How do you stay motivated?

That is a really good question that has no single right answer. A famous Jewish psychiatrist by the name of Victor Frankl who survived the Nazi holocaust wrote a famous book called "man's search for meaning" and he believed I think correctly that people need to do something that gives their lives importance and significance, and that to a large extent this means helping others to some degree. This belief can be found in other religious traditions as well, for example Catholic thinkers have said that God made us to know, love and serve him in this world so as to be happy with him in the next ( that is after we die). This translates to a great degree in helping others. So if you make your life about serving others and helping them you can be assured that you will make a difference and the world will be better off for your having lived. There are lots of ways to help others, from obvious ones like becoming a teacher or health care worker, to less obvious ones like becoming an investment banker helping others to start businesses so that people can have jobs to take care of their families. In fact any career can be viewed through the lens of how it helps other people. Chances are by creating value for others you will also make a fairly good living for yourself. So do not think of your courses as having something to do with what you want to do. As a young person you have no real idea of what knowledge you will need to help someone in the future. Think that by learning as much as you can you are preparing to be of service to others in ways you can not predict, and if you can be of service you will help people, be happier and probably earn a nice living as a bonus.

hi shama,

i graduated med school in 1993.

your question is difficult to answer. i can kinda like some of the previous answers because they're very general. i'm going to try to get a bit more specific.

i definitely concur about high school courses not holding your attention. and i don't recall a single instance where a teacher said, "this will be important if you become a medical doctor."

most of my buddies focused on grades. personally, i decided to focus on scholarship money. i could have finished in the top 10 of my class ... but i didn't. i might have been able to make a run at salutatorian ... but i didn't. what i did do was gather the largest scholarships. that motivated me.

i spent time at the counselor's office wading through scholarship materials. applied to every scholarship that i met criteria for. it took a lot of time and effort. but one thing that it gave me was focus. and i'm not talking about the money anymore at this point. what i'm talking about is the essays. i answered a whole lot of essay questions about what my life goals were, what obstacles i had overcome, where i wanted to be in 10 years, etc.

it really made me take a hard look at myself. sharped up my writing and communication skills. paid for my college education. definitely, definitely worth it.

let's skip ahead to college. again, loss of motivation is incredibly common and leads to dropping out, drug use, criminality, sexual promiscuity, etc.

when i was a college sophomore my grades slipped big time. i even made my first D. (I still hate Calculus.) but i realized that things had to change and was willing to make that change. so i did what i knew how to do - study. i went to the bookstore and found a book called "How to Make Straight A's." best investment i ever made. it gave me practical advise on how to take notes, who to study with, when to study, where to sit in class, how to read textbooks, etc, etc.

these were all things that no one had ever taught me. frankly, i didn't even realize that you could learn how to learn better. i would strongly urge you to go to your local library and find a similar book.

lastly, time management. i was a business major in college and when i took Accounting i learned how to make a budget. and i decided to apply the lesson to my personal finances. so for two semesters i kept every receipt, made out a ledger, wrote down every penny in the correct column. that ledger showed me where all of my hard earned scholarship money was going. it prompted me to reign in my spending on certain expenses, especially "entertainment."

so i would suggest that you make yourself a "time" ledger. every day write down exactly how much time you spent in all of your daily activities. be brutally honest! that ledger will help show you where your time is going. you can then make the decision to focus on what needs to your priority.

good luck!

Hi Shama!

You asked a very important question. Here are some views on the subject that you might find to be helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV9W8bj9LjI
https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/staying-motivated-in-college
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started/inside-the-classroom/tips-for-staying-motivated

Best of luck! Please keep me informed. I would like to follow your progress!