5 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Study

We understand how difficult it can be to motivate yourself to study. You’d instead do a million other things than study for the upcoming test. Procrastination is a problem that plagues many students. Streaming services, social media and your gaming console suddenly are an emergency in your mind when the time to study is nigh.

We all hate the last-minute stress we put ourselves as we try to cover an entire semester worth of content in a few days. You probably know that you need to study in little bits and prepare in advance, but you never do. We’re here to help. Here are five ways to motivate yourself to study.

1. Use the Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro technique is a productivity model whose aim is to get you started at your task. It helps you overcome the resistance to the work that you have. The technique itself involves splitting your work time into blocks, spending a certain amount of time working and the other relaxing. 

The optimal amount usually is 25 minutes working to 5 minutes resting. It’s best to use a timer to help you keep track of the time blocks. During the 25 minutes of working, you need to focus on only one task and try your best to complete it within that time. Multi-tasking is never a good idea. 

What the Pomodoro technique will help you achieve is concentration. It can help you improve your attention span in the long run, allowing you to study longer and stay motivated to do so as well. Over time, you’ll notice the 25 minutes flying by. 

You need to remember that self-motivation goes beyond studying and doing homework. It’s also about your future and what you intend for it. To achieve your goals, you’ll need more free time and one way to get it would be to Edubirdie. By using writing experts for getting your dissertations or thesis or college essays done, you free up your time for your main goals and future dreams.  

In case you get to this point, feel free to ignore the timer and keep working. The point is to get you started in your task and not to handicap you to a timer.  

2. Get into the habit of rewarding yourself

Sometimes you need to motivate your mind and yourself to get things done. One of the simplest ways to do this is by rewarding yourself. The aim here is to build good long-term habits. By rewarding yourself every time you finish studying, you help the brain associate that behavior with good things. Over time, studying will feel less of a burden because you expect to get something good after your efforts. 

Depending on the type of person that you are, you can reward yourself in different ways. It could be as simple as a piece of candy or taking a walk. You can even take it up a notch and have a fun night out. Be wary, not to under or over reward yourself. We know it’s easier said than done. 

Make sure that the reward you give yourself matches the amount of effort that you put in. Don’t give yourself a piece of candy for studying hard the entire semester as that wouldn’t make sense. 

3. Surround yourself with the right people 

We aren’t saying that your friends are the only reason why you aren’t studying, but they can play a big part. If your friends only want to play games and have fun all the time, there’s no way that you’ll be motivated to study. 

You need to make sure that you surround yourself with people that love studying and will push you to do the same. Learn the art of making great friends in school and college. 

You can also learn a thing or two from being around the right people. They could give you motivation and tips on how to improve your productivity in relation to studying. These friends could also act as an accountability group for you, making sure that you’re studying all the time instead of waiting until the test is around the corner.

4. Clear your workspace

Many people take this for granted, not only students. The state of your workspace can significantly affect your productivity and study motivation. It will be hard for you to get stuff done if your workspace is messy and more importantly, full of distractions. 

As a student, you need to look at your study table. Is it cluttered? A cluttered and dirty study table might make you postpone studying because of the effort you need to put in for cleaning it up. It’s sheer laziness leading to even more laziness.  

You also need to think about the distractions around you. What distracts you the most? For many young people, its social media and the internet in general. 

In this case, utilize the “do not disturb” feature or the “screen time” feature on your phone. These features turn off notifications on your phone for a specified amount of time. This can help limit distractions for you during your set study time. 

5. Study somewhere nicer

Can it be this simple? Yes, it is this simple. What you might need to motivate yourself to study is a change of environment.  Your current study area might have a lot of distractions that can hamper your progress in studies. It might also be that your brain needs a change of scenery. Our minds can work in funny ways sometimes. 

We’d suggest grabbing your notes and going to a coffee shop nearby or any other quiet environment that you can study in. The intentions that you set for yourself as you go to your new destination can also play a role in motivating you to study. 

You already tell your brain that you’re going there to study, so your brain is already wired and geared to complete the task at hand. It’s through this same logic why some people find themselves more productive at work compared to when they are at home.  

Conclusion 

We’re all human and different; what works for someone else will not necessarily work for you. You need to test each of these methods and figure out which one works best for you. It’s possible to find your motivation to study through experimentation. Try different ideas until you get the best one. After all, as a student, there’s only to learn and more you learn, more you grow as an individual.  

Author Bio:

Alvin Franklin is an education expert working as a consultant for colleges and universities to devise student-oriented plans to help them achieve both their short-term and long-term goals. This includes implementing technology in education and involving teachers and parents in decision-making. When he’s free, Alvin likes to spend time with his family in the countryside villa while gardening and taking care of horses there.