Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how to stay motivated when you feel
Speaker 1: like you're in a slump. Motivations for any long project
Speaker 1: can ebb and flow, especially in the middle. When your
Speaker 1: initial enthusiasm wears off but the end is not yet
Speaker 1: in sight, it can be tough to keep going. I
Speaker 1: was reminded of this when I received a note from
Speaker 1: a Before Breakfast listener who is currently earning her bachelor's
Speaker 1: degree in accounting online. She's excited about the subject, and
Speaker 1: she's proud of herself for making school fit into her life,
Speaker 1: but she reported that she's running into motivation problems. Schoolwork,
Speaker 1: she writes, seems to be an endless cycle. While each
Speaker 1: new week covers a new topic, the formula is the same,
Speaker 1: with the same sorts of quizzes and discussions in a
Speaker 1: short project, with her work due at midnight each Sunday.
Speaker 1: When I was in my first semester, she says, I
Speaker 1: had heaps of motivation to be ahead of schedule. Now
Speaker 1: I'm only in my second semester, but sixteen weeks of
Speaker 1: the same formulaic assignment structure has kicked my motivation in
Speaker 1: the stomach, she says. Instead of aiming to be a
Speaker 1: head of school work, I found myself procrastinating into the
Speaker 1: last minute, dreading work, and waiting until five pm the
Speaker 1: night that work is due. This listener suspected that her
Speaker 1: lack of motivation came from doing the same thing over
Speaker 1: and over again each week, and she asked if I
Speaker 1: had advice for dealing with her slump in a healthy way.
Speaker 1: I do have some advice, and I suspect other listeners
Speaker 1: will as well. My first question was whether it was
Speaker 1: possible to take a short break. One of the upsides
Speaker 1: of a traditional academic schedule is that you'd get a
Speaker 1: break between semesters, either around the new year or over
Speaker 1: the summer. This provides a break in the routine, gives
Speaker 1: you the opportunity to do something different, and by the
Speaker 1: time you return, you might be starting to miss school.
Speaker 1: Many online programs, on the other hand, offer courses year round.
Speaker 1: They assume reasonably that the adults availing themselves of these
Speaker 1: programs want to get through and get done. But there's
Speaker 1: still something to be said for breaks. Our listener might
Speaker 1: consider trying to pace herself a bit as she goes
Speaker 1: through her bachelor's degree program. Second, when you're deep in
Speaker 1: the weeds, it can be easy to lose sight of
Speaker 1: your why. Our listener, no doubt, had a very good
Speaker 1: reason for choosing accounting and choosing to get a bachelor's degree.
Speaker 1: So what was that reason? She can remind herself by
Speaker 1: getting together with friends in the accounting profession, or going
Speaker 1: to an accounting conference, or reading some literature related to
Speaker 1: the topic. She can visualize herself in a few years
Speaker 1: in her new career and what this degree is going
Speaker 1: to enable. As for the day to day experience of
Speaker 1: doing her work, there are a few things she can do.
Speaker 1: She mentioned procrastinating until five pm on Sunday when the
Speaker 1: work was due at midnight, but she didn't say that
Speaker 1: she was ever late with her assignments or that she
Speaker 1: didn't get them done, So potentially seven hours is in
Speaker 1: fact a workable amount of time. She could simply accept
Speaker 1: that this is what she'd like to do the work
Speaker 1: for the remainder of this term. It's not an ideal solution,
Speaker 1: as she could get sick, or have car trouble, or
Speaker 1: have her plumbing spring a leek on Sunday night, and
Speaker 1: then she'd be behind the class, but it is a solution.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, if she's finding her procrastination stressful,
Speaker 1: then she can use some of the strategies we talked
Speaker 1: about a few months ago during our Procrastination Week. I
Speaker 1: recommend scheduling in short work sessions most days and then
Speaker 1: rewarding herself profusely when she finished. So, for instance, if
Speaker 1: she's currently allocating seven hours on Sunday, she could do
Speaker 1: one hour on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then maybe
Speaker 1: two on Saturday, two on Sunday, or four on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Either way, she could set a timer and once she's
Speaker 1: done with her hour, she can do whatever she wants,
Speaker 1: watch TV, surf the web, call a friend, cook something fabulous,
Speaker 1: go out for ice cream. She also might want to
Speaker 1: consider when she's doing the work. A lot of people
Speaker 1: who are going back to school assume that the best
Speaker 1: time for studying is in the evening after work. But
Speaker 1: the problem is that we're tired. Then you've already done
Speaker 1: so much it can be easy to think, well maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Most people have more discipline, energy and focus in the morning,
Speaker 1: so maybe our listeners should try getting up in the
Speaker 1: morning to work. Instead, studying from six thirty to seven
Speaker 1: thirty or eight am three days a week would mean
Speaker 1: she's approaching her work when mentally fresh, even if the
Speaker 1: work is repetitive. If she's got a big cup of
Speaker 1: coffee and she's spending one hour, not seven hours straight
Speaker 1: on her work, it might feel more doable. Listeners, if
Speaker 1: you've ever found yourself in a slump, what have you
Speaker 1: done to pull yourself out? Please let me know your
Speaker 1: advice for our listener at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
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