On May 9, TU Dresden is hosting a day dedicated to Academic Success and Doubts in the Fritz Foerster Building (Mommsenstraße 6). Students will have the opportunity to attend a variety of lectures and workshops on dealing with doubts regarding their studies, skills development, decision-making and motivation.

© Paavo Blofield

Exam and presentation coach Dr. Timo Nolle will kick off the event with his presentation “My studies don’t feel like pursuing me: Searching for the WHY”, demonstrating the opportunities each individual student has to achieve academic success. Timo Nolle is the author of the book „Blackout, Bauchweh und kein' Bock - Therapie und Coaching bei Prüfungsangst, Prokrastination und Leistungsdruck“ [“Blackout, Stomachache and Lack of Interest – Therapy and Coaching for Exam Anxiety, Procrastination and Performance Pressure”]. The team of TU Dresden's Academic Advisory Service talked to him in advance.

Timo Nolle, you have dedicated a lot of time to thinking about the topic of motivation as well as exam anxiety, procrastination and performance pressure. What motivates you to get up day after day and start work?

Knowing that what I am capable of and what I do helps people to follow their own paths. Many people don’t come anywhere close to their potential and I’m always moved when I see someone suddenly showing what is hidden away inside of them.

At university, it may appear at first that no one is interested if you get up, go to your lecture, work on something you didn’t understand right away...

True. It’s difficult. Students have to want to pursue their potential and that’s not always easy. Actively wanting something is like a muscle. You can train it and sometimes it is exhausted. And that’s the point when students’ inner battles begin: Should you do it or not? Get up, or stay in bed? What helps is to ask yourself who you want to be when the evening rolls around. Will I be satisfied with myself in the evening if I haven’t done anything all day? Sometimes, maybe you will. And you can say to yourself, “Today, I recharged and looked after myself.” If I’m okay with that in the morning, then that’s fine.

What impact from the semesters in lockdown have you observed?

Wanting something is difficult. And wanting is also a team sport. If you have your clique and the others are highly motivated, that might be the push you need when you’re slacking. But if you haven’t had contact with the others in a long while, then you might to slack or lag behind and it will be difficult to pick yourself back up. Your grades will suffer and, above all, so will your skills awareness – the feeling you have about your own skills. In my coaching sessions, I often meet students who think they are worse than the others, which leads them to avoid contact and pull away. They lose motivation. And so even after the lockdown period, many difficulties linger. 

What can listeners look forward to from your presentation? What benefits will I enjoy if I choose to attend?

I will highlight the vicious psychological circles we can fall into, leading us to shoot ourselves in the foot. And I will highlight the conditions we need to be creative, healthy and successful in our academic endeavors. In a way, these are the basic prerequisites for academic success. Many people defy these prerequisites and then wonder why they aren’t doing so well. And then I have a special tip for planning annoying tasks so that they actually get done and don’t just remain items in a list of good intentions. I also work with this strategy myself.

You can find more information on Academic Success Day, the presentations and the workshops at: https://tu-dresden.de/studium/im-studium/studienerfolg/thementag-studienerfolg

Contact:
Central Student Information and Counseling Service (tud.de/zsb)
PASST?! Partnership · Academic Success · TU Dresden (tud.de/passt)
Fritz Foerster Building, Ground Floor / East Wing Mommsenstr. 6