Find Your Motivation to Study (Even When There’s No Deadline)
Study tips I use to get me through the week.
Let’s be honest. Being a student can be difficult, down-right crappy, and take up more time than you want. It’s similar to a full-time job without compensation.
However, finding your motivation to study goes beyond the classroom. If you thought this article was exclusively for university students, you’ve been deceived.
I consider myself a life-long student. I am constantly studying, I have a list of interesting items I want to read, and a few side gigs that require some extra attention. I am also still taking classes — hence, a life-long student.
What are you interested in? What is your passion? What drives you? chances are if its something that interests you, it may require further reading, studying, and motivation.
“In parenting, relationships, fitness, business — we’re going to have to do what we’re supposed to whether we feel like it or not.” — Ryan Munsey.
If you want to be a better parent, it requires focus, patience, and understanding. Likewise, if you want to excel in business or with a side hobby, it requires a similar focus. Sometimes the want to isn’t enough.
So what is it about our interests and hobbies that get delayed due to having to establish a reading, writing, or studying habit?
Fuck Your Feelings is a direct, neuroscience-researched self-help book that admits that life sort-of sucks at times, so we should learn to value our actions over our emotions (and understand them too).
Author Ryan Munsey was on to something when he says, “up to 95% of our decisions are based on how we feel.” This means that in every situation people are reacting more often than they are responding.
Disagree? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Think about the decisions you’ve made while feeling fear, anger, or hurt. How did they serve you? How did they impact those around you?
Whereas emotions helped us survive through evolution and become more aware of threats, when left unchecked today, we actually become our own enemies.
In fact, I think many people don’t get started due to either not knowing where to begin or fear of not being able to complete the task. Ironically, this leaves many of us not getting started in the first place.
Before I get lost with this, determine what you can’t control, then focus on seeing what you can do with what you can control. Sometimes, it’s okay to delay, so don’t see yourself as a failure, when you haven’t truly failed.
Motivation is simply a willingness or desire to do something. We have to tap into that desire by establishing study hacks and maximizing the time when the desire is at its peak.
Hopefully, this list will help you boost motivation when it matters most.
1. Cut your study time in half.
Parkinson’s law is the theory that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion“.
For example, if you give yourself 10 hours to study, you’ll take 10 hours to study.
The next time you have a project, paper, or exam, cut the time you think it’ll take to prepare in half to increase your focus and productivity and maximize results.
For example, if you think it’ll take you 10 hours to study for an exam. Only give yourself 5 hours.
This can backfire without organization or a schedule. Try breaking down those 5 hours into tasks that you will do each 20–30 minutes with a 20-minute break in between.
2. Make studying fun with mnemonics
Mnemonics (sounds like new-monics) is when you use systems for improving your memory. It can be a fun way to boost your study skills and improve your memory.
Here’s a mnemonic you may already know: Never, Eat, Shredded, Wheat
This is used to memorize the directions of North, East, South, West (listed clockwise)
There are tons of articles online that’ll help you get started with mnemonics.
Many times while taking a test I’ve written out mnemonics that I have studied and it’s helped me recall terms I have forgotten. Likewise, I still use mnemonics daily as I try to remember the assignments I have at work.
3. Get a study buddy or study group
Have a goal? Involve those closest to you. Other people will help hold you accountable!
Studying with others is fun, productive, and more effective because if you have questions on the material your study buddy can help.
Not studying the same material? It doesn’t matter. Procrastination has gotten the best of us alone, but if you are in a room with others who are working on projects, you’re more than likely to do the same.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Find a study buddy (or study group). The best place to find a study buddy is someone in the field (ideally) or class for us, students. Co-workers, friends, friends of friends, etc.
- Set a schedule for your study sessions. It helps to schedule it at the same time every week so you don’t have to think about when it is and it becomes a habit. We are all leading busy lives, this helps keep us on track. It’s rewarding.
- Find a location to meet that has WIFI such as the library, coffee shop, or a fast-food joint. 2020 questions: What is life without WIFI right?
4. Set goals
Similar to cutting the time you have on a project in half, setting goals keep you honest and on pace with what you want.
I use three different lists: a master list that is consistently full, a monthly/weekly list of items taken from my master list, and a daily list of urgent tasks taken from the monthly/weekly list.
What this does is ensure that I have completed all my big tasks (on the master list) all without having to truly think about what I need to do.
5. Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself
To enhance your motivation to study, reward yourself for a job well done.
Whether it’s buying a cup of your favorite coffee, going on a nice long hike, or snarfing down a bag of potato chips, reward yourself for a good, long study session. This reward system will help motivate you to study more often.
It’s imperative to only reward yourself AFTER you study. Treating yourself before you do the work defeats the purpose… and you’re less likely to study.
Enough reading… if you had something in mind while you were reading this, go do it! Take a moment, plan it out, and just follow the plan. Allow yourself break time and rewards then get back to it.
It’s been a joy, thanks for reading.
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