Focus and Motivation

Rachel Horrocks Birss Blended Learning, Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 8th February 2021Academic Skills, Blended Learning, challenges, focus, Lightning Sessions, motivation, Procrastination, productivity, self-care, stress, time management, wellbeing, work 0 Comment

Learning how to focus well and motivate yourself are essential skills for university, as well as for the workforce and the rest of your life. If we can motivate ourselves to get going and focus intensely on our work, we can accomplish difficult tasks quickly and efficiently. If, however, we struggle to focus or get motivated, doing any work will always be a slog.

Particularly in stressful times, like the current lockdown, focus and motivation can be really challenging. Whether you find yourself with far too much to do (perhaps you’re trying to homeschool or care for an elderly relative alongside your uni work), or far too little (maybe your packed social calendar has been reduced to a string of lonely evenings), these tips can help you shake off the cobwebs and get back to productive, fulfilling work!

Watch our Lightning Session on Focus and Motivation, then keep reading for more tips!

Motivation

In essence, motivation is all about empowerment. It’s about believing we have the ability to do something that matters. After all, if we believe we can’t do something, or that it won’t make any difference, then why bother?

If you’re struggling to get motivated for a particular task, ask yourself these questions:

1: Can I do it?

2: Will it make a difference?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, ask yourself, why not? If you don’t believe you can do it, maybe you need some additional support or training. If you don’t believe it will make a difference, you should spend some time reflecting on whether completing this task with help you reach your goals.

Focus

Focus is essential to good work. When you focus on the task at hand, you can get more done in less time. So, how do we avoid distractions and focus on our work?

1: Work in Short Chunks. Strategies like the Pomodoro Method suggest setting a timer for 25-minutes, then taking a 5-minute break, then working for another 25-minutes. Whether you focus for 25 minutes for 55, working in short, focussed bursts is more efficient than hours at a time.

2: Eliminate Distractions. Put your phone on silent and close any social media tabs on your computer. Our brains are wired to pay attention to distractions, so do yourself a favour and shut them down before they start!

3: Take Breaks. Counterintuitively, breaks actually make us more productive! Taking intentional breaks away from the screen, whether that’s making a cup of tea or going for a long walk, allow our brain to reset so we can go back to our work with renewed energy and more creative ideas.

STEP UP to Blended Learning

Rachel Horrocks Birss Essays, Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 8th January 20218th February 2021Academic Skills, challenges, focus, lectures, Lightning Sessions, motivation, online lectures, Procrastination, productivity, recorded lectures, self-care, time management, university, wellbeing 2 Comments

Welcome to Semester Two!

Whether you’re returning to campus or staying at home, this is hardly the semester any of us wished for. The recent lockdown and increased restrictions are challenging for us all. If you’re struggling to stay motivated while working from home, or you just can’t get used to recorded lectures, don’t worry– you’re not alone!

To support you in this challenging time, the Academic Skills Centre has created resources addressing these two key issues: Online Lectures, and Focus and Motivation.

For more support in a whole variety of areas, check out the full programme of Lightning Sessions.

Independent Learning Units

If you prefer working in your own time, log in to the Blended Learning for Students organisation on My Dundee. There, you’ll find two new units: Focus and Motivation, and Getting the Most from Recorded Lectures.

These units contain our top tips for learning in this new environment. You’ll find text, videos, and quizzes to help you test your knowledge. Each unit will take approximately an hour to work through, and you can dip in and out as you like.

Lightning Sessions

To kick off the semester, we ran two Lightning Sessions at the beginning of semester. The sessions lasted just 30 minutes, and we converted them into blog posts afterwards! Whether you missed the sessions, or you want a refresher, you can find both of them on our blog.

Getting the Most out of Recorded Lectures

Extracting relevant information from online lectures is a whole new challenge. Learn how to get the most out of your online lectures, without having to re-watch the recording seven times.

Focus and Motivation

Without as many on-campus classes and social opportunities, it can be hard to stay motivated. Watch this session to learn how to be more focussed while working online, and how to motivate yourself in difficult circumstances.

Avoiding Procrastination

Rachel Horrocks Birss Lightning Sessions, Study Skills 26th November 2020Academic Skills, challenges, Essays, Procrastination 0 Comment

We’ve all been there. A big deadline is just around the corner, but somehow we find the time to wash dishes, watch Netflix, and scroll through a million Wikipedia pages… all while conveniently avoiding our work.

Procrastination is one of the biggest struggles university students face. We know we need to work consistently throughout the year to keep on top of our coursework, but somehow, we can’t help getting distracted.

The bad news is that procrastination isn’t just a university problem. Once you get your degree and join the workforce, self-motivation becomes even more important. Procrastinating on an important report won’t win you any points with your future boss!

The good news is that there are many tried and true ways to beat procrastination and get your work done on time. Watch our Procrastination recording to hear our Academic Skills Tutors share their thoughts, then scroll down for our top tips.

[Note: To skip the intro, jump straight to 05:40]

In order to beat Procrastination, we have to understand more about it. We’ll do this by quickly looking at the 3 Myths of Procrastination.

Myth 1: I’m the only one.

When we look around, it can often feel like everyone else is working so hard and getting so much done, while we’re the only ones who still haven’t started.

In reality, everyone struggles with procrastination, even people who get lots done. In our Lightning Session on Procrastination, all 18 participants admitted they procrastinate “most days” or “all the time”!

When do we procrastinate? The most common times are:

When we’re anxious
When we think a task will be difficult
When we’re just getting started
When deadlines are a long ways away

If you’re in this situation and you find yourself procrastinating, don’t beat yourself up! Struggling with procrastination in these situations is completely normal.

Myth 2: Procrastinators are lazy and don’t care about their work.

From the outside, procrastination looks a lot like laziness. Rather than working hard, you’re watching funny cat videos and learning tik tok dances. Ironically, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The truth is that procrastinators often care very deeply about their work. They care so much that they’re terrified to get started, because they might not be able to do a good job.

It won’t surprise you that procrastination goes hand in hand with perfectionism. If we think something needs to be perfect, it’s really difficult to get to work. After all, we know that nothing is ever going to be perfect, so why even try? It’s easier to scroll through social media and pretend that everything will be fine.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by your work, try these strategies instead:

Take a break (getting outside for a walk is ideal)
Set a timer and work for just 5 minutes. It’ll give you the boost you need to get started!
Try the Pomodoro Technique
Break down your tasks (instead of “write essay” on your to-do list, try “write 100 words of introduction”)

Myth 3: This is just how I am.

Sometimes, we talk about procrastination like it’s something that define us. Instead of saying, “I procrastinate sometimes,” we might say, “I’m a procrastinator.”

Why does this matter? If we see procrastination as part of our identity, then we don’t try to change it. We just get used to working on everything last minute and missing deadlines. We don’t even realise that we can improve.

The wonderful thing is that, if we implement some of the strategies in this blog and in the video, we can get better at handling procrastination. We may never be able defeat it entirely, but we can improve our organisation and focus. If we do this, it’ll make a big difference, both to our assignments at university and our future careers.

We hope these tips help you beat procrastination and focus productively on your next assignment! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us at asc@dundee.ac.uk.