Hello everyone, hope you are all safe at home. This lockdown, let’s make the best use of time by studying! Yeah, you heard me right, today we are going to discuss a few tips, that after many trial and errors have started working for me, and so would for you. Please feel free to share your tips and let’s build a healthy community of reading.
Planning
First things first, you first need to know what you need to study to get them done.
Plan what you need to study, from where? And when?
Initially I used ‘keep notes’ as I was a little aversive to scheduling, but when I didn’t time them, I just ended up pushing the task to the next day endlessly.
Working for goals
An important part of planning is based on goals that matter to you.
There are two types of goals when coming to studying or just about anything else. Short term goals would be to read say 10 new words in French and long term goal could be to get fluent in French.
A goal is broken down so that you can work for it a little everyday.
Take time to write down your long term goal
Time batching
When you are new to scheduling your entire day, it would be less intimidating if you don’t specify exact time like 6:30 or 7:45 and rather say before dinner I am going to study a particular topic say Photosynthesis from science textbook.
My study blocks range anywhere between 3hrs to 4hrs, having said that Pomodoro method doesn’t work for me, but it might for you,so do give it a try
Digital scheduling
The single most best app I have ever used for time management is ‘Google calendar’. It is preferable to schedule your day a night before if you are a morning person. But I like to start my mornings slow, so coffee and scheduling goes hand in hand.
Try to stick to schedule as much as possible but don’t force yourself into it, you might just end up doing nothing the next day. Just slowly try to improve your discipline.
As you could see, I majorly only schedule my study hours. As other things are already a part of my routine & so fit in perfectly in free spaces.
Importance of break days
Working on a schedule all day on top of your School, University, or office hours is exhausting. You need to grant yourself a break day once in a while when you feel like one, or a fixed day whichever works. I do a mix of both.
It’s kind of a positive reinforcement, so you could go ahead further positively without burning out.
Don’t just sleep all day on these days, it’s exhausting too, try doing something you really enjoy. Take a moment to write down all the things that make you happy, so you could randomly select later.
For me it’s usually watching Harry Potter or reading korean/ french.
Commonly overlooked vital stuff
- Drink sufficient water
- Good sleep 💤, you don’t want to end up sleeping in your exam hall!!
- Exercise – it doesn’t take much time, it improves your mood & health
- Good food – You don’t have to put in a lot of effort, just avoid junk, keep a bunch of nuts handy, don’t overdo on caffeine.
Happy Studying ✌🏻