I need motivation, work ethic...

[hs2013]

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I have absolutely no work ethic, and when it comes to homework or studying for tests I just don't want to do it. School just started last Thursday and I already have a spanish and AP Gov test on Wednesday, not too hard just memorizing some vocab but I just can't get myself to study for them. I have no motivation to do so. I want to pursue a career in health care, such as a dentist or doctor of some sort but I know I won't be able to if my work habits stay the same. What can I do to change?

 

[bandgeek0295]

Honestly, I think the best motivation you can get is to look through this forum for all the threads of people regretting their bad study habits and how they didn't quite make it to med school. As far as the AP Gov goes, I recommend getting some type of study aid such as Barrons or Sparknotes. Even though it's just vocabulary, something about study aids make material easier to digest (at least for me) tenfold. I wish you the best of luck, and hopefully by the time you start undergrad, you have some good studying habits.👍

 

[Fai]

I used to be just like that during middle school but that was because middle school didn't matter at all. As for high school, my motivation is to get into a decent college, so I could get an oppertunity to go into medical school and become a Psychiatrist.

Your motivation should be what you /really/ want to do. I hate homework as much as the next person but, it's fun once it's a subject you're actually interested in. As long as it's something you'd enjoy, work hard so you can reach the end (on whichever doctor you choose to become). I absolutely despised intergrated algebra in my school and had no motivation to try my best at all and my teacher said "Make it a motivation because you will need this course to graduate and get your high school diploma" and, although I'll always find that math useless it was fueled as motivation.

So really, just find something to work towards and that'll be just about as much motivation as you need. A needs to reach the end and to work your best to get there.

 

[AdorableSatan]

The reality is that nobody will force you to learn and nobody will magically transfer motivation. If you don't have a reason to work hard you won't. If health is your career choice then that alone should be worth working for. Make your decision because the only decision that will stick is the one you make... on your own.

 

[Cephal0pod]

If you don't have a reason to work hard you won't.

This. 👍 I know how you feel OP, and we all have been there at some point or another. Sometimes you just have to give yourself a kick in the pants and do the assignment. Keep your end goal in mind, and look at what you are doing as one of the steps towards that goal.

Also, read through the forums on SDN on your health career of choice. For me, it's the pre-veterinary forums. I'm only a senior in high school, but reading through the threads about people working hard and in the midst of applying to vet school makes me want to buckle down and do whatever I can in order to get there myself. It gives me a reason, like AS said, to work hard. 👍

 

[AdaMLS]

I know how you feel OP, and we all have been there at some point or another. Sometimes you just have to give yourself a kick in the pants and do the assignment. Keep your end goal in mind, and look at what you are doing as one of the steps towards that goal.

Agreed when I first went into college I wanted to be a Bio teacher but then reconsidered when my GPA hit 3.9; I thought of becoming a Pathologist over the following years but the thought that Med school was so distant led me to disregard my grades and let my GPA fall. In sort of a vicious cycle I lost direction and panicked and my GPA fell even more (mind you was still well above 3.0). I applied to a professional bachelor's program at my school and was accepted last semester and just like that I got mostly straight A's . I'd say the most important thing is to have direction because if you don't know where you're going its hard to have any drive to get there.

 

[Bellette]

I think that the best thing you can do, is to remember that you_are_in_high_school. . . It's going to be okay, even if you are not a great studious high school student.

I was a COMPLETE under-achiever from 10th grade on. I'd been raised in excellent Catholic schools, then I started public school, which didn't challenge me a bit. So I never studied, didn't get one of the pointless special high school diplomas, skipped a lot of classes. You're going to get to college (assuming you don't fail your classes), and then you'll see that high school is not at all relevant to reaching med school.

But the faster you learn to study, the better. The big moment for me (later in college, unfortunately) was when I learned to study immediately (EDIT: as in promptly and on schedule, and "study" means "read some") and never get behind: it's not easy to stay disciplined, but that undoes all of the stress I ever feel about school, thus making it easier to learn and retain the information. A tip that is completely relevant to college, is to make sure you are happy and taking care of yourself: if you're depressed or angsty (angst was my favorite part of years 13-17), you'll have a hard time studying. At a certain point--for me it was around 22, so don't be like me--you'll get to the point where you'll actually look forward to studying. It's not straight-forwardly helpful, but I just wanted to say, in a couple of years, you'll see how little high school matters in any way at all. So hopefully, knowing that, you'll be able to chill-lax a bit, which should help with being able to sit down and study. Stressing about procrastination is not helpful.

