Need Motivation Tips for Re-attempt

Hi GMATin.

I know how you feel. Sometimes when something is important to me and I'm not 100 percent sure I am ready to or can make it happen, I can get a bit freaked, and nothing gets done.

I personally have found that the solution involves a few things.

One is to be logical/rational, and here's what I mean in your case.

You have to just consider the facts here. The GMAT is such that effective preparation drives your score higher. There's no mystery here. If you learn key concepts better and train more, your score goes up. The more clear it is that the path to a higher GMAT score is just a matter of effective prep, the easier it is to do that prep.

Another part of the solution is to get going by doing anything, even some simple little thing, that moves you forward.

Years ago, when I was into weight training, sometimes I would lose motivation. Then I read somewhere that one way to get going is to decide to train for five minutes. Anyone in practically any state of mind could train for five minutes. Of course, when you get into training for five minutes, often you will end up training for much longer.

So, you can apply something similar here. Just get yourself to do something GMAT related for five minutes, fifteen minutes, whatever you can motivate yourself to do, to break the ice and get yourself back into preparing. No matter how terrible you feel preparing, you can work on the GMAT for fifteen minutes. You could start working on a quant topic that you know you could be stronger in. You could go through a couple RC passages. So, go for it. Ride out the urge not to do it. Ignore the emotional stuff that you have going on. By doing something, even for fifteen minutes, you'll start to dissolve whatever is blocking you and get going again.

For an example, now I have a pretty easy time creating GMAT prep materials, but in the past, I had a really hard time getting going sometimes. So, I would just start doing anything, even formatting or editing a draft, to get myself going. As time went on, it became easier and easier to get into the work, and now doing the work is pretty much natural.

So, don't expect GMAT preparation to feel great right now. Just do what you can and seek to ease yourself into it, even if you feel terrible doing it. Over time, you'll make progress, the terrible feelings will pass, and you'll get into the game.

Hey MartyTargetTestPrep,

This is such terrific advice and I am very happy to report that I have adopted your advice in the last couple of days and have seen a drastic change in my motivation levels. I had forgotten how succinct and well thought-out your tips are. Thank you so much for always motivating the lesser mortals!