Starting the Semester Right
Insights about harnessing your natural motivation waves.
“I’ve found that putting a deliberate effort into structuring how the first few weeks of school will play out helps me maintain more consistent motivation throughout the semester.”
We are all familiar with the feeling of “waking up on the wrong side of the bed” and how it can ruin our whole day. Being stressed, feeling off, as you are struggling to keep up with everything happening is not enjoyable for anyone. While there is nothing wrong with having an off day, being mindful of how we start our days can help prevent this. The same logic applies to how we start our school semesters. Personally, I’ve found that putting a deliberate effort into structuring how the first few weeks of school will play out helps me maintain more consistent motivation throughout the semester. The key is setting up the systems.
An interesting psychology model that might help explain this is the Motivation Wave described by BJ Fogg, a social scientist from Stanford. According to his theory, a person’s motivation levels normally fluctuate over time. In order to be more productive, we should harness the peaks of motivation, and use the times when we are most motivated to tackle our biggest challenges. The purpose of these systems is to make it easier for us to continue to make progress toward our goals during the times that we find ourselves in a slump of motivation.
Let’s use the goal of eating healthier as a simple example for this. If your goal is to change your eating habits and adopt a cleaner lifestyle, then it is very likely that you will be highly motivated when you first set this goal for yourself. Perhaps you were inspired by your favorite health blogger, or perhaps you have recently taken up a sport and feel the need to make a positive change in your life. All of these make initial motivation levels high, and a perfect time to make a meal plan for the whole month, and create a shopping list as you research new healthy recipes that you will want to make. This “system” that you have set up will make it easier for you to stay on track two weeks later when your motivation declines, and you are tempted to just order takeout.
Although this is a simple example, it makes it clear how systems of accountability that are set up early on can help you achieve your goals. The same logic applies to getting ready for a new semester in school. Starting a new semester (perhaps after an exciting and enjoyable period of holidays) can be very exciting; new classes, new faces, and a renewed sense of energy to do your best. This is a great time to ride the motivation wave and create intentional systems, develop effective habits, and secure all the supplies that you will need to be successful even when stress levels increase and motivation inevitably dwindles.
What do these systems look like in the context of university? In truth, it depends on the student! The most important thing is to take a moment for self-awareness and reflection. Determine your goals and the challenges that might hinder your progress, especially when motivation is low and stress is high. Here are some ideas that are very widely applicable from my experience in college:
- Review all of your syllabi and make sure that you have all the learning materials that you will need during the semester.
This includes any textbooks, computer accessories, and required readings. Purchasing these in advance and having them readily available will save a lot of the stress of trying to get them once you actually are assigned some work that requires them. To go even further, it can be a good idea to flip through some of the materials to get an idea of what topics they will cover and to review the dates of assignments and/or exams to give you a sense of how your semester will flow.
2. Design a routine that incorporates your needs and build your habits in the first few weeks of the new semester.
Even if you aren’t the type of person with a perfectly timed productivity routine that perfectly balances your work, study, and social time, it can be beneficial to pretend for the first few weeks of the semester. Fill your days with your desired activities, like exercising, meditating, cooking a nutritious meal, discussing class with a study group, etc. At this stage, a planner can be very helpful in getting a better sense of how long you are spending on each task, and when you have free time. Spontaneous changes of plans will happen during the semester, and you will of course have weeks where schoolwork might have to take precedence over other activities. Still, if you have a routine and habits that you are comfortable with, it will be more likely that you will be able to drift back to this balance and avoid feeling completely overwhelmed in stressful times.
3. Create an infinity list of to-do’s
While this might sound counterintuitive, listing out all of the long term goals that you want to achieve, and all those pestering tasks that you keep forgetting to do might actually help you feel less stressed about them. These can include internship applications, calling your grandma, emailing customer support about your missing package, etc…The trick is to realize that this list is never-ending and that you don’t need to push yourself to finish everything in one day. Having a list of tasks will also allow you to look at them when you have a free moment, and make some progress instead of procrastinating. If your motivation is low, go for a simple task, if you have energy, go for something more challenging.
4. Go to office hours and talk with your TAs and classmates.
Discussing your classes as they start will help you understand the expectations, time demands, and learning strategies that will help you succeed in the course. Starting these conversations at the beginning of the semester will help you build key relationships that you can rely on when you get to more challenging content, assignments, and exams.
These systems might sound intuitive, but being mindful about setting them up is bound to help you feel more in control of the ups and downs that all students experience. Furthermore, achieving something even when you feel unmotivated can boost morale and increase motivation, an added bonus that we all could use!
