Do you often find yourselves overwhelmed by the limited amount of time you have in order to complete your studying? Here are 5 tips to help you become more productive in less time!
- Declutter.
Probably the most important thing we need to do, after deciding to upgrade our studying, is the creation of an organized studying space. No matter how big or small your desk is, it can always be tidy. I know that, during the hustle and bustle of schooldays, with your office being the headquarters of all activity, all kinds of useful or less useful items are piling up. Various books, old note-books, post-its of all sizes, torn photocopies, old pens and highlighters, even crumbles of the cookie you ate last night! That is all pretty normal. However, this beautiful mess will not help us get more productive.
Throw everything down! Yeap, you heard me! Everything! Down on the floor, right now! I know you dread this moment, either because you are sentimentally attached to a lot of objects or because you think you don’t have time to sort out this mess, but these are just excuses.. Let’s do it then!
First of all, clean your desk thoroughly, make all specks of dust disappear in order to welcome your fresh start. Now, start from the books. When starting, make a pile of books you need, a pile of books you don’t need but you can store and another with unnecessary books to be recycled or given away. Check which stationery material can be kept and throw everything else away. The hardest part now.. all these papers around you.. Read every piece of paper carefully, but please hang on to barely nothing! Every small note that will not serve your studying, must be thrown away. Be sure that new notes of friends, teachers, and acquaintances will inundate your office again. But for the new ones to come, you should clear up space.
- Make a studying program of the day.
You have come back from school, eaten lunch, attended your foreign language lesson or sport practice of the day, and you are finally, back home. No matter what time in the afternoon it is, you need to oversee the fact that you are already a bit tired, because the entire schoolwork for the next day awaits. So, you have a 15 minute break to relax, with a snack or a glass of juice and you are now sitting down in your office. Before you open any books or start panicking as to what you should do first, just take a small piece of paper. Write down everything that you need to study for tomorrow. Right after that, prioritize at the top of your list which lessons are the hardest and will probably occupy more time. Leave the easier ones towards the bottom of your list. Right after that, organize small 10-minute breaks to come in, after you have finished the studying of each lesson and crossed it out of your list. You cannot have breaks more often than that, as you will run out of time to complete everything. Stick firmly to your program. Of course, the first two or three times you do it, it will be really hard to accomplish it and stick to this small schedule, but, I promise you, you will soon get the hang of it, you won’t have the slightest problem completing everything, without being overwhelmed and studying randomly whatever you set your eyes first on.
- Disconnect.
Mmm…Probably the toughest part. I know that you have your laptop right there in front of you and you tend to check your mobile phone, every five seconds, because an e-mail, text message, social media announcement or call made its screen light up. You will never be able to reach the absolute potential of your concentration though, if you keep it right there with you. Therefore, your actual studying will be impeded and you will finish a lot later than you could, without the same quality of studying.
Now it is time to log out, put it in silent mode and let yourself connect when you have finally finished with everything. If you log on between your breaks, of course there will be messages from friends that you will answer and you won’t resist the temptation of scrolling down your screen to generally check what’s up. Falsely, you may believe that this would help you relax. On the opposite, it will waste your time and scatter your attention to a great number of unnecessary things for the moment.
In case you need to use the Internet for your studying, use your computer, and open only the necessary pages. Let’s see how well you can resist to that temptation..
- Break Time.
In addition to taking regular studying breaks, what you do with each can have an impact on your studying. While taking a break, it is a great idea to go for a short walk. It could be in the nearby park or just around your block of flats. This breath of fresh air will definitely uplift your studying when you get back.
Another good idea is to enjoy a healthy snack. Some fruit or a cereal bar will provide you with the necessary vitamins that your brain needs. The same will not happen if you indulge in excessive junk food or sweets as the fatty ingredients will slower down your performance.
- Revise the hardest lesson right before you go to sleep.
The biggest mistake you can do, after having completed your studying, is to watch T.V. right before you go to bed. The best thing you can do that will almost certainly guarantee better assimilation of the material you spent so much time studying, is to go through it quickly before you go to bed. According to scientific studies, during sleep, our memory consolidates what we learned. It transforms the information given to a memory. This means that when the time comes to recall this information, our brain will be able to deliver with more ease, at it won’t simply be new information but a solid memory.