College Freshmen – Lost Motivation – How to Overcome

By Talia Goren
For CollegeTipsForParents.org
College Student Talia provides the following tips which should be useful for college freshmen as well as college parents:

I’ve lost my motivation….What do I do?

The first semester in college is probably one of the hardest/most rewarding experiences of a person’s life. Not only is it a culture shock- as college life is totally different from anything else- but it’s also more work, more responsibility, and often completely different challenges than you were ever used to before.

So how do you stay motivated?

If you read my other article, I’ve always been a fan of writing lists. It doesn’t have to be in list form necessarily, but purely the act of writing something down helps people solidify their thoughts. What would you write exactly? Well for starters, pro’s and con’s. Think about what you truly enjoy about going to your school. Is it the teachers? Your classes? Maybe even your sorority or fraternity. Whatever makes you happy- write it down. When you’re feeling really unmotivated and questioning why on earth you decided to spend upwards $40,000 dollars for brain breaking work- look at this list!

Also, write down some of your goals for the next four years. Why did you decide to go to this school in the first place? If you’ve already done this, revise it, or rewrite it according to how you’re feeling now. Often just remembering a positive feeling that you had when you started something difficult is enough to offer motivation.

Don’t hesitate to share this with other people either. Whether it’s a professor, a fellow student, or even your parents (because you know they want to know, even if you don’t want to tell them- you’d be surprised at their good insight!) talk it out- both your negative and positive feelings.

Do these things as often as you feel you need to- repetition also helps solidify things in your brain. And who knows, maybe your lack of motivation means you need to change something. Rehashing all the details while looking back in time to the beginning of your college career can often help you decide.

End of part 1 of 2 More tips for college freshmen and other college students on staying motivated. Part 2, which will be posted shortly.