[JESS.]

what motivates you to study?
i'm a senior in high school right now.
basically, senioritis is killing me.
but studying with one other friend motivates me a lot.
i guess i'm competitive and knowing i got that higher score makes me feel smart

[k1D3Ck]

In high school, i studied very little. Maybe an hour a day. I got accepted to the college of my choice before senior year started, and i always shot for 89.9% in all my classes.

In college its another story, persistance and the strive to go on is what counts, not your brains. But what helps me motivate to study is thinking about the future life.....lol

My methods include:

Studying by myself in the library where its somewhat active and people are working around me.

Or having some eye candy to look at when i get bored....

[gary]

^ i disagree. cuz the super smart kids never study. and they never have to study and they get good grades. the normals kids, like us, are the ones that strive on hard work.

i studied because i had to? you know, the constant threat of death from your parents is always a good motivational tool.

[mofo]

nothing motivates me. i was hoping i'd see some suggestions in this thread tho haha

[talula]

nothing motivates me. i was hoping i'd see some suggestions in this thread tho haha

hahaha same here.
even on my finals i cant seem to pull myself together till the last day, and by then im still slacking.

[mofo]

hahaha same here.
even on my finals i cant seem to pull myself together till the last day, and by then im still slacking.

no no no..trust me i'm worse. i'm the worst student of all time lol

[bingPWR]

^ i disagree. cuz the super smart kids never study. and they never have to study and they get good grades. the normals kids, like us, are the ones that strive on hard work.

i studied because i had to? you know, the constant threat of death from your parents is always a good motivational tool.

That works in high school, and for the very first year of college, but eventually, all of them fall behind. You learn so much new material, and there's no homeworks or quizzes to help your grade. It's just midterms and finals. So work hard and strive, and you will be "smart". Do not limit yourself because of what others do.

To motivate myself, I just think of all of the hardships and adversities that my parents went through to put me in a home, provide food, and a good education. Why waste like $30,000 (if not more) drinking and partying, and not studying?

[panaru]

hmmmm
i think about how everyone expects me to do a good job and get good grades and how i can't let them down.
and how i can't let myself down.

[insideMYheart]

Not wanting to let my parents down because they have high expectations is what motivates me to do well.

[Happy_Day]

nothing.. except for my parents sometimes.

[michinsarang]

Stuffing my face with cheap food.

[clauric]

what motivates me..hmm maybe thinking of the future..i mean i tell myself that im doing "this" for me..my parents are not going to be there to financially support me in the future...
and i guess sometimes i tell myself that im lucky that i have the chance to go to college while many of my friends have to work full time wishing they have the chance..

[YUNA!]

pride
future
threatens from parents to disown me.

^^

[x3sarah]

future and pride are the main things that motivate me

[xkrndreamer]

meeting a special noona motivates me greatly

[Trungy]

That works in high school, and for the very first year of college, but eventually, all of them fall behind. You learn so much new material, and there's no homeworks or quizzes to help your grade. It's just midterms and finals. So work hard and strive, and you will be "smart". Do not limit yourself because of what others do.

To motivate myself, I just think of all of the hardships and adversities that my parents went through to put me in a home, provide food, and a good education. Why waste like $30,000 (if not more) drinking and partying, and not studying?

I agree with both parts. There is this one classmate of mine in calculus 3 who never took notes. He was a really smart kid. I mean when we were in lectures, the kid impressed even the professor every so often. However, when it came to the test time, he'd always get lost. Of the three exams that we took, he scored less than a 30 on both exams.. and this is the same student who is a self-proclaimed genius and a student who is on a full-scholarship at the school. It is like.. "Great job! Full scholarship! Too bad you will only have it for a year." Eventually, he got his act together, but it turns out that he wasn't any smarter than I was, so it hit him real hard that he, a self-proclaimed genius who never studied in high school and still got straight As, was on par with me.. the self-proclaimed slacker-turned-hard worker.

