What do you do when you have no motivation to study? Those who asked me this question often think I have a secret formula for keeping myself motivated. The truth there were many occasions when I lost all motivation to go to school. But I knew I was always passionate to learn new things.
What I can tell you, then, are practical ways to push myself harder. You can continue learning even if you have no motivation to study. In fact, motivation makes studying look easier. But lack of motivation, I realized, is not a good reason to stop studying.
Let me tell you my story.
I had no motivation to study.
When I was young, children were expected to be in school when they reached seven. I was not one of them. I did not know that I had to.
My parents were in Manila, and I was with my grandparents on Camotes Island. Well, some kids in the neighborhood didn’t go to school too. Instead, they worked in the corn fields or went fishing with their fathers. I played all day.
There was no motivation to study because I did not know it was necessary. Moreover, the prospect of going to school was less attractive than listening to drama programs on the radio.
I was eight when my mother came to Cebu. She told me how exciting it was for her to go to school. I also learned from others that when my grandfather was in school, he was constantly accelerated to the next level.
Though my grandfather never reached high school and my mother did not get into college because of poverty, people who knew them told me they were brilliant.
I got very excited to enter the first grade. My teachers affirmed they knew my mother and my grandfather. From the first day of class, I was already on top. I was good at mathematics, reading, and writing. Though I admit, I still loved to play in the fields.
Before I continue, let’s pause for a moment.
Answer the questions that follow:
- Think about the time when there was no motivation to study. What caused the absence of motivation? What have you heard from other people about you?
- Consider the time when studying felt so good and so valuable. What motivated you to study?
Allow me to tell you what I learned in retrospect.
There was no motivation to study because I did not know why it was necessary to have a good life.
I had no idea what a good life was. All I had to do was play in corn fields, listen to drama programs on the radio, wash the dishes, swim in the ocean, get drinking water from a cave, and pull out Lolo’s white hairs.
That was a good life.
There was no TV. I had no idea what life was like in Metro Manila or in the movies.
I went to school because people said I needed it to reach Maynila. Most of them have not seen the place, but based on what they’d heard, it was a good place.
During that time, the government has been selling the idea that the Philippines would be great again. Of course, it was all propaganda, but it temporarily motivated me, for I was to see my father, whose face I had already forgotten.
But more importantly, I was convinced to go to school and motivated to study harder because I wanted to be associated with my grandfather and my mother. If they were brilliant students during their days in school, I would show that I would be as good.
And as I have said, I was very good. I was always praised and compared to my grandfather.
I felt that school was the best change in my good life.
Unfortunately, more than halfway through the school year, my mother decided to bring me to Maynila (It was Quezon City).
When I was younger, people from the provinces consider all towns and cities in Metro Manila as Maynila. So, when they asked if you came from Maynila, you only need to nod your head for they don’t know the other towns and cities in Metro Manila.
I stopped attending school because schools hadn’t allowed me to transfer without the papers.
I will make a quick summary before we proceed.
I had no motivation to study because:
- I did not know that it was necessary.
I was motivated to study because
- I wanted to be associated with my grandfather and mother. Both were brilliant students.
- I was crushing it. I was at the top of my class.
- I wanted to see my father too.
The sources of my motivation were extrinsic. I had a fixed mindset about intelligence. But during my younger years, they were enough to motivate me to study.
The lack of motivation is the default excuse. But there are more reasons why students fail. So, before we talk about proven and practical ways to sustain motivation, let’s talk about practical ways you can do when you have no motivation to study.