarded with increased knowledge which you can show and get higher grades.

The same techniques of organization and efficiency work for both because you are constantly under deadlines.  In business, you plan quarters and make your targets, while in school, you attend classes for a semester and hand in assignments. 

Ultimately, you have to work and stay motivated to do what is needed to reach these goals and pass your courses.  This takes a ton of time and commitment.  Not just in class but at home too.

You have to put in the time to study and do your homework to succeed in school.  Spending your time busy at work without a true goal of what you are trying to accomplish will not help you. 

Have a specific task in mind that you have to complete to boost your productivity.  This way, you are not spinning your wheels being too busy but unproductive.

Can you have it all?

Can you have it all?  I firmly believe the answer is yes.

I’ve often been told that I dream too big.  But I don’t think I’m dreaming.  I’m planning, and these are two very different things.  I know where I want to go, and I know the exact path I will take to get there.

You need to be very deliberate with your planning to accomplish what you set out to do.  That is not to say that this plan can’t be flexible or adjusted along the way.  But it needs to be carefully created and followed.

Great big goals can be broken down repeatedly until they are split up into simple tasks that can be worked on each day.  This might seem to be overly simplified but just try it.

Sure, your goal might be to become a world-famous surgeon:

1. First, you need to become a Doctor

2. Before that, you need to graduate from University.

3. To do this, you have to pass all your classes.

4. This is done by handing in your assignments and passing your tests.

What can you do today to make this happen?

Creating a to-do list to organize your day and schedule your time will help with this undertaking.  The little things you do each day add up to massive progress over time.

Personally, I am happiest when I am busy, so it’s easy for me to schedule tasks throughout my day to work on.  But that does not mean that this is all I do.

I also have slumps where I just want to lay around in bed and not be productive.  Sometimes, my favourite thing is just sitting on my phone and staring at it blankly.  Sometimes I’ll watch videos. Sometimes, I will just be scrolling through social media.  I can tell you that my brain has definitely shut off for the duration of this procrastination session.

I give myself permission to go down the rabbit hole of social media or YouTube and procrastinate because it is a form of self-care.  You CAN NOT operate at a 10 all day, every day.  You have to let yourself rest.

You will never be able to hit maximum productivity or motivation if you ignore your need for rest.  Your brain will take a break whether you want it to or not. 

If you don’t facilitate time for your brain to rest, it will choose to shut down whenever it wants.  That could be in the middle of a lecture or an exam.  It might even be when you are trying to write that huge term paper.

Rest when your body and brain need rest.

How to set and achieve priorities

One thing that helps me is setting and keeping priorities.  Pick no more than 3 for any day.

These are not mundane tasks like waking up, taking a shower, eating breakfast, or brushing your teeth.  These are 3 goals or objectives that you need to carry out outside your typical day.

For example, you might choose:

1. Meal planning for the week,

2. Cleaning your bedroom,

3. Working on an essay.

This is already a ton of work.  Do NOT add any more obligations onto a day like this.

You have to understand your limitations, and piling on a ton of activities that you won’t be able to get done will do more to hurt your progress.

It can ruin your mood when you don’t do what you set out to do.  You feel bad because you didn’t finish what you committed to.  Doing this too often will hit your self-confidence and sew self-doubt in your ability to do anything.  All of these add up to a recipe for lowered motivation.

But, if you give yourself three targets, and you complete them, you’ll get a boost!   This could motivate you to tackle even more things than you initially expected.

Setting realistic goals and achieving them will boost your motivation, not hinder it.  It makes it much more likely to get more done than you first expected.

Your planner does more than tell you how you will spend your week.

I love my planner; it is an extension of my body.  You could practically consider it another appendage.  I can’t live without it.

My planner does several things for me.  It allows me to plan my time in the coming days and weeks.  But it also helps me to see how I’ve spent my time in the past.

Logging how I am spending my time and reviewing it periodically can show me what I spend too much time on.  It will also let me know where I underestimate the amount of time needed to complete a task

There will be some things that you pour a ton of time into.  I’m not saying that this time is wasted.  These tasks may be crucial, which is why we need to have the necessary time to complete them available.

It may be beneficial to carve out time in your schedule to devote extra energy to this task to get ahead.  If you can get in front of these obligations, you can more easily tread water.  Relieving you of the worry that builds up when you are afraid of falling behind on something so tedious.

Another way could be to clear out other things you need to do before starting this task.  This way, you can devote your full attention to it and not have to worry so much about time restraints.  So, if you go over, you don’t have a list of things you still have to do hanging over your head.

Finally, try breaking up burdensome tasks into smaller chunks.  This can make it easier to carry out overall and less strenuous steps.  I try to break up everything I need to do into pieces that will take me no more than 15 minutes.

I don’t care if I end up with a list of 20 steps, as long as each step takes only a few minutes to complete.  If any of those steps take longer, I will just list them as repeating entries of the same task.

Small tasks are less daunting to deal with and allow you to see yourself making progress towards completion.  This is another way to increase your motivation.

Seeing progress will summon motivation, allowing you to get a second wind and become more productive to complete the remaining tasks.

