It’s the lack of motivation for me

Tips and tricks for staying motivated through online school

Aysha Mirza and Madi West, Designer and Reporter

At this point, we can all agree that online school is tough. With Wifi crashing, assignments piling up, and all the emails we’re receiving, it’s safe to say that this is not the easiest. And you’re probably just wondering, am I the only one struggling? No, you’re not, I promise. But how are you supposed to know that if the only thing we are doing is communicating with classmates through a camera?

A big part of the problem for students and teachers during online school is the lack of motivation we have. Now that we are home and have the option to “work” while laying in bed, it becomes difficult to not end up just falling back asleep every period. 

A great way to start getting motivated for school is to set goals for yourself, and I’m not talking about your New Year’s resolutions, I’m talking about realistic goals that you can achieve. You don’t have to start big saying, “I’m gonna get all straight A’s.” I mean, it’s online school, is that even possible? Start out small and say, “I’m gonna get my work done a day early” or, “I’m gonna get an A on this quiz.” 

When setting goals for yourself, it helps if you can see them and remind yourself of them every day. Listing your goals as your phone wallpaper is an awesome way to do that (because I know you open your phone at least once a day and if you don’t, I applaud you.) You can just make a list and set it as your wallpaper. If you want it to look pretty, Canva is a great place to make pretty “goals” wallpapers.

When these goals are achieved, you should reward yourself. It can be something as small as a piece of candy or as extravagant as a Louis Vuitton belt. Just find a way to give back to yourself. It might even help telling someone, “Hey, I achieved my goal today.” That might sound a bit selfish, but who cares, you did it, so show that off. 

 Before Covid, it was easier to keep track of all school work because we could physically see our school work and keep track of what we needed to do. Now students are keeping track of assignments, Zooms, due dates, and probably more. 

It helps to plan everything out. It can be on your notes on your phone so you have it all the time, a text to yourself, as an alarm, or even a planner. A planner has a place for everything, like keeping track of assignments and even a place to list your goals. A good affordable planner is The Ideal Planner. This planner has a place for everything and even has some fun things included too.

Obviously, when we were in school, it was not as comfortable as your bed, but you were probably getting more work done than what you are now. And as good as it feels, it’s not really productive to be working in bed because of the temptation to just sleep all day. Finding a place to designate as a workplace will help a lot. Whether it’s on a desk or on the floor, find a place to be able to focus on school, just whatever you do don’t get in bed. 

But see, that’s the biggest problem. Getting out of bed at 7 in the morning to just get on a computer is one of the hardest things. It’s so easy to roll over, hit snooze, and go back to bed. You need something that will wake you up completely to where there’s no way you will be able to go back to bed. What you need is Clocky. Clocky is an alarm clock that rolls around your room while being obnoxiously loud to make sure you wake up for that 7:35 asynchronous time.

One thing is for sure though, treat online school like it’s normal school. For right now, this is gonna be our new normal so make the adjustments you need to be successful. But just know you’re not the only one going through this, so take it easy and go day by day.