Power Studying
Who gets excited about the prospect of studying? Yeah! Studying! Awesome! Good times. Nothing better than good old studying. That's what you're thinking right? Yes? No? What do you mean am I crazy? You hate it? It bores you? You'd rather clean your room? Yikes.
Well we want to get you excited about studying. We want you to look forward to studying. We want you to maximize every minute spent studying and as a result maximize every minute you don't have to study! That's right; we actually want you to study less. What the? Study less? We want you to study less by learning how to power study - to study with maximum efficiency and effectiveness thereby drastically cutting the amount of time spent studying. You have to study anyway, so why not learn how to learn more in less time with twice the results? Sound like a plan Jan? You bet it does!
Here's a list of new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise today! Excited? Dazed? Confused? Keep reading, we'll solve that problem too!
Successful students do the following:
Never Over-Study
Ever think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 1000 times? What did I just read? What did I just read? You're kind of 'studying', but you're not getting anywhere with your work. Instead of this, take regular 15 minute breaks for every 30 minutes of work you do. So, for every hour you spend studying you get 30 minutes off! Why do this you may ask? Well, taking breaks will restore your energy and refresh your mind - plus it will give your mind some time to take in what you have been doing. So have a break and maybe have a kit kat (or do whatever kids do these days). Bonus tip: never study for more than 45 minutes at a time because your brain tends to turn to mush and switch off at around about the 45 minute point.
Plan Their Study
Top students don't just randomly sit down and complete work. They actually plan what they are going to do. They literally plan the time they will study and they set goals for what will be achieved. For example, your new habit could be saying 'I will study from 6 pm to 7.15 pm with a 15 minute break at 6.30 pm. At the completion of this time I will have done all my fractions worksheets and my sociology homework. I will then go online and throw sheep at people'. Think we're kidding? We're not. If you want to be successful, do as successful people do. Set a plan and set a goal and stick to it. If you don't achieve the goal, set a new one. By having set times for doing work each day it will create a routine and a routine is the first step towards developing a habit. We love affirmative habits, affirmative habits are good. When you know that you have committed to work at a specific time each day you will be mentally prepared for it. You will know 6 pm is 'go time on study'. You will know it's coming and be ready for it. Just like you know 7 pm is dinner time. What's for dinner mother dearest? The goal setting part of planning is also very important. If you sit down with little idea about what you're trying to complete you will just aimlessly go along not knowing if you've 'done enough work or not'. Set a target and direct your energy towards it. Accomplish what you set out to accomplish. Build the confidence. Don't just let the carrot dangle in front of you, bite the freaking thing (a carrot represents your ambitions and dreams in case you weren't aware and thought we actually wanted you to eat a carrot. You didn't think that did you?)
Front Up To The Toughest Work First
Let's face it, when completing tasks we all love to do the easy things first. Why? Because it build our confidence. We get excited when we're ticking items off our to-do list. BANG! 1st item ticked off. BANG! Double tick that item now I'm rolling. The only problem with the tick-off easy items first approach is that you use up your best energy at the start of any study session and so if you are tackling the easy parts with your best energy your energy reserves will be low when it comes time to tackle the hard part of what you need to get done. So what happens then? Bet you can't guess! You can guess? That's right - you get tired, you get grumpy, you get frustrated and then just give up and go play Xbox. We all do it. We really shouldn't though. So get in the habit of dedicating your best energy to the difficult tasks first and completing the easy 'I can do it with my eyes closed' stuff last.
Get Off Social Networking Sites, Gaming Sites and Turn Their TV Off (Music Might Be OK)
We live in a mobile device online world. But, hey, just turn them off for an hour or so and we promise the world will still be there when you log back in to Facebook! Don't text your friends, don't 'like' stuff, don't make phone calls, don't send texts, just focus on what you're doing! Even if you focus on work for 15 minutes followed by 5 mins of power texting to make up for the 15 minutes of texting you lost, it's better than 30 minutes of work whilst also texting at the same time. It's a good idea to reward yourself for any study completed, but you really should do some work to earn that reward. You agree right?
P.S. Music can be OK as a nice soothing background noise when studying - and even helpful in some instances, but having death metal blaring so loud your neighbor's dog is about to howl bloody murder isn't the way to go here. There is no way you can focus when you do that - and don't try to convince us otherwise!
Actually Ask For Help
If you don't know what on earth is happening in class or what on earth you are reading in your text book please ask someone for help - a teacher, parent, friend, sibling, tennis coach, someone else's parents. Seriously, just ask for help. Don't feel embarrassed or stupid - the most important thing is getting the task completed isn't it? What difference does it make if you have to ask for help? Wouldn't you rather do a good job? If you don't ask, you won't know. Frustration can be easily avoided, but sometimes we have to suck up the ego and ask for help. Either that or just scream and cry. Someone will probably twig that you need some help if you do that.
Clean Up Their Act
Seriously - do your work in a neat and tidy place. Don't study in a cesspool of your own muck. Work on a table or a desk. Have a place for all of your books and materials. Have a system of filing and order that you actually understand! You should always know where everything you need is and you should not have to wade through dirty underwear or 1991 Michael Jordan rookie cards to find it. I know, crazy concept huh? It's not cool to not be able to see your bed because there are mountains of junk all over your room (although if you live in that situation we know you think it's cool). A clean environment makes a happy human. You want to be a happy human don't you?
