Studying comes naturally to some, others need a little help. Whatever your relationship is with it, motivation is key. This handy guide hopes to give you some hot tips when it comes to how to stay motivated while studying.
We’ll discuss everything from techniques, to learning styles, to creating the perfect study setup. Wherever you study, or whoever you study with, gaining some insight into how to make your studying as effective as possible is crucial.
Why are you studying?
Before you start studying, it’s important to take the time to think about why you need to in the first place. Think about the bigger picture, what your ultimate goal or goals are. This will help form the basis of your motivation.
We all know that studying leads to good grades, but think about what those will lead to; i.e. the university of your choice, the placement or job that you want.
Recognising these goals and bearing them in mind whilst you study is always a good way to feel motivated.
Some people even go a step further and think about their long-term life goals, and what their dream job could lead to. Maybe you feel like going as far as putting up pictures of sports cars or dream vacation destinations around your study space.
Setting the right mood
Speaking of your study space, this is where you have control over optimising your motivation to study.
First of all, make sure you’re comfortable, but not too comfortable. By this we mean somewhere you’re not going to get easily distracted. Distractions are the easiest traps to fall into to kill your motivation.
Distractions like television, video games, mobile phones, tablets or other devices can be so easily used to procrastinate with. They’re best kept out of sight, out of mind. Mobile devices, in particular, are often used to access social media platforms and we are all aware of how quickly time can slip away when we start scrolling through those. Or falling down the infamous YouTube rabbit hole!
The best thing to do is to be honest with yourself about what you find distracting or what takes up your time when you know you should be doing something else (like studying!). If you are accessing social media through your phone, tablet or other mobile device then keep it stored somewhere far from your study space, or even leave it with someone you trust until your study session has ended. Or use the opportunity to put it on charge!
If you feel like you need to take more extreme measures, you can use third-party website blockers to implement timed restrictions on sites you know you find especially distracting. Below you’ll find a list of some popular ones:
· StayFocusd – a free Google Chrome browser extension, very easy to use and versatile.
· WasteNoTime – another free browser extension for both Chrome and Safari, so you can limit time-wasting sites across multiple platforms.
· Forest – this app won’t actually block any websites for you, but it will prompt and encourage you to plant little virtual trees instead of accessing these sites, giving you time to pause and think before doing something wasteful with your time.
When studying at home, you have complete control over the space that you’ll set up to study in. We’ve all heard the term “tidy desk, tidy mind” and whoever uttered it wasn’t wrong.
A clean, well organised and simplified work space will make the task at hand feel much less daunting. Making the space appealing and less visually ‘noisy’ will help you to feel less intimidated by the work itself.
Remember, the more we find ourselves studying at home the more important it is to create a study environment that is work-friendly and work-oriented. Associating an environment with study and keeping it separate from what you find distracting will help you keep motivated while studying.
Motivation techniques
Let’s look at some techniques that will help you manage your workload.
First off, we’ll take a look at the Pomodoro Technique.
Invented in the 1990s, and still wildly popular to this day, this technique is a time management method used to break down workloads, cut out distractions and get what needs to be done, done.
Simply put, it is the method of breaking up your tasks into timed-intervals. Set a timer for fifteen minutes, then give your studies those fifteen minutes of laser-like focus. Once the timer is up, reward yourself with a five minute break. Watch a YouTube video, send a text, check your emails, stand up and walk around, get a snack, whatever you like.
The point is, those fifteen minutes seem like nothing, they fly by. And, what’s more important, when your break is over you only have to work for another fifteen minutes until your next break.
It’s hard to be intimidated or to feel unmotivated when you know you only have to work for fifteen minutes at a time.
This practice has also been proven to improve its users’ attention span and concentration in the long run.
This methodology leads us to our next point – get organised with your workload.
We’ve discussed how breaking your study time down into manageable chunks can help you feel motivated while studying. Now you can see how you can apply the same method of ‘breaking it down’ to the scale of the task at hand.
