Do you want to develop a super-powered motivation for studying?

I’m not talking about the ‘okay… I’ll stop procrastinating’ kind of motivation.

I’m talking about the kind that feels like you’re sitting on a rocket with your hair shooting back because it’s driving you forward with such an explosive force that you just have to hold on tight in hopes that you don’t go flying off.

I’m talking about the kind of motivation where you:

• – Study every night almost automatically
• – Focus in class without the daydreaming
• – Do your school work without even having to think about it
• – You NEVER procrastinate
• – And you’re creating results that make everyone think, “how the f*** do they even do it?”

And I’m being dead serious when I tell you…

That motivation is possible.

I know… it’s not the thing that most people get to experience when it comes to school but most people have experienced this kind of motivation with something in their life.

What Are You Dangerously Motivated About Already?

(Or what have you been motivated about in the past?)

This is the kind of motivation that I originally reserved for video games. I would pick up a video game and I could play it for days straight with only the occasional bathroom break or meal. I wouldn’t have to force myself to do it. It was automatic. I wouldn’t get distracted. I wouldn’t procrastinate. And I would have my parents looking at me thinking, “Has he even moved for the past 2 days?”

…

Right…

They weren’t my proudest days but I had a hell of a lot of motivation and a pretty good time at it.

But the thing is…

That motivation is transferable.

Video games, television, books, and entertainment media are all designed to make that motivation automatic. If they’re doing their job right then you don’t need to work hard to get motivated with them.

Do you have any experiences like mine?

Have you ever started binge watching a show? Or played a video game waaaaaay too long? Or picked up a book that you couldn’t put down until the end?

That’s proof that you’re perfectly capable of developing a driving motivation.

The thing is:

Textbooks, public schools, homework assignments, and the like… they’re not designed to make motivation automatic. (Sometimes it can feel like they’re designed just to kill your motivation.)

That’s what this article is going to be all about. How to develop a personal study motivation that drives you into doing what you need to do to crush it in class.

Miss Motivation Is Looking To Spend The Night With YOU

Motivation is a tricky but enchanting mistress.

She’ll gladly spend the night with you but getting her to stick around for breakfast the next morning is an endeavour. One morning you might have to promise her bacon and eggs but the next you might need to offer her a mansion just outside of LA.

And dammit… I mean every word of that metaphor. It’s important you think about it.

Anyone can get motivated for a single night.

That’s the reason college students are so well-known for their all-nighters where they try and cram 2 weeks of studying into 8 hours of drinking Red Bull, staring at a textbook, and developing religion as they pray to a god they’ve never even believed in just to survive their upcoming test.

You have to be pretty darn motivated to pull an all-nighter. (Especially once you learn how completely ineffective they actually are.)

That motivation is usually outright terror at the idea of not being prepared for the test they have the next day. And for the record, that’s not a very effective motivation for test-taking.

But that motivation is automatic…

You know a significantly more difficult kind of motivation to get?

Try to get yourself to study every single day, at the same time everyday. (And not spending hours doing it.)

You want to woo Miss Motivation to stick around with you night after night. And to do that, you might want to leave her the one looking for more:

– Never study in a long session. Always stop studying before you run out of motivation.

(“Oh come on babe… can I stick around for a little longer? Oh… you’re busy… okay…”)

– Study every single night like you’re actually committed

– Act confident (and don’t spend the whole time worrying about your results.)

Miss Motivation will be committed to you but you first need to prove you’re in it for the long haul with her (and not just a single night.)

The Most Powerful Motivations For Studying

Research has shown that the most powerful motivations are usually intrinsic motivations.

That’s the internal motivation.

Students motivated intrinsically are motivated by things like curiosity, pride, and basic biological needs.

The other, less powerful, form of motivation is called extrinsic motivation.

Students motivated extrinsically are motivated by things like impressing people, getting high scores, and making tons of money.

Have you ever heard someone refer to a motivated person as hungry? It’s an expression you may not hear very often but it’s useful.

When someone says that a person is “hungry” for something in terms of motivation – they’re saying that someone is intrinsically motivated. The person is driven to do something like it’s a basic biological need. The person’s survival depends on their success.

When someone is hungry for something, they don’t “want” to do it. They NEED to do it.

The most powerful motivations are based on these intrinsic needs.

Take note: that has nothing to do with the world around you. It doesn’t have to do with your parents giving you 20 bucks for an A. It doesn’t have to do with your friend eyeing you jealously for you report card. It doesn’t have to do with getting into that killer college.

It has to do with your needs and who you are.

Are you a high-scoring student?

I’m not asking if you score high.

I’m asking who you are. Are you smart or dumb? Are you hardworking or lazy? Are you capable or incapable? Are you a bum or an all-star?

I don’t care about the results you’ve gotten up to now.

Every second of every day you choose who you are. (Not what you do.) You’re either a person that’s hungry for something. Or your a person that goes through the motions on occasion.

If you decide that you’re a high-scoring student then you will score high because you’ll do the things that a high-scoring student does. Within a few months, you’re going to be producing results that high-scoring student’s produce. Within years, it’s going to be second nature.

But this is where the most powerful motivations come from –

It’s not what you do. It’s who you are.

(And this is the kind of idea I highly recommend you mull over. Don’t expect it to click immediately.)

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