How do you do it

[Aventus]

Okay so I started college/university this fall and I am having some serious issues forcing myself to attend class and actually do the work. How do you get yourself motivated to go to class?

[CrimsonNuker]

The fact that you or your parents are paying big money for you to get an education. It's an opportunity that shouldn't be foolishly wasted.

[Aventus]

I'm paying for it but it basically comes down to I can spend all this money and make it back but the time I spend sitting in a classroom learning about menial bullshit cannot be given back to me.

[I Am Vegeta]

i said **** school, i got drugs to do

[CrimsonNuker]

i said **** school, i got drugs to do

Pretty much.

[BuDo]

Reflect on why you are there.....The key to motivation is motive... You shouldn't really have to force yourself if what you're doing is what you really want to do...

[Tasdik]

Kind of in the same boat Avent. I have like no motivation to continue doing school. (I mean, I'll finish out this semester, but idk if I'll go back next.)

It's just so, meh. Like I know that in the long run college is the best option. But right now? I hate that I'm wasting my youth sitting in a class room listening to dumbass teachers. (Well, except my history teacher, he's cool/intelligent.)

[deathtoall]

Ill say what I said when my son said he wanted to quit university of north texas next year and come do community college back where we live. It would be the biggest mistake in the world to stop going once you are enrolled. You would never return to "finish" your degree. Im going on 36 and just now going back to finish my bachelors.

Look at it this way, a couple more years and you can begin your life in a great job that wouldn't have been available to you had you quit. Hell take another year and a half and get your masters degree. Nothing more awesome than being 23-25 and having a masters degree.

[TheDrop]

Well before the summer i was just like, screw it even with education the best life is boring 8 to 6 job anyways so better to shoot for something (music production lols)
Then I worked at mcdonalds during the summer and realized 8 to 6 job is better than fckin mcdonalds.
So now I know I want to get good grades and I get all motivated sometimes, but sometmies i get high and later am just like "fck it".
Still in high school so I need to get grades just to go to a college, hopefully 2nd quarter is better (failed too many tests in the first :/)

[Skyve]

I wrote a paragraph about the very same issue about a month ago on some thread here lol. I still couldn't give a **** about some of my classes (yeah **** you comp sci). I'm now attending all my other classes all the time, seeing myself score so low on the midterms motivated me to wreck shit again like I did in High School.

[MrTwilliger]

I'd search for my life history post I did in a thread of Tasdik's (I think) months ago, but I can't be bothered to search for it. Basically, you've got 2 choices in life. Drop out of school, stop caring, get a mundane repetitive job and earn a moderate wage. Or, you can attend university/school, work hard and make a lot of self sacrifice, get good marks and when your done work in an industry that your passionate about. Your not going to get that dream job by spending your youth playing video games. Don't end up like all the other lost souls who spend their days wishing they had a different life. Stop being a lazy fuck and put in the effort to make your life worthwhile.

Edit
Read this thread, it has a lot of good posts from different users. They are long posts, sure, but if your actually serious about fixing your life than you better read every single word by every single poster. My post in the spoiler below.

Spoiler!

My life, especially in the last year and a half, has seen me go through some pretty rough times and I found myself having to overcome some tough obstacles. I'll share my story and, hopefully, you'll learn from the mistakes I have made along the way. If nothing else, I hope you can find some new perspective from it.

High school to me was always easy. I've always been pretty smart, for most subject I was in the top 15% of my year and top of the class in my prime subjects. So in my high school years I didn't try too much, but breezed through pretty easily. When it was all said and done I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and just started working for the hell of it.

I started working at the sawmill which is, without a doubt, one of the most disgusting environments I've ever been in. The labour at times is incredibly excruciating, the workers are at the bottom of the social-economic scale and really do reflect the stereotype. It's a rough, painful job with very little perks. I worked there full time for close to a year before I decided what I wanted to do in life: I thought I'd study IT and work as a Technician.