Whatever our work is, when we look at it as a whole it can often seem like just too much. We can sometimes find ourselves asking “how can I possibly get through all that?”
Studying for an entire subject can seem like a mountain at times. Yet, much like climbing a mountain, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other is often the best way to barely notice you’re nearing the summit!
Coupling this up with rewarding yourself when you hit milestones can help you keep that level of motivation up.
Even when working from the comfort of our homes, home-life and noise from the outside world can still get in the way of our studies.
Perhaps you’d find it helpful to listen to some sounds designed specifically for studying? Via YouTube or Vimeo, you’ll find a wealth of videos with relaxing, nature-based sounds to help you drown out the rest. Some noise cancelling headphones can be an absolute life saver, too.
Getting started
Often, the biggest obstacle when it comes to studying is actually sitting down and getting started in the first place.
It might sound silly but just imagining or picturing yourself studying can help with this. Adapting your mind to get into a certain mode or mood can help you feel motivated to study. If you’re already there mentally, it’s much easier to ease yourself into it.
Once you’ve got this image in your head, you might even start generating some ideas for when you actually sit down and start. Which, itself, will help you to feel like you want to jot those ideas down, then you’re really on a roll!
Creating a study schedule and setting a specific study time contributes to the habit you’ll need to form to become consistent. Consistency is key.
We’ve talked a bit about how short bursts of effective studying can be really useful, so we see this when we talk about scheduling too.
Coming up with a specific study time is a way of tricking your brain into associating that time with studying, if you are consistent enough with it!
By wiring your brain this way, you’ll find yourself conditioned and more prepared when that time comes around.
We’ve established that different things work for different people, some can’t stand the idea of locking themselves in a room by themselves and grinding through their studies.
This is where study groups can be a great tool for sticking to a schedule.
Find some friends who are in a similar position, or join a study group that’s already set up.
These can be people taking the same course as you, which can help with sharing some ideas amongst each other or helping you stick to deadlines. Or it can be people studying something entirely different, but who are just there for the company.
Either way, the benefit of having a study group means it attaches you to some form of responsibility. It encourages and motivates you to show up on time, and at certain times, with people who share similar goals. Seeing other people study might just be the kick you need to make a start with your own studies.
If you find it difficult to find people nearby to study with, or if you prefer the comfort of your own home, there are several online study groups available to choose from.
You’ll find some here below:
Learning Styles
What’ll really help you before doing anything else is establishing what learning style or styles work best for you. We’re all different and so is the way we take in information.
You may already be aware of what works and what doesn’t. Or you may need to apply some trial and error. Either way, mixing up your learning style can be beneficial too, yet another tool to show you how to stay motivated while studying.
You may find something that’s worked before now feels a little stale. Keeping yourself on your toes can keep your mind moving and prevent you from getting bored and distracted.
If you think that you are more of a visual learner, mind maps can be hugely helpful. Having all the information you need spread out over a single page so that you can see it and take it in in one go can be a huge help.
And if you’re less of a visual learner but prefer to write things out, mind maps can still be used to organise your thoughts as you jot down all the major points and subjects before going into more detail.
Auditory learners benefit from an array of programs these days that are just at the tips of their fingers.
Most mobile devices and laptops have recording capabilities. The ‘voice memo’ app if you happen to have an iPhone, for example, gives you the ability to take as many notes as you like in audio form, save them and play them back whenever you like.
Education-based podcasts are great if you find yourself ‘on the go’ and are looking to squeeze in some learning.
You should also take the time to explore and understand some more advanced learning styles to see if you might find them useful.
Final Thoughts:
This notion of keeping things simple in your approach to work plays a key role in how to stay motivated while studying. Hopefully you’ve found this simple guide useful and, much like we’ve done here, you’ll be more confident in knowing that breaking down your work into manageable chunks, working in short bursts and focusing on the task at hand means you’ll be flying the next time you need that little bit of motivation.
;)