 

[Bellette]

. . .As far as the AP Gov goes, I recommend getting some type of study aid such as Barrons or Sparknotes. Even though it's just vocabulary, something about study aids . . .

The Spanish is probably the one with vocab. AP Gov entails a few books full of essays.

 

[paintballdoc]

Only you can motivate yourself. You have to decide what you enjoy and work VERY hard to obtain it. Fortunately, you have the internet to educate yourself about what it takes to get into med school, dental school, etc. Unfortunately, so does everyone else, which increases competition.

You just have to set a realistic expectation for yourself and work towards it. Never give up and NEVER think you are smarter than the next person because that is when you will get your ass handed to you. There are things you may regret as you proceed, but never let someone out work you.

Good luck!!

 

[FlynnRider]

Join the military for 4 years. Work ethic achieved!

 

[Morsetlis]

I have absolutely no work ethic, and when it comes to homework or studying for tests I just don't want to do it. School just started last Thursday and I already have a spanish and AP Gov test on Wednesday, not too hard just memorizing some vocab but I just can't get myself to study for them. I have no motivation to do so. I want to pursue a career in health care, such as a dentist or doctor of some sort but I know I won't be able to if my work habits stay the same. What can I do to change?

I am the same way. If you are smart, you can just go to lecture, stare at the professor 3 hours per week, and get a B+/A- without doing any reading.

That will, however, translate to a 3.3-3.6 GPA average. That is average for med school matriculants, and you really don't want to be just average.

In med school, having no work ethics = dropout. It happens to 1-3% of USMD school students per year.

 

[zwitterion34]

I have absolutely no work ethic, and when it comes to homework or studying for tests I just don't want to do it. School just started last Thursday and I already have a spanish and AP Gov test on Wednesday, not too hard just memorizing some vocab but I just can't get myself to study for them. I have no motivation to do so. I want to pursue a career in health care, such as a dentist or doctor of some sort but I know I won't be able to if my work habits stay the same. What can I do to change?

You have to tell yourself that you are having fun. 😎

 

[45408]

The world still needs ditch diggers.

 

[bucks2010]

The world still needs ditch diggers.

lol

OP my suggestion is to somehow make the material interesting to you. if you do not find a way to motivate yourself, you will not get the work done. from my experience, I found it was much easier to get stuff done that I otherwise wouldn't want to when I designated a time to do it (i.e. read chap. 9 on Weds from 9-11am). that way you don't feel like it's hanging over your head (because you know when you'll do it), and not having that stress allows you to focus better.

 

[Gigantron]

This time one to two years ago, I thought I had work ethic. In hindsight, I clearly didn't. Never sat foot in a library during high school, never *really* studied for school tests or standardized tests (maybe 20 or so minutes a day?), and was generally okay with getting high 80's and low 90's on my tests. Since I've started college I've found myself studying 3+ hours every day and 4-5 hours on Saturday's and Sunday's. Huge change right there.

I wouldn't worry about it *too* much, but you should develop enough work ethic so that college doesn't slap you in the face. How you go about doing this is subjective and varies from person to person. For me, it was just more studying with the addition of flash cards. Plus, the material was actually interesting to me. I would dabble and see which method suits you best.

If your school has an academic support center, I would go there. It helps, trust me. 🙂

 

[MSU2009]

The world still needs ditch diggers.

You mean I could be a ditch digger?

 

[SFO-IST]

I would try working one summer for real - like go to another city and sign a month to month lease somewhere and see what jobs you can get without a degree (or a so-so degree from some school in a non-marketable area) and see how mind-numbing corporate american work is. You might come back to school with a newfound appreciation of academics and the truly unique opportunity that is an undergrad campus environment!

 

[amgen]

I use alarms with google calendar to keep me focused

 

[wahd2005]

I usually go through my class syllabi at the beginning of the semester and make a checklist of everything that is going to be graded. Then I just focus on one at a time regardless of where the professor is. In the end I weed out a lot of the stuff that wastes my time and DE-motivates me. It may be just my opinion but the more clearly I can see something the less I stress about it and the more attainable it becomes, then being motivated isn't as hard because I know I can do it pretty easily. Hope this helps.