With society’s perception of ‘working hard’ and ‘sleeping on textbooks’ getting you greater grades, it seems almost impossible to enjoy life and gain success at the same time. Today’s post explores an interesting question I’m sure you’d want to find the answer to.
Is Long and Hard Always the Way to Go?
Initially, we all have to work our socks off to get started with something but once the wheel is spinning, that momentum is enough to keep us going down the line. That’s when it gets easier, you just need to maintain that momentum with the power of small, consistent steps and can still get where you want to go.
For example, doing half an hour of reading every day can get you to the end of a book within two weeks. Those small steps are what can help you retain more from what you read and reach your goal with more ease.
Maintaining a Work-life Balance
Hobbies are an essential part of our lives. But we can sometimes find it difficult to keep going because of the urge to prioritise work over our hobbies. I’ve had to go through the same challenge.
Initially, I’d leave 5 minutes at the end of the day to relax and do something I love with the rest of the day to study. But over a couple of weeks, I eliminated my hobbies from my timetable to leave more time for the deadlines looming over me. I had to deal with burnout and felt like every day was the same, causing me to trace back my steps to get rid of this unhealthy habit.
Once I started to draw the line between work and hobbies, I felt more in control of my schedule. I found that time-blocking those hours when I would relax would stop me from filling them in with extra work to do. Instead, I would move those tasks to be completed the next day.
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
Hobbies aside, we can also find ways of changing the way we work to become more enjoyable. Call upon extrinsic and intrinsic motivation!
Extrinsic motivation involves completing a task due to external forces like deadlines, grades and expectations. But, intrinsic motivation is about doing a task for fun.
For instance, my experience with blog writing was pretty laborious when I started initially, as I’d focus a lot more on gaining popularity, followers and comments. These were my extrinsic motivations, but before I knew it, I felt like it was more of a chore than something I enjoyed. So, I turned to writing posts mainly as a way of reflecting on my experiences and having fun learning new things, i.e., my intrinsic motivations. Although I wasn’t able to reach my follower goal as quickly, it had more longevity and I was able to power through the rest of my day.
I’d also use this a lot when studying subjects I disliked by listening to my favourite music or studying with friends to help me make the most of it. It just goes to show that you can apply this concept to so many things!
Conclusion
So there you go, life isn’t hard because it’s meant to be, but because we make it that way. By drawing our attention to how we can integrate fun into the things we do, it’s much easier to be productive, satisfied and happier!
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsAlmost two years into A levels and suffering burnouts hundreds of times, this is what I needed. Its really hard struggling with trying to maintain a work-life balance and trying to keep a schedule and have control of daily life schedules. I’d always have to pull myself back up after I feel that I just need to complete it to reach the end goal rather than being motivated to do it to the best of my ability while enjoying and rlax on the way. Thank you so much for posting this; its what I needed
Hey! Thank you for your kind words! I’m so pleased to know that this helped you get yourself back up again and wish you the best of luck in your studies! 🙂
This is exactly what I needed and I wish you had posted this blog post earlier😥! I’ve spent wayyy too many of my academic years struggling to maintain a work-life balance, and I often find myself compromising and prioritising work and revision over giving myself time to relax and enjoy. As a consequence of this, I always suffer from burnout and feel brain dead😫. Thank you soo much for posting this blog! it’s honestly the most motivating thing ever.
Hey! Thanks for your comment, I’m so glad it helped! Be sure to let me know how it goes! 🙂