For the next 2 & 1/2 years I studied full time at Tafe (an Australian institute which runs practical-based trade courses) while still working part time at the mill. I needed money so I could hardly abandon my job, despite how much I loathed it. But my motivation was to make something of myself and leave that place for good. The problem for me was that Tafe was just too easy. I completed my Diploma in Systems Administration without any real challenge, I got distinctions in just about everything without any real application or effort. It was high school all over again. I didn't try, I wasn't all to passionate and I just completed it because I didn't have anything better to do.

6 months after finishing Tafe I got my big break; I got offered a job as an IT Technician for a company in Canberra, which was about 3 hours from where I lived. I moved to Canberra by myself and for the first few months was really enjoying life. I learned some new skills, I had leaderships responsibilities, I had independence from moving out of home. Soon my isolation and hatred for the co-operate world changed my outlook though. I became depressed, which lead to alcoholism. I was drinking every day of the week, no for pleasure but simply to numb myself. I hated my life and alcohol let me masque my self hatred as cynicism instead. Soon, I had a pretty bad mental breakdown and just fell off the rails completely. I despised the corrupt nature of the corporate world, I had no friends and my life revolved around a job I was no longer passionate about. Everything I worked towards came crushing down on me, forcing me to lay down as it's weight slowly crushed me.

I quit my job, moved back to my parents house and went back to the sawmill. This was the moment where I gave up. I told myself I would never work there again, but there I was. The place was exactly the same and I almost felt like all the positive change I had been working towards had vanished. At that moment in time I thought my life was over, that I'd be another lost soul in these vast open bushlands.

My inspiration ended up coming from what I believe to be one of the most important things in life; family. Being in Canberra for so long I never saw them much, so I hadn't had any meaningful conversations with them in a long time. I expressed exactly how I felt; my crushed dreams and doubts, and explained to them that I never want to work in a corporate environment again. I didn't want to spend the next 40 years working tirelessly just to make a bunch of CEO's rich, it was my biggest fear. My father, who was once proud of me, told me I was a failure. This hurt more than the isolation, the self hatred and the self doubt put together.

My mother told me that I was wasting my life and that if I really wanted to get out of this rut than I had to find motivation & dream and do whatever it takes to achieve it. I thought long and hard about what makes me happy, what I desire out of life and what I could look back on in 40 years and be proud of. I thought back to all my failures, the lack of support I had been given along the way, and knew exactly what I want to do in life. My dream is to inspire others to not make the same mistakes I did, to give support and guidance to those who needed it most. My dream is to be a teacher; to be the sort of teacher that I needed all along.

At this current point in time I have been accepted into the University of Western Sydney and will begin my bachelor in March of next year (I got guaranteed early acceptance due to my Tafe studies and get 1 year off the course, so those studies really did come in handy after all). In 3 & 1/2 years I will complete my Masters in Teaching, specialising in teaching both IT and English (which really should be called literature for all intents and purposes). I will be moving out of home again too live on campus, as the university is a bit of a travel from me. I know I won't make the same mistakes as I did with my other studies, though. I am passionate to become the best teacher that I can possibly be, to inspire others and guide them along in their path of life, to nurture their potential and stretch the limits of their imagination and knowledge. My two fields of passion are IT and literature and the prospect of helping people better understand these areas fills me with excitement. I know that this time I won't simply be studying because I have to, I know I won't simply be studying for a lack of better options. No, this time I will be studying because I want to. I've seen the depths of evil and despair that my soul contains, I've been to some dark places that I can't even begin to describe. I will never let myself return to that place, I will do everything physically possible to strive towards my dream. Most of all, though, I will do everything I can to stop someone else from making the same mistakes I did... to help them chase their dreams... to stop them from giving up on their life like I did.

I'm sorry for the awfully long post, I can't really bare to read over it so it may be a bit raw as well. It's not often that I post something this personal, it's not something I like talking about to others. I don't know if this is much help, sadly I fear it's not. Gaige, you can't let yourself keep slipping buddy. You have to pull yourself out of the slums and really think about what you want out of life. We only get one shot at life and if we waste it than there's no second chance. No matter how hard it may seem, no matter how scary it may be, you have to find and chase your dream. I know failure can be scary and it looms in the back of all our minds. But the cold grasp of regret... it will send shivers through your chest and leave a gaping hole in your heart as it struggles to find it's final beat. The beckoning wails of regret.. it's a sound much more terrifying than failure will ever be.

