[Siri]

I had to major realizations somewhere in senior HS-freshman college that really kicked me into gear. Before that I'd been largely relying on pure habit to get my work done.*

The first one was the simple recognition that what I do right now matters. I've found this hard to articulate to those who havn't felt it, but it's not necessarily because I want to get into a good college or get a good job. Rather, it's simply because it's my life and I have to use and be in charge of it. I think that's sort of what Cynette is getting at, in which case she probably made more sense that I did.

The second one is less ambiguous, though it benefits from the first. When I need some convincing, the steps I us are something like this: I've already decided that I'm unsatisfied with my current situation (as have you). I want to change it (as have you), so my natural next step should be to hold myself to a higher standard in order to achieve it. (Some people feel this as a bit of a leap. Don't. It makes sense, right? So just do it. Raise the bar on yourself.) And the next time I'm sitting there not studying, I realize that if I don't to it, it won't get done. I'm the only one who can do my job for me, that job needs to get done, ergo I may as well just do it.


*This may work for you as well, actually. In that case, my advice would be to simply do it for x days. Just tell yourself "it's worked for a lot of other people and they say it's not really as painful/annoying as it seems, so I'll give it a shot". You might be surprised how quickly you just plain get used to it. For some reason this isn't as strong for me anymore (I need the above), but it carried me through pre-college life with a 4.2. ymmv