A New Way to Get Through Finals: Tell Yourself You Can’t Do It
With final exams for this semester right around the corner, stress is mounting across campus. The halls are growing quieter, and the library fuller. When trying to come up with something to write about, I knew I wanted to publish a motivational piece to help my fellow Quinnipiac students get through finals. While toying around with different ideas- easy meals to make fast, inspirational songs to play in the background- I found myself meditating on what, exactly, motivates people.
For some reason, a scene came to mind from Harry Potter. There is a character named Luna, whose family publishes a ridiculous magazine called the “Quibbler.” Nobody reads the magazine, until suddenly it is banned from school. Soon, students are only focused on one thing- getting that magazine. As a kid, I found that scene simply amusing, but as an adult I think that there is something extremely relatable and even more important hidden there.
We have seen examples of this same phenomenon countless times in history, with motivation stemming from nothing more than prohibition. Take The Prohibition, for example- by banning alcohol, the US government saw not only a lack of success, but an influx of an entirely new community with the invention of speakeasies, which proved valuable in their own way by stimulating culture and bringing people together in a common pursuit.
Motivation is different for everybody, so rest assured that I am not arrogant enough to market this article as a surefire solution for final exam stress. I am simply here to pose an idea.
The next time you feel overwhelmed by a coming academic hurdle, pretend that there is a voice in your head telling you that you can’t do it. Imagine the worst things they could say to you, and muster up the determination to prove that voice wrong.
By believing that someone does not want you to succeed, you just might ignite the spark that produces that same victory.