[Snazzi]

Having the same problem with Uni. I've decided to defer for a semester, and just work, then possibly move up north and live with my cousin and attend a University up with him. Should be good whatever I choose to do

[Aristocrat]

doesnt matter if you're studying or working, you'll always have something to complain about. I'd say just stick it out, you will want to study when you're working, and you want to work when you're studying. Grass full green on other side frend.

[poehalcho]

What are you studying and why are you studying it?

[Aventus]

Ill say what I said when my son said he wanted to quit university of north texas next year and come do community college back where we live. It would be the biggest mistake in the world to stop going once you are enrolled. You would never return to "finish" your degree. Im going on 36 and just now going back to finish my bachelors.

Look at it this way, a couple more years and you can begin your life in a great job that wouldn't have been available to you had you quit. Hell take another year and a half and get your masters degree. Nothing more awesome than being 23-25 and having a masters degree.

Okay glad you posted this, has your life been miserable before earning or going back to earn your BA?
My theory is, I don't plan on having kids so there is one major saving trick along with not getting married. So i just need to support myself in life which i could do off of 30k+ a year.

I was going to be going to school for network administration but it's boring as ****.


Why am I going? To keep my family happy and to be the first person in my family since my grandparents to get a degree. Personally i have never planned on going for my self its always been to please others.

Lastly my thoughts on life have always been, you live to die so have fun with the time you have. Whether I'm rich or poor if I'm happy than my life is going the direction I want it too.
I'd rather be a surfer living out of some old 70's van on a beach in Hawaii or santa cruz than work and abysmal 9-5 in a Farking cubicle.

[poehalcho]

While you probably shouldn't quit college. you should change the course you are taking. You need to pick a specialty that you like. Going to college is pleasing your family, learning what you want is pleasing yourself and not something your family should have any say over. If you find it boring than you really really should not be doing it, it's probably the worst thing that could happen...
Choose a different course for the new semester and continue in a direction that you truly like.

[Snazzi]

Ill say what I said when my son said he wanted to quit university of north texas next year and come do community college back where we live. It would be the biggest mistake in the world to stop going once you are enrolled. You would never return to "finish" your degree. Im going on 36 and just now going back to finish my bachelors.

Look at it this way, a couple more years and you can begin your life in a great job that wouldn't have been available to you had you quit. Hell take another year and a half and get your masters degree. Nothing more awesome than being 23-25 and having a masters degree.

Okay glad you posted this, has your life been miserable before earning or going back to earn your BA?
My theory is, I don't plan on having kids so there is one major saving trick along with not getting married. So i just need to support myself in life which i could do off of 30k+ a year.

I was going to be going to school for network administration but it's boring as ****.


Why am I going? To keep my family happy and to be the first person in my family since my grandparents to get a degree. Personally i have never planned on going for my self its always been to please others.

Lastly my thoughts on life have always been, you live to die so have fun with the time you have. Whether I'm rich or poor if I'm happy than my life is going the direction I want it too.
I'd rather be a surfer living out of some old 70's van on a beach in Hawaii or santa cruz than work and abysmal 9-5 in a Farking cubicle.

The way I see it is that if you get manage to get a good job young (With good pay and that you enjoy), you can work for 10 years, make some dough, then you can just go do whatever the hell you want. I'm hoping to get a high paying job by the time I'm 22/23, and work for a while, then move back to my family, and then start my own. Then I can buy fancy cars, and do whatever the fock I like

[omier]

Kind of in the same boat Avent. I have like no motivation to continue doing school. (I mean, I'll finish out this semester, but idk if I'll go back next.)

It's just so, meh. Like I know that in the long run college is the best option. But right now? I hate that I'm wasting my youth sitting in a class room listening to dumbass teachers. (Well, except my history teacher, he's cool/intelligent.)

