6. Just Do It!Stick to your plan. It is easy to say, but difficult to do. How can you stay motivated? How doyou follow your schedule so that you do not fall behind? How do you keep from thinking about otherthings when you are supposed to be working? These are the really big questions, and there are no easyanswers. The following sections discuss some tried and true techniques for maintaining self-motivation.Now you have to see what works for you.
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S T U D Y S K I L L S
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Yo u A r e Wo r t h I t : M o t i v a t i o n a l a n d R e l a x a t i o n Te c h n i q u e s
T h a t Wo r k
Whenever you find yourself tempted to give up your hard work for an hour or two of entertainment, remindyourself that many people never reach their goals because they seem so far away and difficult to achieve. It isimportant that you break down your preparation for the GMAT exam into small, manageable steps. It’s alsoimportant to keep in mind why you are working so hard.Remember your visualization about business school? The more often you practice that visualization, themore real it becomes to you. The more real it is, the more clearly you will see that your goal is within yourgrasp. Just stick to your plan, and take things one day at a time.Sometimes your study plans are derailed for legitimate reasons. You get sick; a family member needsyour help; your teacher or boss assigns a project that takes more time than you expected. Life happens, butdon’t let it discourage you; just pick up where you left off. Maybe you can squeeze in a little extra study timelater. Keep working toward your goal.
One Step at a TimeMany people get discouraged when the task seems too big; they feel that they will never get to the end. That’swhy it’s a good idea to break down all big undertakings, such as this one, into smaller, manageable tasks. Setsmall goals for yourself, such as “this week I will learn logical fallacies.” “Learning logical fallacies” is a muchmore manageable task than “preparing for the GMAT exam”—even though it moves you in the same direction.Establish positive momentum and maintain it, one step at a time. That is how you get where you want to go.
Because You Deserve ItDon’t forget to reward yourself for your progress. Your daily reward can be a small one, such as sending offa few chatty e-mails or paging through your favorite magazine. Your weekly reward might be something larger,such as buying a CD you have wanted or renting a favorite film. Your biggest reward, of course, is being ableto live out the dreams you have visualized.
Reach OutAnother way to motivate yourself is to get other people to help you. Everybody likes being asked to helpsomeone—it makes those around you feel important, especially when they are being approached for theirexpertise in a particular area. You will often be more motivated when studying means you also get to be withpeople whose company you enjoy.You may want to form a study group with one or more of your friends. Maybe reading comprehensionjust comes naturally to you, but you struggle with math. Chances are you have a friend who is a math whiz,but who may need help with reading comprehension skills. You could agree to get together once a week orso for a tutoring and drilling session. You take one subject to study and explain, while your friend explains adifferent subject to you. Now you are benefiting from your friend’s expertise, reinforcing what you know byexplaining it to someone else, having more fun than you would on your own, and helping yourself (and yourfriend) stay motivated to study.
Motivation Technique
We all need positive feedback. When you could use some motivational help, say the following out loud (be specific):My goal is toI am working to achieve my goal.I will succeed because I am working toward my goal.A family member or a roommate could also help. If you are working on building your vocabulary, forexample, why not make up some flashcards with word roots or prefixes and suffixes, and ask your roommateor a family member to work with you?
Thought PoliceFinally, as you struggle to stay motivated, it helps to check in periodically with your thoughts—the things yousometimes find yourself thinking when you should be focusing on your work. If you are thinking, “Oh boy,I’ll have that last piece of chocolate when I finish this!” or “Columbia has never seen an MBA student like me”when you sit down to study, you are in good shape. If you are thinking “That TV show I really like is on now,”or “I could get in a few hoops before dark,” you could be headed for trouble. It’s not that there’s anythingwrong with television or basketball; it is just that you promised yourself you would work right now. Often,just noticing these deviant thoughts is enough to keep them in check. “Good try,” you can tell yourself, “butyou have other commitments, buster!”If this doesn’t work and you are still tempted to ignore your scheduled study time, sit down and thinkfor a moment about why you are working so hard. Use your visualization. Promise yourself a bigger rewardthan usual when you finish your work. You can do it because you wantto do it. This is the person you wantto be: disciplined, focused, and successful.Another strategy is to trick yourself into a study mode. Start with something easy, such as a brief reviewof what you have already learned. Starting with a quick and easy task will often ease you into the work andmotivate you to continue with your self-assigned task of the day. A review will also reinforce what you alreadyknow.
Take Care of YourselfYou may have noticed that the last thing on the sample study plan is “get lots of rest.” During the last few daysbefore the exam, you should ease up on your study schedule. The natural tendency for many people is to cram.Maybe that strategy has worked for you with other exams, but it is not a good idea with the GMAT exam. Forone thing, the GMAT exam is a three-and-a-half-hour test, and you need to be well rested to do your best.For another thing, cramming tends to raise your anxiety level, and your brain doesn’t do its best work whenyou are anxious. Anxiety produces a fight-or-flight response that sends blood away from the brain to the armsand legs, in case we need to defend ourselves or run away. Without a good supply of oxygen-carrying blood,
Stay Away from Cramming!
By creating a study plan, you can avoid cramming, a study technique that will only make you more anxious. Ifyou wait until only a week or two before the exam to prepare, you won’t be able to review all of the materialand practice the questions enough to perform your best on the exam. If you stay up late night after night try-ing to get everything done, you will be too tired to study effectively.Instead, create a study plan that spaces out your learning goals. Give yourself plenty of time to learn andtime to review.your brain won’t be able to think as well as it should be able to. So it’s important to reduce your anxiety aboutthe GMAT exam by relaxing and changing your anxious attitude to one of calm self-assurance.
How to RelaxIf you want to do productive work the night before the GMAT exam, spend the time working on your confidence(“I have worked hard and will do well.”). Visualize your business school environment—really see yourselfthere. Here are some other relaxation techniques you can use if you find yourself feeling anxious at any timebefore or during the GMAT exam:
