Of Morning Classes and Motivation

I don’t know if I should apologize for not posting in a week or not, so I’m just going to say that sometimes I’m not inspired and sometimes I’m living my life, and I don’t think I need to apologize for that. But about that living life thing…

When I already have to fight myself to even leave my room most days at any hour, MUST they make the only classes in my program taught in English morning classes? Was it necessary that I learn about the Christianization of Norway and Iceland every Monday at 9:15am for three hours? I think not. Evidently the powers that be disagree. Oh well, such is uni life.

But really, sitting in that Monday morning class, fighting the urge to close my eyes for a second, I started to think about how easy it would have been to just stay in bed. Oh how I love my days off to sleep in until noon. But on the couple of days that I have class, I won’t do it. I’m too motivated for that, as of about a week ago.

All through high school I achieved a variety of high to low marks, and I think if one analyzed why in four classes I got Ds and in others I got As and Bs, they would likely find a fairly strong correlation of good grades in classes with a lighter work load. Those classes I got Ds in were all AP classes, and the funny thing is, I passed every one of those AP exams. The thing is, I paid attention in class and learned a lot, I just never did the ridiculous mounds of homework. I couldn’t be bothered, I wasn’t motivated.

Now starting my third year of university, I can no longer use my high school habits as an excuse. The last two years I’ve achieved mostly Cs across the board, (and Cs in Canada are 60% or higher) because I didn’t put in the time to study and I often missed deadlines on papers. I’m horrible at motivating myself – I’m a very all or nothing person. But I don’t want to be someone who achieves below average marks and doesn’t make it to grad school, because if there is ever one thing I am confident about, it is that I am intelligent. And thinking about that, I am suddenly motivated to make my academic record reflect that.

To be honest, I’m not even sure where this motivation comes from. I was just running on the treadmill one day, pushing myself to keep going a little longer, and thought about how if I don’t push myself beyond what I already do, I will always stay at the same level of fitness, and then that expanded into thinking about school and life. Do I really want to work at a Starbucks for the rest of my life? No. Do I really want that summer internship? Yes. So then I need to do well in school, I need to get more involved on campus, and I need to get work experience. Do I really want to go to grad school? Yes. Then I need to work harder in school, apply for more scholarships, and save my money.

I’m not always a doer, but I am a planner, so I have all these plans now, and I’d love it if you could help hold me accountable for seeing them through. I’m posting them here, so even if no one reads this post, it’s out in the world that these are the things I am setting my mind to do. I am going to:

• write a book
• get good grades (A/B average)
• go to grad school
• get a summer internship at a publishing house
• get a job in Oslo
• volunteer in Oslo (preferably at the Nobel Peace Center)
• travel
• get in shape

What motivates you to work harder? Do you have any goals? Let me know! I hope you’re all doing well!