That's what life is today. Just waste your youth on school and die of working too hard before you reach pension age.

[MrJoey]

Do you have a goal for after school? If you do, finishing whatever degree you're on, so that you can get the job in that career, should be your motivation. If that isn't good enough, then you've picked the wrong career you want to go to.

[Bartic]

Studying It roght now, just started it month ago. I've always loved programming, and I've chosen to study what I love. Anyway, first year of Electrical Engineering is just pure maths and it's quite boring (I don't mean that maths is boring, I always kinda loved maths, but this stuff that we learn right now is). But anyway, IF I finish this first year, I'm sure to finish college, because that's when what I like the most comes in: programming.

Anyway, my point is: Study something you love and you will never be bored and you'll always have some motive to continue.

P.S. I read MrTwilliger's post and I must say that I really think it's a good inspirational story.

[Avalanche]

If you aren't motivated then you aren't taking the right classes/major for you. I was like that when I was doing Mechanical Engineering, just wasn't right for me. Once I switched to MIS school got a whole lot better.

[BuDo]

I have a similar problem right now while working on my bachelors degree....60% of what I'm studying doesn't really interests me or usable to what I want to do. But my main goal of earning the degree to open more opportunities for me later on is what makes me put up with it... But it's hard to stay motivated..

Part of the problem stems from our educational system. It offers very little in the way of how a student would like to shape their career goals. Some advisory board sits behind closed doors and determined amongst themselves what courses are necessary to achieve a particular career...

The students who are actually taking the program had very little (if any) input. Students need options...we should be able to some extent shape the outcomes of our degrees...we should be able to tailor most of what we study to suit our interest as long as it aligns with the core requirements of the career we are aiming for.

For example: some people are very business minded and like technology...They may be well suited to focus on the business management side of technology rather than spending too much time learning the practical applications of technology which would be best suited for a person that wants to be an engineer/technologist etc

[Toshiharu]

That I enjoy my classes. That is the secret to it all. Only thing I can say I hate is programming in assembly. It's just boring and awful.

Plus the fact that I pay an absurd amount for tuition. In the end it'll be worth it. Funny to hear somebody saying that when you have people with Computer Science degrees working at Walmart. Last year graduates had something like x3 the amount of interviewers than students. Dat hire rate. Some senior I was talking to already has a job planned at Microsoft and he hasn't graduated yet.

[Aventus]

So I've decided to drop out of college until I want to be there but until then I'll be enjoying my life like I should be. I'd rather waste my money than waste time that I can't get back.

[BuDo]

^
As long as you take the time to understand more about yourself in process and not just waste your time doing nothing constructive....You'll regret it and hate yourself if you drop out of school only to waste your time and achieve nothing.... Use the time to find out what you really want out of life...Get some life experience...don't sit around the house on the couch wasting your life away...gather life experience by going to different places....Then you'll develop a clear mind on what you should be doing...

[XemnasXD]

Kind of in the same boat Avent. I have like no motivation to continue doing school. (I mean, I'll finish out this semester, but idk if I'll go back next.)

It's just so, meh. Like I know that in the long run college is the best option. But right now? I hate that I'm wasting my youth sitting in a class room listening to dumbass teachers. (Well, except my history teacher, he's cool/intelligent.)

That's what life is today. Just waste your youth on school and die of working too hard before you reach pension age.

as opposed to what other time in history. Please take me to this magical period where the middle and lower classes didn't slave away at a menial job just to get by so they could keep on living menial lives?

Like a lot of people said it helps a lot to be interested in what you're studying. **** just read what ted posted.

If you can't find the motivation to stay in school then drop out. You will definitely either find the motivation then when it will be harder to go back to school or you will never go back.

[Aventus]

I could just take the fast lane and be a lifer in the military then retire at 50.

[CrimsonNuker]

I could just take the fast lane and be a lifer in the military then retire at 50.

That's only, what, at least 25% of American males do right?

[Aventus]

It's not a bad gig, join the chair force and do paper work all day.

[Avalanche]

Shitty job is shitty.