If you have trouble creating a schedule that works for you, check out my Study Skills Digital Course.  Here, you will learn how to create a plan to get on the right path to crush this semester.

Regardless of which strategy you use, make sure you set aside the time you need to complete any goals for the day.

Stay organized

It is much easier to convince yourself to do a task or focus on something when you know you already have everything for it.  Keeping a clean and inviting workspace also helps with this as well.

Having all the items needed for a project before you sit down and start it will help you complete it faster and more efficiently.  There is much less setup or clean-up, and you don’t have to deal with the constant frustration of searching for an eraser or ruler.

Tidy, organized workspaces are also just more inviting.  I love sitting at my desk with all my stationery and using it.  I often buy specialty and artisan stationery products because it makes me want to use them.

I also have a diffuser with lemongrass essential oil that I fill at the beginning of any study or work session.  I love this scent; I find it so energizing.  As soon as I sit down at my desk and drop a few drops onto my diffuser, my brain immediately goes into work mode.

I also organize my time.  I block my schedule and chunk similar tasks to get things done as efficiently as possible. 

I break down everything into 10-to-15-minute blocks and schedule them throughout my day.  I know that nothing will take me more than 15 minutes to complete this way.

If something takes longer than 15 minutes, I will schedule a second or third block to allow myself more time.  It does not necessarily have to be immediately after. Sometimes I will split items up if I can.

For example, I hate doing dishes.  It takes like an hour, and I can’t force it to be any less.  But I don’t want to sit there for an hour because I feel like I’m not making progress.  So, I break it up.

I start with the first load, usually plates, cups and bowls.  Once I am done with that load, I’ll put the next set in the sink to soak.  Instead of hopping right in, I will take 5 minutes off and do a different task.

If I am in work mode, I might clear off and wipe down the counters or sweep the floor.  This will usually boost motivation for washing the next load because I realize how clean the kitchen is as compared to when I started.

My motivation and patience are pretty low after the second or third sink load.  I might take a 5-to-10-minute break to watch a video or browse Tik Tok to give myself a break.

I always set a timer, of course.

Block off your time

Even when I read a textbook, I break each step in my reading strategy down and assign it 10 or 15 minutes.  During my study sessions, I follow the Pomodoro technique of intermittent focus intervals, broken up with breaks.

The Pomodoro technique allows for four 25-minute sessions of intense focus with 5-minute breaks in between.  After four focus blocks, you get a 20-minute break before the timer resets.  This gives you a 2-hour study session.

As I plan each study session, I first decide how much I will read.  I will usually focus on one subtopic at a time.

1. First, I spend 10 minutes skimming over the section I am about to read

2. Next, I will spend 15 minutes reading the passage and highlighting it.

3. Now I get a 5-minute break

4. For this next 25-minute focus interval, I will write down notes or move on to the following subsection if I don’t feel like writing.

During my breaks, I like to step away from my desk.  I might use the opportunity to tidy up, or sometimes I even pop in some laundry.  Just as long as I step away from my work and don’t think about it.

I don’t limit this to study sessions. This is a great way to structure any part of my day.  This way, I’m not working for hours straight, forgetting to take a break.  Instead, I set my timer or turn on one of my favourite guided work sessions and get to any task.  The background music helps me focus, and the timer conveniently chimes to let me know that my break is over.

This technique keeps me rested and more productive because I am not overexerting myself on any task until my brain is exhausted.  I’m giving myself breaks and rotating through activities to keep me actually interested in what I’m doing.

Avoiding monotony is a great way to prevent losing motivation.  Rotating activities can help to keep you more engaged in your task because your brain is not going on autopilot and disengaging.  You also don’t have to worry about spending hours and hours on a single job.

It is so much easier to convince yourself to do something for 10 minutes or even 25 minutes than to read a whole chapter.  As you start to lose motivation and interest, you slow down.  This will cause the task to take longer and longer.  But if you are only ever going to read for 25 minutes in the first place, you can count down this time and know that something more interesting awaits you on the other side.

Self-care

One of the first things any accountant or financial adviser will tell you is to pay yourself first.  This is one of the best ways to achieve prosperity and financial security. 

Today, I will give you the same advice: pay yourself first. 

When planning out your week and budgeting your time, the first thing you should schedule is time for self-care and socialization.  Add time to spend with your friends doing something that you love. 

This can be anything from going for coffee to just hanging out.  One of my favourites is planning a girls’ day, running errands, getting our nails done, or grabbing lunch. 

I hate running errands alone, and coupling it with someone else makes it more fun. I actually look forward to standing in that long line at the insurance company when I know I have someone to chat with.

I also block off time every day to procrastinate.  Sometimes it’s something simple, like giving myself extra time to complete simple tasks.  That way, I can have the time needed to procrastinate or do it slowly.

Other times I will actually block off time for nothing.  I often do this around important events.  I also like to block off at least an hour on Monday and Friday, so I have time to just… exist.

In addition to these “nothing” blocks, I also make sure that I schedule time for specific self-care tasks, like manicures, skincare, video games, etc.  I want to make sure that I’m not just carving out time but also actively doing things to take care of myself. 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you reward yourself.  Anything that you love to do, and recharges your battery, can be considered your self-care.

