Welcome, my fellow aspiring engineers! Has this degree made you feel overwhelmed?🤯 Are your friends always two steps ahead? Confused… demotivated?😵💫
Well, this post will be your saving grace – and no, I am not gonna try to convince you to try the Pomerado method. I plan to share with you the juiciest🧃 (achievable) tips that helped me actually enjoy studying, in addition to increasing my GPA by over 2 points in just one semester!
Why Engineering😭
Find your purpose. Woah?! This just got real… It’s not that deep, don’t worry!
I have friends who came into engineering knowing exactly where they wanted to work after graduating… I didn’t even know which specialisation I wanted to pursue. Many of us struggle to enjoy studying because we have no objective, and this is potentially our biggest obstacle.🚧
Finding your purpose is the starting point to fuelling⛽ your success! Here are some ideas to fast-track the process…
- Stalk different engineering company websites and find some projects that interest you. Or follow engineering social media accounts. I follow @shebuildsrobots🤖 who combines fashion and engineering to create innovative robotic costumes. Exploring the possibilities of engineering can be so inspiring and may give you a goal to work towards!
- Join a club, or two… or four… or five! Sign up for events – make yourself socially uncomfortable. Meeting other students, especially older ones, can give you such great ideas about the scope of what you can achieve with this degree.
- Consider how you could combine your other interests with the skills you are gaining in this degree. This is how I found my purpose. I realised that my life goal is to make a difference in the world, to help people.😇 I strive to someday work for a company that meaningfully contributes to society, or to do some form of humanitarian engineering.
I didn’t walk into engineering for the right reasons. I felt pressure to take up a degree that would give me financial security💵 and relate to subjects I performed well in.🧮 Last year, I often questioned whether this was the right degree for me. But from following the advice above, I have learnt that engineering is the right degree for anyone. You just need to find something to be passionate❤️🔥 about – find your purpose!
Procrastinate Your Way To Success💯
I know we all relate to Bruno Mars sometimes… “Today I don’t feel like doing anything… I just wanna lay in my bed”. So what’s the engineering student default? PrOcrAstiNatIoN!🤪
Unpopular opinion – procrastination works wonders. I know my lecturers just grew a few grey hairs hearing that.👴🏻 But hear me out…
As a procrastination-addict myself, I know it seems impossible to break the cycle. But instead of trying to follow some strict, unachievable schedule to get our work done as early as possible, we should be using the procrastination-induced superpowers🦸 (efficiency, drive, and focus) to our advantage.
Procrastinate productively! Find an alternative important task to do while you procrastinate the task you are avoiding. Preferably something that uses a different skillset or frame of mind. I often do my laundry or cooking,🍳 sometimes reply to emails or organise my calendar.🗓️ In fact, at this very moment, I am drafting this blog to procrastinate learning about Big O!😂
And keep yourself busy – not overwhelmingly so… but start some projects, sign up for events and clubs! Keep your schedule full so you stop relying on your free schedule tomorrow as time to complete all the work you don’t feel like doing right now.
Procrastination can be your super-power… or your red flag.
Is procrastination making YOU an engineering RED FLAG!?🚩🚩
- Never procrastinate group project tasks, even if you know you can get your work done by the deadline. Engineers in industry all work in teams, so this would be the biggest red flag for any company wanting to hire you.
- Don’t let it get to cramming a whole course,📚 especially the boring or difficult ones. Force yourself to struggle through it earlier by committing to deadlines. You could contact a lecturer or friend asking for help with a practice problem before you actually look at it – forcing you to attempt it before you meet them.
- Quit toxic procrastination.🚫 Stop doomscrolling. Just STOP.✋ You won’t understand the benefits until you quit, but trust me, it’s so worth it. Find something stimulating to help you reset. I personally love playing my guitar,🎶 going on a solo cafe trip or nature walk,🌸 starting a project… the list goes on. Prove to yourself that you can go a day without digital entertainment and see what comes out of it!
Get Motivated💪
Academically, we have all proven ourselves by getting into this competitive degree. But I know some of you relied on natural smarts and still did extremely well with minimal effort.
Well, that won’t cut it in university. It is life-changing to understand your work ethic – to figure out what motivates you to succeed.🎖️
I lose motivation when I receive a disappointing grade, but am fueled to study hard after receiving good results. Most of us struggle if we aren’t fans of a lecturer’s teaching style. These things, however, are often out of our control, thus we must find factors that we can control in order to boost our motivation.🔥
Consider how, where and who you study best with.👯♀️ This often changes quite a bit as your study habits evolve. I personally thrive when surrounded by friends who achieve slightly better, as it encourages me to stay on top of my work. This was one of the major contributing factors to raising my GPA.
I have also noticed that the attitude of you and your engineering social circle plays a big role in determining your performance. Surround yourself with positive people 🌞 who are passionate about the things you learn. Negativity is so unnecessary and can often lead to so much wasted time.⏳
Final Words of Wisdom ✨
You are not alone – we all experience the same struggles, but it is uncomfortable to be vulnerable and talk about them. Believe in your potential! Be willing to learn and grow!🌱 If you feel you have given something your best shot, ignore what other people say and don’t compare yourself. One bad grade will not ruin your career, and if it does set you off track, have some faith that there is a better opportunity waiting for you elsewhere.🚀 Good luck engineering on, I’ll see you in the next one!🤗