Why I’m Losing Motivation This Quarter & How I’m Trying to Overcome It

For some reason, spring quarter definitely feels rougher for me than other quarters. I’m losing motivation to do my best and have to force myself to watch lectures and complete assignments. Maybe it’s because I know summer is right after spring quarter, or maybe because being virtual for the entire school year has finally taken its toll on me. I’ve gotten so used to the same everyday routine that my motivation has disappeared since I know that nothing new or exciting will happen within my scheduled day. However, I don’t want to end my last quarter of the school year like this, so I’m currently trying to overcome my lack of motivation.

Losing motivation stems from the monotonous schedule that I’ve been following since the start of the school year. Every day consists of a similar routine, in which I go to work, attend lectures, take notes, do homework, and work out if I have time. Knowing that I’ll be doing the same few tasks for the rest of the week, I feel as though I don’t have much to look forward to. As a result, my motivation has decreased just because I don’t feel encouraged to reach my goals. However, I’m working to improve this by motivating myself with small rewards. Whether it be giving myself a ten-minute break after reading a small section or time to play with my dog after studying for an hour, these little rewards do reinforce my motivation. 

Another way I’m trying to get over this obstacle is by telling myself that time passes by quickly. Even if I might feel down for a day, I constantly repeat that in a few weeks the quarter will be over and I’ll be able to take a break. In the moment, the day feels long because there’s so much going on in terms of meetings, classes, work, and extracurriculars. Taking a breath to tell myself that I can get through the day and that time goes by quickly is an effort at motivating myself to stay determined throughout the week. This has helped me persevere throughout periods when I’m tired or don’t feel like doing anything productive. 

Having a virtual school year, it’s been hard to find quality social interaction with people. Although there are breakout rooms, facilitating discussion is hard when we can’t talk face-to-face. Not having quality time to interact with others or form meaningful relationships makes it seem like a year has been wasted. However, I try to not think about this too much and instead think about how I can form more friendships for the next school year. Although my social needs have been deprived due to the online format of school, it was an experience to learn from and has motivated me to want to talk to even more people when things resume in person. Thus, telling myself that the future will look better makes me determined to end this quarter on a strong note.

I don’t want to end this quarter with me knowing that I didn’t try hard enough, so I have tried to motivate myself through a variety of methods. The ultimate method that has helped me in persevering through what seems to be a long routine of life has been telling myself that it does get better. Although the moment might seem bleak and tedious, it’s only one moment that does not define my end goals.

• better
• determination
• determined
• effort
• lose
• motivation
• online
• school