How can I get motivated to go to school?
First have a think about WHY you don’t want to go to school. Is there a problem there? Is there a problem with the people in school? For example, your schoolmates, or teachers. How about schoolwork? Are you having any problems with homework, not completing it, for example, or with a particular project – maybe in getting it started? Perhaps the work is too easy or too hard? Are you having difficulty studying for exams? Do you have a problem with your health, or at home that is worrying you? Maybe a problem with a friend outside school? Perhaps a problem with a parent or guardian is worrying you
Can you identify a problem that you think may be stopping you from going to school? It might be something like going to bed too late, so you are always late in the morning. Or it may be a problem with disorganisation and getting out of the house. It’s especially important to consider whether there is something you may be pretending isn’t happening, or would like to hide away from. If you think that there is something of this nature affecting your attendance at school, then try to talk to someone you think could help, such as a school adviser or pastoral counsellor. Some people suffer from depression, also called “Affective Disorder” and this can mean they don’t want to talk to anyone, or see people or go anywhere at all. If so, talk to your medical adviser.
Maybe there is no real problem? Maybe school is just boring? Perhaps you can’t take subjects you are interested in or have to take classes you don’t like or are not good at? Maybe you don’t really need to go to school, because you already know everything you need for the job you want to do for the rest of your life?
If this might be the case, then think about all the reasons you might want to go to or stay away from school and write them down in two lists. Going to school can have its good points. Learning how to get with other people is an important lesson to learn. And even mixing with other people just on a daily basis can help you learn about that, almost without having to think about it. Discussion and debate with your peer group is important in developing your own thoughts on life, your own value system and testing out friendships and relationships of many kinds, some, or many, of which may last your whole life. Physical education is also an important part of going school, though not everyone would agree. Exercise helps keep you active and healthy and playing team games can provide useful examples that help you later in life, with getting on with people. These aspects can all be found elsewhere, besides school but that often means making a deliberate effort to seek out opportunities which could already be part of everyday school life. There can be a downside to school of course. And that might be a reason you don’t want to go. Some subjects or teachers may be boring. Some ideas are difficult to grasp.
You now have two lists, one of good points, one of bad points about going to school. Which list is the longer? The plus points or the minus points? If there are more minus points about going to school than there are plus points, then it is no wonder you are finding it difficult to motivate yourself to attend. Are there any of the bad points about school that you could change? If you can turn those into good points and make the good list longer than the bad list, you’ll find that it is MUCH easier to get up and go to school than it was before.
Changing minus points into positive ones is not as easy as it may sound. Change can be hard because it means taking action now, for the promise of something good in the future. That’s not always easy to do or to keep up but it is very worthwhile. In order to change, you need to work towards a goal. It also means taking action to reach that goal. This needs to be something concrete, such as improving school attendance. If your attendance record is not good, you could make your goal to be to improve that by a certain amount. For instance if you have only attended school for 50% of last term, your goal might be to attend for 75% (three quarters) of the time next term. Alternatively, your goal might be to achieve a pass mark in all your exams, or to submit 100% of all required coursework. You can find out more about setting and measuring goals at FREEDUP – setting goals and you can find out how to create and keep a motivation chart to measure your success at FREEDUP – creating a personal motivation chart
Just like in a game of football, if you want to score a goal, you have to keep going for it. Not achieving your goal right away doesn’t matter. If you fall, pick yourself up and jump straight back in.
The goal you are aiming for must always be achievable – difficult maybe, but it has to be possible and you have to BELIEVE that it is possible, otherwise you will never even start. The goal needs to be divided up into small steps that can be tackled bit by bit, by looking forward to the next step up the mountain, not to the far off distant peak. Running a marathon may mean you start out by walking a few hundred yards each day, or by climbing one set of stairs a day and improving from there. Improving your school marks may mean doing an extra 30 minutes of homework a night to catch up, or improving your basic skills and knowledge. If you want to make more friends or learn better social skills, you could join a club or take up a sport or activity and take part. Alternatively, you volunteer with a charity or some organisation that needs help.
By defining your goals and working out the small steps you need to take daily or weekly to achieve them, your dreams are no longer pie in the sky but really achievable and you will have improved your motivation muscle, which will help you achieve other goals you may have. You can find out more about setting and measuring goals at FREEDUP – setting goals and you can find out how to create and keep a motivation chart to measure your success at FREEDUP – creating a personal motivation chart