Positive self talk

We are always so quick to be hard on ourselves.  We expect more from ourselves than any other person on the planet.  The problem with this is that beating yourself up can significantly impact your self-esteem and motivation, even if you don’t intend it.

Negative self-talk can have a profound impact on your self-worth.  We did a deep dive into the effects of both negative and positive self-talk.  I highly suggest you check it out.

Negative Self-Talk and How it Affects Your Grades

Even if you are joking when you call yourself names, your brain can’t actually tell the difference.  Your brain thinks you are serious, and this is what you actually think.  I will internalize these words and slowly lower your self-worth, even if that is not your intention.

Try to avoid this habit.  Instead, give yourself compliments every time you can.  The same trick to make you feel bad about yourself works in reverse.  Your brain does not know you are not serious or don’t necessarily believe it. Still, if you repeat these compliments enough, they will eventually become real. 

You can bring things into reality just by continually believing in them and working towards them.  If you keep telling yourself you are great at something and work on it, your brain will think you’re getting better, and so you will.

This is another form of paying yourself first.  This time, you are paying yourself in compliments.  This is the simplest form of self-care.

Understand your limitations

I know my limitations.

I respect my limitations.

That doesn’t mean that I like them.  I am an imperfect person, and we all have them. 

I don’t think that having limitations takes away from what I can accomplish because I understand where to draw the line.  I can make a plan to compensate for these shortcomings.  This way, they don’t interfere with my goals.

For example, I am an extremely slow reader.  However, I still want to graduate from university and get an education.  I knew that there would be a ton of reading involved, so I made a plan to make the most out of each reading session.

I do love reading, and my reading comprehension is solid.  The problem is, when I see the words, they are just words.  They have no meaning, past letters on paper. 

I have to be able to visualize the information.  To close my eyes, move it around, and manipulate it.  I need to be able to see it.   That’s just how my brain works.  This is the same for words I hear.  I need to be able to see them before they make sense.

Once I have a complete 3-D picture, I can understand it and move on to the following sentence.

Because of this, I have an entire ritual and process for reading.  It takes a little longer, but I have a deep understanding when I am done. 

My reading sessions work triple time.  I am incredibly deliberate about each sentence. I know that I must have a solid grasp of the information before moving on.

An entire unit is dedicated to explaining the steps to my reading strategy and a walk-through to create your own in my digital course.  I credit my reading strategy for most of my success in university.  There are several steps to it, and each one is incredibly intentional.  By creating a comprehensive reading strategy you

1. Can create a list of study steps tailored to your strengths

2. Have bite-sized tasks that take only about 10 to 25-minutes to complete.

3. Have the flexibility to complete tasks in any order.

4. Get to pick and choose the tasks that you enjoy

5. Can rotate different activities throughout your study session to increase your engagement.

Each of these will help increase the efficiency of each study session by strengthening mental associations and recall.  That means that you will get more out of each study session.

Steal My Reading Strategy

Just because you have a shortcoming does not mean you have to let it impede your progress.  There are so many inspiring stories of people succeeding despite the odds.  If you have a plan, you can achieve it. You just need to take the first step.

Unplug

I try to unplug and put down my phone at least a little bit every day.  I also try to avoid working or studying on Sundays.

Sunday is my relaxation and reward day.  I try to keep it clear to use it for a catch-up day if I fall behind during the week.  If I stay on track and accomplish all of my goals, Sunday is a free day, and I can do whatever I want.

I also keep the notifications off on my phone.  I find them so distracting and often jump to them, even if I’m focusing on something important.  Instead, I turn them all off and just check my phone between tasks.

That way, I don’t get distracted, and I can finish what I’m working on faster.  This caused me some anxiety at first, but it eventually went away. 

Now, I can give my full attention to the project I’m working on or my clients.  I don’t have to check my phone whenever I get an email or a mobile game decides it’s having a new limited-time event!

Delegate

You don’t have to do it all yourself.  This is the most crucial point I want to make today.

I can’t run everything by myself.  I have assistants to staff the clinic. My family helps me with a lot of day-to-day tasks.  It is okay to ask for and receive help.  There is no shame in needing it or accepting it.

Once I finally realized this, life became so much easier! 

Group projects used to be a nightmare, but when I approached them with an open mind and a willingness to trust others to do their part, most people rose to the occasion.  There are always a few in the group that are… less than helpful, but for the most part, people step up.

It has been my experience that if you allow yourself to be vulnerable and give people the opportunity to step up and help you, they will rise to the occasion.

Motivation can be so fragile.  It takes the slightest setback to just completely obliterate it some days.  When you burn yourself out, it can take days or even weeks to come back.

If you keep a balanced schedule and try to avoid overwhelm, you can keep a much firmer grasp on it.  Try some of these tips and see how they work for you.

Staying organized will go a long way in keeping you motivated.  Our Study Planner and Activity Tracker can help you manage your entire semester.  It has templates that suggest study activities and help you plan each revision session.  You can even track how your confidence progresses over the whole semester.  Download yours to get started.

I would like to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and want to share with my audience.