Recently I was talking to my mom about a sudden drought of motivation after a brief streak of productivity and she told me something that stuck with me: “Being a motivated person doesn’t mean being motivated all the time.”

It’s true; nobody can work at 100 percent every day. With senioritis more contagious than the flu this season, many students believe a lack of motivation is a death sentence. The truth is, for most students, senioritis isn’t a waning will to study, but a barrage of self-criticism that pushes motivation in the wrong direction.

In the most cynical generation of modern history, it’s no wonder students have trouble staying optimistic. In fact, senioritis has long since mutated and spread to juniors and underclassmen, too. Anybody can catch it because anybody can fall into the trap of self-deprecation. Sometimes the issue is deeper than worries over the future. Sometimes it’s as serious as a mental illness that needs to be addressed before anything else. Students who are feeling so unmotivated they can’t even force themselves to do activities they love, let alone schoolwork, should examine their situation to see if senioritis is the problem or the symptom.

However, forcing yourself to work using guilt and stress is a self-fulfilling prophecy that usually ends in more procrastination. The only way to win is to eliminate the guilt and stress. This doesn’t mean throwing homework out the window and thinking it will take care of itself, but there are ways to change a mindset from “I have to do this” to “I will do this.” For one, changing your promises from “I should” to “I will” can propel your energy forward, making work a promise rather than dwelling on what you haven’t done.

Changing “senioritis” to “senior I-can-do-this” is a change of mentality before it’s a change in work ethic, so this can look different for everyone. Sometimes when my friends and I talk about how much we procrastinated the night before, we can’t even remember what we were doing when we weren’t working. It was as if two, three or four hours disappeared right under our noses while we stared at a wall.

For me, it’s usually due to a YouTube binge; for others, Netflix. It takes a lot of drive to transition from those activities to homework, so if that jump seems too intimidating, start small. Consider finding a book to read instead of surfing the internet or do some quick chores like organizing your backpack or making your bed. No matter what it is, some work is better than no work at all, and it makes the bigger projects easier to start.

If you’re organizing your backpack, it’s not a far stretch to take out your binder and start taking notes. Reading sharpens your mind in preparation for worksheets. E-books accomplish this too, but an electronic device might pose a slippery slope from reading to taking a “short break” to scroll through social media. Websites are engineered to be addictive, so give your attention to something easier to take it away from.

It’s true that a distraction, even a productive distraction, might seem to contradict the “I will do this” mentality, but there has to be a balance of both. A ready-to-work mentality and a change in routine could work together to make a smooth transition from school and into homework.

It’s not as easy as snapping your fingers and eliminating procrastination forever. After all, being motivated doesn’t mean being motivated all the time. However, if senioritis is a disease, there is a cure.