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General Discussion

How do I become more motivated to learn? How can I stop procrastinating? I'm making little progress in trying to learn.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently a student studying full time in IT. Can you guys help me out and give me advice or maybe share your ideas on how to stop procrastinating? Or just simply be more motivated to learn?

Don't get me wrong, I have interest in IT but its just sometimes I just start slacking, the main issue is playing video games to procrastinate.

Maybe its just my personal habits I have to fix on my own, I apologize if this is too personal or irrelevant. But I would really appreciate it if anyone can give any kind of advice or thoughts. Cheers.

6 Answers

Hi Kendrick, well the best method is to sell the gaming console and suspend all online gaming accounts :-) Try to start your own IT project - it may be a simple app, a simple website, or even a game if you like gaming. I started my own website and now I need to improve it almost every day - that keeps me being motivated :-) And it is really exciting to watch my own work every day getting bettter and better..

Tom

Uninstalling your games or selling your consoles might actually be a great way for self-discipline, it makes you think twice before procrastinating again, although some people wouldn't recommend it. But I guess sometimes you have to be harsh on yourself to get where you want to be. I personally like it, thank you for sharing :)

Don't sell your games. :) I'm a gamer. I sold mine at one point and deeply regretted it; Especially when I had to re-buy stuff.

Practice self-discipline. If you are having a hard time with that then I would suggest packing your console up and putting it in the closet/attic. Listen to gaming podcasts while you work or commute to scratch that itch. If you are on steam there is nothing you can do but work on your discipline. There will always be distractions even if it's hanging out with friends.

I do think that it's a great idea to come up with small game themed projects that relate to what you are learning. I always learn better by building things. Don't go nuts. Don't try to build Hearthstone as your first project. star off simple and build on what you learn. Think of the simplest game you can imagine and build that first.

As an online PC gamer, I understand what you mean. I got to a point where I just play because its part of my everyday life, I just do it now because I can really, I get bored from it time to time but I do it anyways. However it doesn't mean I should entirely quit I guess, practice self-discipline like you said is very important. I appreciate your thoughts, cheers!

I agree with LaVaughn Haynes. I have a similar problem (Destiny has been eating way too much time). I decided to try and control those itch's to blast things as well. Maybe whenever you feel like booting up a game remember about treehouse, remember that you've got stuff to do. Thats what I've been doing.

When I sit down to play a game now, I end up feeling a bit guilty because I know I could be using that time to invest in myself. That guilt has made me put down the pad more often than not.

I hope you find a balance that works for you.

I agree with above posters, Also dont sell your games! You just need to prioritize and find some inspiration. When you aren't super inspired to learn , Instead of grabbing a game, browse some design and/or coding blogs to find inspiration.

Whenever I'm not feeling super motivated that is what I do. Before you know it, I am fully inspired again and want to jump back into learning.

I'm most motivated to learn what I need to when I am trying to accomplish a concrete goal. "learning about php" doesn't motivate me, but "learning how to program a contact form as I've been wanting one" on my site does. Finding some real world projects to work on will probably help a lot.

You don't say much about your living situation/age etc, but I'm going to assume you are younger if you are a student. If you cultivate some healthy self discipline now, this will help you tremendously as you grow into a career, whatever that me be specifically. Its all about balance. There is nothing wrong with games and any activities that help you relax or that are fun, but feeling down and depressed because you realize you procrastinated AGAIN is not worth it and not going to be sustainable emotionally/financially in the long term.

My partner struggles a lot with procrastination and it is making things very difficult for her now - she is 32 and never learned good habits. It is worth working with yourself on this!

I see where you're going, and I find this very inspiring. I recently started Treehouse and I love it, I'm starting off with the front-end development track like most beginners do, but then I realized that I did get bored from time to time, probably because some courses in the track didn't interest me. I think doing the courses I'm interested in would help a lot, for example learn "How to freelance" etc. really interests me. Thanks for sharing!

It's all about creating and nurturing good habits and ending bad ones. Right now it sounds like you're in a cycle of (unintentionally) rewarding yourself for procrastinating by playing video games. The video games aren't the problem, but your pattern of behavior around them is.

Honestly, a quick fix is to get help from a pro. There's a thing called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that, in a nutshell, is a problem-solving approach to help you build good habits. A key part of CBT is to reward yourself to positively encourage good habits and patterns of thought. So your video games will come in nicely for that! Yeah, it's technically therapy, but here in NYC I know a lot of motivated and successful people that do CBT as a way to optimize their performance. It works.

Just google CBT + your city and I'm sure you'll find plenty of options—if it's something you'd be willing to try.

Good luck.

You're right, no doubt. I've never heard of CBT before, I'll be sure to check it out! I appreciate your help :)