*insert "The Final Countdown" here*
I'm exhausted, you're exhausted, and I think it's safe to say we're all overdue for a long nap. Unfortunately, failure is not an option when we've put in blood, seat, and tears over the past 3 months. We've come too far to give up now.
I'm one of those people that gets demotivated way too easily, to be honest. If you're like me, getting started is just as hard as not losing steam. That's why I've been affectionately calling the self-hatred-induced, spite-fueled warpath that I set myself on every day as, "Shark Mode."
The age-old shark myth that we learned in elementary school is that sharks will die if they stop swimming. I say myth for a reason — there are many kinds of sharks that can still breathe when they've stopped, so the "fun fact" we learned as kids isn't accurate. However, this is still partially true.
For some kinds of sharks, the angle at which the gills are positioned on their body means that they only filter oxygen by moving forward through the water. So yeah, some sharks still suffocate and die if they don't keep moving. We're in finals season. We're these sharks, not the "happy to blow bubbles on the sea floor" variety.
Applying that to schoolwork (and professional work), I know that if I don't stay productive, then I'll fall into a 3-hour depressive state and miss a deadline. That's why beyond grabbing a cup of caffeine and turning on the Hamilton soundtrack ("Why do you write like you're running out of time…"), I make sure that I'm always moving throughout the day.
If I don't want to start on homework, that's fine — I'll start on dishes instead. Oh, that assignment's due at midnight, and it's currently 4pm? Spend 30 minutes walking my dog or dancing to music, and then immediately sit down and fact-puke in a Word document.
This isn't just some feel-good "life hack," either. The tie between movement and productivity has been proven time and time again. Forbes? Harvard? Whatever large name you need to see to believe that movement = productivity, it's out there.
The key to staying motivated is assuming that motivation isn't innate. You have to sleep, eat food, and drink water if you want to have energy throughout the day. You have to pay rent or mortgage if you want to live in your home. You have to give something to get something, even if it's for basic necessities. That's the world we live in, so if you want to stay motivated, you have to put in the work.
I will say that when you're in the home stretch — when you're so close, you can taste victory — we sometimes get scared and self-sabotage. Academic procrastination is so closely tied to the fear of success and self-regulation, to the point where the three are practically inseparable. In short, this is inevitable.
I don't fully understand why we implode when we're on the rise, but "Shark Mode" also counteracts this. If you stop to think about how close you are to the goal, you give yourself room to doubt or lose steam. In my experience, if you charge forward blindly with your work — moving too quickly for depression to catch you — then you'll see yourself to your destination. THEN you can crash afterward, practice self-care and all that jazz.
Is this reckless? Yes. Is this proper self-regulation? Probably not, but I don't care. Success waits for no one, and we're almost there, folks.
(An accurate depiction of how the last semester has gone for me.)
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