Motivation tips?

[LJR89]

I've been accepted to the program! Thank goodness!!

I'm excited to start the crazy adventure that is nursing school. I know I'm smart enough to make it through, but I am really worried about staying motivated and organized. Like so many others I am doing this on my own, which is thrilling and scary, but I've always been significantly more externally motivated (parents, sorority expectations, leadership roles I've held) and now I'm hundreds of miles away from these things.

I'm not worried about not being passionate about nursing, but I can't muster being passionate about writing papers, studying for hours and hours, etc (who can?).

I'm looking for advice on how people stay motivated during this type of challenging time. I don't want laziness or procrastination to ruin my education and my goals.

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

I look back on the past two years, four really, and can't believe I accomplished that with all As and Bs, at my age. If I can do it, so can you. I wanted to give up a time or two, missed many special occasions, studied 40+ hours for each test, spent hours writing careplans, stressed over skills check offs, and still managed to do it. I had a whiteboard that I did at the beginning of every semester, that listed the critical due dates for each course I was taking. That hung in my office and I looked at it at least once a day as a reminder. I also had a planner but I found myself not really using that, although people swear by them. Utilize all the online resources that come with your textbooks like question/quiz banks. That really helped me. Good luck!!!!