As for your other point.. that was the biggest motivation of my life. One time in my freshman year of college where I goofed off the entire year, I laid on my bed after getting a 60 on my exam (which was not too far off the class average, believe it or not), and I laid in disgust. Not because I received a 60, but because how I approached the exam beforehand. I meant to study.. I truly did.. I meant to study last minute so I could jam all the details into my head before going to bed for the exam.. however, I ended up playing poker for 4 hours. When I thought about my parents paying approximately $30,000 for my entire college funding at my school, I thought that I was wasting their money. They worked SO hard in life to provide me an education by immigrating to America and working 10 hours a day for 6 days a week (they both truly, honestly did work that much). The next year, this year actually, I made a complete 180. I'm actually the student that everyone goes to for help. I'm taking the most advanced courses for my curriculum. I'm studying at odd hours of the day.. just because I can and I want to. My biggest motivation is my parents. Just to see where they were before and how they are now motivates me because of my fear of disappointment, and the fear that the money that they are spending on me would all be a waste.

Here is another story to tell. I was at a family friend's house having dinner during the winter of 2004. One of the family friend's son had just graduated from Georgia Tech, and so we were there to celebrate it with their family. I remember sitting on the couch, trying to watch the Jacksonville-Green Bay game on their TV, when the family friend tapped on my shoulder and showed me a booklet. His son had graduated with high honors.. which was most impressive due to the fact that he attended a top-tier school in engineering. When I looked up to his face, I couldn't help but to notice his grin on his face. He was proud of his son.. the hard work he put forth. I swear it made himself feel like a great man for raising an educated child, a difficult task considering his past issues with poverty before immigrating to America.

My motivation was: I wanted to put that grin on my parents face. I wanted to be like a 6-year old child running home and showing my report card to my parents. I didn't get that opportunity my first year (I actually had to alter it using photoshop, lol.. if they ask, I got straight As my freshman year, ok?). I never really made my parents proud of me throughout my life. If you asked them what they thought my greatest achievement in life was, I would be completely unsure of their answer. I want to put an end to that. So yea, my biggest motivation is my parents.


My other motivations are pretty.. naive, but it really works. I want to get into Stanford graduate school, so I printed out Stanford's logo, then posted it right above my laptop. Whenever I feel like I'm going to slack off and start goofing off on the computer, I look up and remember that I'm in college for a reason.. I'm at the computer to research such-and-such for a reason. It becomes a great motivation factor, as long as I remember to value it. If I start looking at it and decide to blow off some hard work due to laziness, eventually, I might as well take it down and throw it in the trash (a great metaphor, isn't it? ).

My very last motivation is a picture of this dorky high school kid from California who won the science fair by solving a century (maybe even longer) math problem. Yea, I know.. very strange. Hey, I get beef about it all the time.. you don't need to laugh. Why is it a motivation? It is there to remind me that the competition in the real world is cut-throat. If I am the least bit hesitant with my studies.. if I'm not challenging myself to study and actually remember the content that I'm studying, then I won't get very far in life. I want a great job, something that would satisfy me. I don't think I would be able to attain that job if I'm not at the cream of the crop. A picture of the dorky teenager reminds me that there is always someone who is smarter. I will never be the smartest person in the planet, but that doesn't stop me from trying.. not at all.

So in conclusion, what motivates me is my family, my future, and my competition in life. I actually have a picture of all three either on my desk or on my wall. Whenever I look directly upwards, I see the Stanford logo. If I look to my left, I see the dorky teenager. If I look to my right, I see a portrait of my family. I was the biggest underachiever in high school. I had classmates and teachers telling me that I am the smartest lazy student that they've ever met. I'm already proud that the image no longer hovers over my head.. thanks to my motivation.


And I don't say this enough.. but coffee is my best friend.. It is bad for you, but hell, once I drink coffee, I'm set for the day.

[redbean]

Back in HS, what motivated me was getting into a good university.

[deeleecious]

i think what motivates me is that when looking back (after an exam) the amount of effort i put on a course.
if i do bad even when i've put so much thought and time on sth, i continue to strive my best.
and....
if i do well, i feel proud of myself. =)

i don't like looking into the future, b/c i know everything will be alright. i just worry about what i need now.

[losborrachos]

i don't study what i'm not interested in... simple as that...
in high school, taking subjects like physics, chemistry, econs, didn't motivate me to study at all... i never studied... no, not even the prospect of losing my scholarship had any effect on me back then...
now in college, i'm learning stuff i really wanna learn, hence studying isn't studying... it's like reading a good novel and taking it all in...

[celestial.memories]

i don't really have a motivation.. i guess i should.. T_T