Jacky Guo, G10, RDF International School

Have you struggled with waking up at 10 o’clock every morning? Have you struggled about losing concentration just after 20 minutes of study? I had struggled about these things every weekend before I turned into a 8th grader, feeling that I didn’t have anything else to do except to play with my mobile phone 12 hours every day, even longer than the time that I slept. However, after a short period of self adjustment, I became motivated and got more self-disciplined. Based on what I’ve learned, here are some suggestions:

Find your interests

Once you find your interests, you would genuinely love the activities and be very motivated. The process of doing the activities that relate to your interests is mentally relaxing, so you would not feel tired and you can grow a lot during the process. Also, individuals are more likely to focus on something that they find interesting since it is attractive to them.

Search for your best approaches

Make friends with the people who are productive and self-disciplined. Try to follow up their approaches and make use of your time, so you can find the best approaches for yourself. Learn from the best students about how to keep focused. For example, some people would like to listen to music while studying, some prefer studying with relaxing nature sounds and some study quietly. In summary, search for the most suitable and flexible approaches for yourself and keep working on it.

Study with others

Humans are social animals. It’s a waste of time if we pretend to be focused. However, to study with others allows us to have better concentration and productivity. For example, I am five times more motivated when studying with my friends because we have the opportunities to discuss about our projects and come up with our ideas. This process is very relaxing because I can enjoy myself while studying.

How to become motivated is not a difficult thing. Hopefully, these tips above will help you become an ambitious and self-disciplined person.