Power Studying
Let's face it, no-one really loves studying (unless you enjoy school and good on you if you do!) We just want to get the work done pronto right? That's where this article can help you. Studying + Power = Power Studying = Less time studying = Good times for all.
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!
So what are we waiting for? Let's get cracking on the new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise from today. Here they come - are you ready for them?
Successful students do the following:
Never Over-Study
As soon as you spend too much time studying you will quickly lose focus and the time spent studying will become 'junk time'. Junk time is when you think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 100 times. You're studying, but you're not getting anywhere. You're the mouse on the wheel. Round and round you go. Instead, take regular breaks. We'd recommend a 15 minute break for every 30 minutes of work completed. So it's a 2 to 1 ratio. For every 2 hours you spend studying over a 3 hour period, at least 1 hour of that should be break time. 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 (this is very useful when you are doing memory activities). That doesn't mean you should spend the break thinking about what you've been doing. To the contrary, allow your mind to rest by doing something completely different. Finally, don't study for more than 45 minutes in any one sitting if you can avoid it. The brain tends to switch off at the 45 minute mark. Huh? Switch off? I was wondering if mine would ever switch on!
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 tried, you can grumpy, 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, Your Phone, The Latest Game You Like and Turn Off Your TV
This one is self explanatory. Just turn them off for an hour and we promise the world will still be there when you log back in to Facebook! (if it wasn't that would be pretty weird huh?) Don't text your friends, don't Instant Message that girl or boy you have a crush on whilst also doing your homework, don't make phone calls because your'e bored, just focus on what you're doing! Even if you focus on work for 15 minutes followed by 5 mins of sending texts to everyone on earth, it's better than 30 minutes of work whilst also sending texts 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
Um - what the heck is the teacher talking about? Ever say that to yourself in class? If you don't understand the topic you're doing just ask someone - a teacher, parent, friend, sibling, the bus driver. Seriously, asking anyone is better than asking no-one. 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.
Clean Up Their Act
Avoid working in a cesspool of your own filth. 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 piles of clothes to find it. Even though you may think it, it's actually not cool to have no idea where your bed is because there are mountains of junk all over your room. Although it does make finding a place to sleep interesting.
Let's face it, no-one really loves studying (unless you enjoy school and good on you if you do!) We just want to get the work done pronto right? That's where this article can help you. Studying + Power = Power Studying = Less time studying = Good times for all.
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!
So what are we waiting for? Let's get cracking on the new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise from today. Here they come - are you ready for them?
Successful students do the following:
Never Over-Study
As soon as you spend too much time studying you will quickly lose focus and the time spent studying will become 'junk time'. Junk time is when you think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 100 times. You're studying, but you're not getting anywhere. You're the mouse on the wheel. Round and round you go. Instead, take regular breaks. We'd recommend a 15 minute break for every 30 minutes of work completed. So it's a 2 to 1 ratio. For every 2 hours you spend studying over a 3 hour period, at least 1 hour of that should be break time. 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 (this is very useful when you are doing memory activities). That doesn't mean you should spend the break thinking about what you've been doing. To the contrary, allow your mind to rest by doing something completely different. Finally, don't study for more than 45 minutes in any one sitting if you can avoid it. The brain tends to switch off at the 45 minute mark. Huh? Switch off? I was wondering if mine would ever switch on!
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 tried, you can grumpy, 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, Your Phone, The Latest Game You Like and Turn Off Your TV
This one is self explanatory. Just turn them off for an hour and we promise the world will still be there when you log back in to Facebook! (if it wasn't that would be pretty weird huh?) Don't text your friends, don't Instant Message that girl or boy you have a crush on whilst also doing your homework, don't make phone calls because your'e bored, just focus on what you're doing! Even if you focus on work for 15 minutes followed by 5 mins of sending texts to everyone on earth, it's better than 30 minutes of work whilst also sending texts 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
Um - what the heck is the teacher talking about? Ever say that to yourself in class? If you don't understand the topic you're doing just ask someone - a teacher, parent, friend, sibling, the bus driver. Seriously, asking anyone is better than asking no-one. 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.
Clean Up Their Act
Avoid working in a cesspool of your own filth. 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 piles of clothes to find it. Even though you may think it, it's actually not cool to have no idea where your bed is because there are mountains of junk all over your room. Although it does make finding a place to sleep interesting.
About the Author:
HelpMeToStudy.org is the premier resource for learning new study skills, changing your study habits and discovering the best study tips available. We will help you change the way you think about study - and even better - we will show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | Good Study Habits
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