6 Best Tips To Help You Improve How You Study

Overview

To succeed in your entrepreneurial quest or generally enhance your skillset, you must be able to learn.

Being an autodidact is the most sought after trait in modern times. Our world is continuously evolving and as of that, being focused on one profession without the ability to grow and learn new skills destines you to failure.

Therefore, continually looking for more skills and knowledge is an absolute must.

Besides gaining knowledge from lectures and books, academic degrees and courses are a great source of information. However, these can become difficult when facing the arduous task of sitting down for long hours and studying.

Here are a few tips on how you can make this time far less painful and a lot more insightful.

1. Build a realistic learning schedule

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Many of our academic and life failures result from setting our goals to unrealistic and impractical ones. You should indeed set your business and entrepreneurial goals to make the most out of yourself. As the famous phrase goes: "shoot for the stars, aim at the moon," and a Grant Cardone preaches in his book 10X, you should always strive for more.

Not reaching your goals will only result in despair and more procrastination when it comes to actual schoolwork.

Therefore, set practical and small goals, even smaller than you usually would, only for you to achieve them and add them to your stack your victories. Thus, you will attract more success and motivate you to achieve higher goals.

2. Base your studying on quality, not quantity

Some people think that more is more; that getting through the entire curriculum and articles will grant you more understanding of the subject at hand.

However, the opposite is true. Understanding the idea and notion behind a specific subject is far more critical than reading an entire 40-page article.

Take your time, sometimes skim through the data, reach the main idea and read it until you fully understand it. This will affect your know-how, and when you face an unfamiliar subject with similar characteristics, you'll have no trouble separating the wheat from the chaff and getting your work done.

3. Reward yourself with a night off

Every hard labor is rewarded with some time off. And nothing is more demanding than studying.

Treating yourself with a night off is crucial if you want to prolong your attention span.

Also, forcing yourself for some preempted R&R will lower your anxiety level by not allowing you to feel like you are slacking or procrastinating too much.

Plan an evening that will throw you away from everything. Get out of the house; go for a run; have a picnic. Do whatever you want, besides staying in the same study environment.

4. Take study breaks - Pomodoro style.

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Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to push yourself and strive on.

Your mind needs rest. When going on study binges, there is a certain point where your mind cannot concentrate anymore. You should anticipate that moment and take a break before you reach it. Always keep the maximum level of attentiveness without peaking out.

The other added value of a scheduled break is that you will add another goal to ease your mind and intellect in knowing you have time off soon.

The most common method is that of the Pomodoro.

The Pomodoro method's name is derived from a cooking timer in the shape of a tomato used by its inventor Francesco Cirillo while he studied.

The method means you should set regular time frames of when to study and when to take breaks. By counting the amount of Pomodoros you manage to get during a day, you'll see progress and maintain a healthy learning experience. For example, every Pomodoro is 25 minutes long. After 25 minutes, you take a 1-3 minute break. After 4 Pomodoros, you take a 25-minute break. And so on, and so forth.

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5. Give yourself a small gift upon completing a challenge

It might sound childish that you need to reward yourself so much, but you have to. As stated, studying is hard, and you need goals.

Daydreaming of that particular smoothie you've been holding back on? Dying to see that new Tarantino movie? Spotted that new Romeo and Julieta cigar at your favorite bar?

You deserve it. But first, finish that final chapter, will you?

6. Watch other people study on Youtube. I'm not joking.

Social commitment is real. When studying with other people, you get motivated to act accordingly. Study groups are one thing, but some prefer to have their own private and more focused learning experience.

To mediate this gap, you can watch "study with me" videos on Youtube. These types of videos feature other people studying, some using the Pomodoro method, some have excellent background music. You study simultaneously; you take breaks together, you even enjoy an alternating cat every once in a while.

This is a new-age solution to an old-age problem. Try it, what do you have to lose?

Conclusion

If I hadn't made myself clear yet, studying is hard. It is more challenging than everything you'll ever do. You need to have motivation, persistence, belief in yourself, belief in your end goal, and generally speaking - to see the bigger picture. 

To do so, you'll need small victories. And plenty of them.

Using the methods I have stated above will help you achieve those victories.

Some will help you more than others, but using a self-correction system in which you'll see what works and benefits you more, you'll generate the right habits for you.

Good luck, and remember, it is all up to you. Adapt, learn, and strive for more.

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