I decided to talk about motivation because it is a common problem for many university students – many of which speak about failing to find the motivation to start a new exercise regimen, study for a test, or even start an assignment due that day.
Why is it so hard to find motivation sometimes?
Well, the honest answer is I don’t know.
Maybe it’s because of something going on with your life at the moment, but then again there are just some days you get out of bed and you’re just not feeling it. Motivation is fickle; it’s uncontrollable sometimes, and that’s okay. Because in the end:
You don’t need motivation to complete your goals, big or small; you just need the will.
You and your “will”
Your willpower is your greatest tool because it can be trained. It can be refined, tested, strengthened, and used in pretty much every activity you engage in.
In other words, your willpower is controlled only by you, and there is unhindered strength in that detail.
Willpower is defined as “control exerted to do something”, but in this context, I think a better definition would be the ability to delay gratification. When you decide to pause Netflix and grind out 2 hours of studying, you’re delaying the gratification a movie gives you right now for the satisfaction of an “A” on your test later.
But if you want to use willpower, you’re going to need to make sure you’re pretty good at it.
So the question becomes, “how can I strengthen my willpower”?
Routine: Your best friend
Let me explain a hypothetical scenario: when you get out of bed every day, you make your bed. Doesn’t matter if you’ve had 8 hours of sleep or 4 hours of sleep, or if you’re late for class. Either way, that bed is being made.
In times where doing something so small seems insignificant, there are people who stick to this task as part of their daily morning routine. We can reasonably believe that there is likely little-to-no motivation of doing so at the precise time of making your bed. So likely the driving force behind this routine is willpower.
So how do you reinforce willpower? Make the activity you’re trying to accomplish part of a routine.
Setting a time and place for the goal you’re trying to accomplish reinforces behaviour, and will likely cause you to stay in the routine. Make it a goal to accomplish 4 pages of notes in the hour you have between classes every Monday, instead of sitting at the library watching YouTube videos. Try starting your work right as you get home from class every day and grind for an hour before you scroll Instagram. Or even try getting up two hours early to go to the gym before class.
Resisting temptation
Because willpower (at least for the purpose of this post) is defined as delaying gratification, it’s almost identical to the idea of resisting temptation. Resisting temptation is the greatest and hardest way of refining your willpower.
So how do you resist temptation; you know, the actual hard part?
Two methods are if-then statements, and out-of-sight techniques, both of which have been proven to be effective1:
If-then statements work best when you use it in combination with delaying gratification. For example, “if I end up craving a bag of chips, then I’ll resist getting them today so I can get them on my cheat day”.
Out-of-sight techniques are better for more physical exertions of will. If your phone is a constant distraction, being able to put your phone away in another room and not think about for hours is excellent for strengthening overall willpower.
Either technique will work quite well, but both used together will produce the greatest results!
Final thoughts
Although I gave motivation a bad rap, it does have its place: it’s great for starting new things. Motivation can be great for when you’re trying out a new activity, as it can be the birth of a routine. In cases like those, motivation and routine can produce a synergy, and work well together. However, when motivation is significantly frail, it can weaken your resolve to do even the most routine activities in your life.
Therefore, when you think about it, it’s the motivation against/and the routine.