Who gets excited about the prospect of studying? Yeah! Studying! Awesome! Good times. Nothing better than good old studying. That's what you're thinking right? Yes? No? What do you mean am I crazy? You hate it? It bores you? You'd rather clean your room? Yikes.
Well we want to get you excited about studying. We want you to look forward to studying. We want you to maximize every minute spent studying and as a result maximize every minute you don't have to study! That's right; we actually want you to study less. What the? Study less? We want you to study less by learning how to power study - to study with maximum efficiency and effectiveness thereby drastically cutting the amount of time spent studying. You have to study anyway, so why not learn how to learn more in less time with twice the results? Sound like a plan Jan? You bet it does!
Here's a list of new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise today! Excited? Dazed? Confused? Keep reading, we'll solve that problem too!
Successful students do the following:
Never Over-Study
Ever think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 1000 times? What did I just read? What did I just read? You're kind of 'studying', but you're not getting anywhere with your work. Instead of this, take regular 15 minute breaks for every 30 minutes of work you do. So, for every hour you spend studying you get 30 minutes off! Why do this you may ask? Well, taking breaks will restore your energy and refresh your mind - plus it will give your mind some time to take in what you have been doing. So have a break and maybe have a kit kat (or do whatever kids do these days). Bonus tip: never study for more than 45 minutes at a time because your brain tends to turn to mush and switch off at around about the 45 minute point.
Plan Their Study
Top students don't just randomly sit down and complete work. They actually plan what they are going to do. They literally plan the time they will study and they set goals for what will be achieved. For example, your new habit could be saying 'I will study from 6 pm to 7.15 pm with a 15 minute break at 6.30 pm. At the completion of this time I will have done all my fractions worksheets and my sociology homework. I will then go online and throw sheep at people'. Think we're kidding? We're not. If you want to be successful, do as successful people do. Set a plan and set a goal and stick to it. If you don't achieve the goal, set a new one. By having set times for doing work each day it will create a routine and a routine is the first step towards developing a habit. We love affirmative habits, affirmative habits are good. When you know that you have committed to work at a specific time each day you will be mentally prepared for it. You will know 6 pm is 'go time on study'. You will know it's coming and be ready for it. Just like you know 7 pm is dinner time. What's for dinner mother dearest? The goal setting part of planning is also very important. If you sit down with little idea about what you're trying to complete you will just aimlessly go along not knowing if you've 'done enough work or not'. Set a target and direct your energy towards it. Accomplish what you set out to accomplish. Build the confidence. Don't just let the carrot dangle in front of you, bite the freaking thing (a carrot represents your ambitions and dreams in case you weren't aware and thought we actually wanted you to eat a carrot. You didn't think that did you?)
Front Up To The Toughest Work First
Let's face it, when completing tasks we all love to do the easy things first. Why? Because it build our confidence. We get excited when we're ticking items off our to-do list. BANG! 1st item ticked off. BANG! Double tick that item now I'm rolling. The only problem with the tick-off easy items first approach is that you use up your best energy at the start of any study session and so if you are tackling the easy parts with your best energy your energy reserves will be low when it comes time to tackle the hard part of what you need to get done. So what happens then? Bet you can't guess! You can guess? That's right - you get tired, you get grumpy, you get frustrated and then just give up and go play Xbox. We all do it. We really shouldn't though. So get in the habit of dedicating your best energy to the difficult tasks first and completing the easy 'I can do it with my eyes closed' stuff last.
Get Off Social Networking Sites, Gaming Sites and Turn Their TV Off (Music Might Be OK)
We live in a mobile device online world. But, hey, just turn them off for an hour or so and we promise the world will still be there when you log back in to Facebook! Don't text your friends, don't 'like' stuff, don't make phone calls, don't send texts, just focus on what you're doing! Even if you focus on work for 15 minutes followed by 5 mins of power texting to make up for the 15 minutes of texting you lost, it's better than 30 minutes of work whilst also texting at the same time. It's a good idea to reward yourself for any study completed, but you really should do some work to earn that reward. You agree right?
P.S. Music can be OK as a nice soothing background noise when studying - and even helpful in some instances, but having death metal blaring so loud your neighbor's dog is about to howl bloody murder isn't the way to go here. There is no way you can focus when you do that - and don't try to convince us otherwise!
Actually Ask For Help
If you don't know what on earth is happening in class or what on earth you are reading in your text book please ask someone for help - a teacher, parent, friend, sibling, tennis coach, someone else's parents. Seriously, just ask for help. Don't feel embarrassed or stupid - the most important thing is getting the task completed isn't it? What difference does it make if you have to ask for help? Wouldn't you rather do a good job? If you don't ask, you won't know. Frustration can be easily avoided, but sometimes we have to suck up the ego and ask for help. Either that or just scream and cry. Someone will probably twig that you need some help if you do that.
Clean Up Their Act
Seriously - do your work in a neat and tidy place. Don't study in a cesspool of your own muck. Work on a table or a desk. Have a place for all of your books and materials. Have a system of filing and order that you actually understand! You should always know where everything you need is and you should not have to wade through dirty underwear or 1991 Michael Jordan rookie cards to find it. I know, crazy concept huh? It's not cool to not be able to see your bed because there are mountains of junk all over your room (although if you live in that situation we know you think it's cool). A clean environment makes a happy human. You want to be a happy human don't you?
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