I have lost the motivation to study but coming from where I live (if that even makes sense) I need to earn a lot of money to get a good life. More money comes from a better job and better jobs come from good education.

I know all this. I even realise that I'm wasting time by not studying. But I still can't study.

I don't have any long term goals like "I want to be ______" after graduation. So can you help me get motivated so I can get my life back on track? That too without having a long term goal (except being immensely rich, if that counts as a goal)? I'm about to start university.

I took science with computers in school, and I like maths. Psychology interests me, but I feel like I'm not good at anything.

Hello!

First of all, it's great that you are aware of how important these few years are for you. I'm in pretty much the same situation as you right now.

Here's something that helped me - just Google "career tests" online and do as many as you can. Answer the questions honestly, without letting what your parents might say or how much money you'd get influence your choice. Note down your results every time. There are also many career counselors, so you can talk to your parents and ask them to take you to one. They can be quite helpful.

When you have a list of different interesting careers in front of you, narrow it down based on how much money you'd get, how it would be to do that job for at least 30 more years (it shouldn't get boring after some time), and how good you think you'd be.

When you have narrowed it down to 3-5 options, start finding out about the good colleges/universities for related courses. If there aren't any in your country, start thinking about going abroad (it is not that easy to get admissions for undergrad abroad though).

You don't need to have one single goal - you can have a plan A, B and C. Don't stress. Do your best and forget the rest.

To get into the college/university of your choice, you need to focus on what you need to do - find out about the tests you need to write, and the portions/ exam pattern of those tests.

Then keep a calendar beside your study area to keep track of how many days you have until the exam. Buy all the textbooks/ study material you need to prepare for it and make a timetable for how much portion you will study each day.

Keep 3 hours atleast per day to study. Focus in those three hours. Keep all distractions away! Keep your phone, tablet etc in another room, or inside a closet or something. It should be away from your reach. Take a ten minute break after every 50 minutes of studying - but don't use any electronic devices in those ten minutes - it's very difficult to pull yourself away from them after ten minutes. Instead, you can take a short walk around your house. This will also get the blood pumping to your brain so you can focus better when you get back to your studies after the break.

You have the rest of the entire day to do whatever you want to do.

Every Sunday, decide to revise what you have learnt during the entire week. This will move all that information from your short term memory to your long term memory, so you will remember everything at the time of the exam. This is seriously the best study tip I've ever heard.

Keep your long term goal as "being successful and happy with whatever job you're doing". Make a colourful poster with positive quotes about hard work, focus and determination and stick it where you will be able to see it from your study area.

Our generation is lucky, we have so many different career options - it's not just " medical or engineering " anymore XD. You can get a very good salary from unconventional careers too. Psychology pays quite well, so you could seriously consider that as an option if you like it.

You know best what you are good at, and if you think you aren't good at anything, maybe you just haven't found the right thing yet! You just have to keep exploring. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and cheesy as it may sound, follow your heart!

Lots of love
A_B