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.
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 want you to study less. Every day. We want you to study less by learning how to power study - to study with super powerful efficiency and effectiveness which will cut the amount of time spent studying down to nothing! OK, that's a lie - but you get the drift. You have to study anyway, so why not learn how to learn more in less time?
So let's take a look at the new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise straight away! Excited? You should be!
Successful students:
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'. This is when you think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 1000 times. You're 'studying', but you're not getting anywhere with your work. You're just a mouse on the wheel. Round and round you go! Instead of this, take regular breaks. We suggest a 15 minute break for every 30 minutes of work completed. Sound good? For every hour you spend studying you get 30 minutes off! Why do this? 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. But don't spend your time thinking about what you've been doing. No, no, no, instead you should allow your mind to rest by doing something completely different - like dance around the room to that lame song you like. Finally, don't study for more than 45 minutes in any one sitting. Why? Your brain will switch off at around about the 45 minute mark. So if you keep studying after that you're just playing ball in junk time again.
Plan Their Study
Successful students actually plan what they are going to do during their study time. As in, they actually plan the time they will be studying and they set goals for what they will achieve during their study. For example, your new habit could be saying 'I will study from 5 o'clock to 6.30 pm with a 15 minute break at 5.45 pm. At 6.30 pm I will have done all my maths worksheets and my history homework. I will then go online and get some solid Facebook time under my belt. Planning is no joke. If you want to be successful, do what successful students do. Create a plan, establish a goal and then stick to it like super glue. By having set times for doing work each day it will create a routine for you and as every good teacher will tell you, a routine is the first step towards developing a habit. And this habit is 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 that 5 o'clock is study time. Just like you know 7 o'clock is dinner time (for some people!). Goal setting is also important. If you sit down with no clear thoughts about what you're trying to achieve during your study time you will just pointlessly drift along without knowing if you've done what you're supposed to do. So, create a target to achieve and focus your energy towards it. You won't regret it!
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)
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 great as a nice soothing background noise when studying - and even helpful for study in some instances, but techno music cranking so loud your walls shake isn't the best idea you've ever had. There is simply no way you can focus when you do that.
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.
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.
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 want you to study less. Every day. We want you to study less by learning how to power study - to study with super powerful efficiency and effectiveness which will cut the amount of time spent studying down to nothing! OK, that's a lie - but you get the drift. You have to study anyway, so why not learn how to learn more in less time?
So let's take a look at the new habits you are going to introduce and start putting into practise straight away! Excited? You should be!
Successful students:
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'. This is when you think you're studying but you're just sitting there re-reading the same sentence about 1000 times. You're 'studying', but you're not getting anywhere with your work. You're just a mouse on the wheel. Round and round you go! Instead of this, take regular breaks. We suggest a 15 minute break for every 30 minutes of work completed. Sound good? For every hour you spend studying you get 30 minutes off! Why do this? 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. But don't spend your time thinking about what you've been doing. No, no, no, instead you should allow your mind to rest by doing something completely different - like dance around the room to that lame song you like. Finally, don't study for more than 45 minutes in any one sitting. Why? Your brain will switch off at around about the 45 minute mark. So if you keep studying after that you're just playing ball in junk time again.
Plan Their Study
Successful students actually plan what they are going to do during their study time. As in, they actually plan the time they will be studying and they set goals for what they will achieve during their study. For example, your new habit could be saying 'I will study from 5 o'clock to 6.30 pm with a 15 minute break at 5.45 pm. At 6.30 pm I will have done all my maths worksheets and my history homework. I will then go online and get some solid Facebook time under my belt. Planning is no joke. If you want to be successful, do what successful students do. Create a plan, establish a goal and then stick to it like super glue. By having set times for doing work each day it will create a routine for you and as every good teacher will tell you, a routine is the first step towards developing a habit. And this habit is 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 that 5 o'clock is study time. Just like you know 7 o'clock is dinner time (for some people!). Goal setting is also important. If you sit down with no clear thoughts about what you're trying to achieve during your study time you will just pointlessly drift along without knowing if you've done what you're supposed to do. So, create a target to achieve and focus your energy towards it. You won't regret it!
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)
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 great as a nice soothing background noise when studying - and even helpful for study in some instances, but techno music cranking so loud your walls shake isn't the best idea you've ever had. There is simply no way you can focus when you do that.
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:
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