18 Apr How to motivate yourself to study, in 12 keys
Motivation is the emphasis we put on performing certain tasks or activities. High and lasting motivation is vital to help us achieve everything we set out to do, especially when studying.
However, sometimes this is not so easy to maintain; So next, we will see several tricks with which to increase your motivation to study, either during exam periods or for moments of learning quickly on your own.
The importance of motivation in the study
Like most activities or actions that people carry out, motivation is the engine that makes these activities carry out satisfactorily. This motivation can be both intrinsic when we do something for the mere pleasure of doing it, or extrinsic, when what motivates us is the achievement of an external reward.
Likewise, motivation can also be affected by our mood. Sometimes the different situations we go through in our day-to-day condition our mood and therefore this also affects our motivation to perform certain tasks, including study habits.
For example, one day we may wake up very motivated to study, we intend to spend the day in the library and we feel full of energy. However, during breakfast, they give us bad news. The safest thing is that our mood declines, therefore motivation drops and we lose the desire to go to study.
Also, study habits, like many other activities, it is necessary to start from a starting point, planning and a methodology with which we will guide our work. Finally, and obviously, we need an objective, a goal for which we have decided to start studying.
Usually, our motivation strategies for study are conditioned by our perception of the subject or subject or the tasks that we have to perform to study. For example, surely we will not perceive the same study for a subject with a lot of theoretical material than for another that is more practical.
12 tips to motivate you when studying
Next, we will see a series of tips so that starting a study session is something very attractive and bearable. By following these small steps, little by little they will become habits and your academic performance will improve remarkably.
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Plan the study session
It is essential to start by planning your study session. Choose what subject or subjects you are going to study and try to set a time limit to do it. A good idea is to make a list of the tasks to be carried out during the session and order them according to their priority. As you progress in tasks, you will feel more motivated and fulfilled.
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Set small goals
The establishment of small goals or objectives in those moments in which the study or work material is of great volume ** will help us feel fulfilled and therefore keep our motivation high
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Do the hardest first
The first moment of study is when we have more energy. This energy will be consumed little by little as the hours go by, therefore it is much more efficient to carry out those activities or study those subjects that are more difficult for us at the moment.
Otherwise, if we leave it for the end, likely, we will not have enough strength and we perceive this task as much more complicated than it is.
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Avoid distractions
Mobile phone, social networks, internet, television, etc. All of these are distracting agents, diverting us from our task and causing our minds to wander, making it much more difficult to refocus on our task.
All these distractions only make us waste a lot of time, be less effective, and therefore favor us to develop a feeling of incompetence and demotivation.
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Rest from time to time
It is highly recommended to take some time off before fatigue takes over. If we leave our task when we can no longer do it, it will be very difficult for us to resume it and, surely, we will do so unmotivated.
The ideal is to take small breaks of 10-15 minutes when we notice the slightest symptom of fatigue. In this way, we will be much clearer and with more energy to go back to sitting down to work.
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Reward yourself
Once the work or study session is over, reward yourself with small rewards. If you think that you have done well or that the work has been productive, allow yourself some reward that motivates you.
To be able to do it effectively you can follow the following steps:
Set a goal and set the reward beforehand. So you will be motivated to get it.
For the reward to be effective, it must be proportionate to the effort or difficulty of the task.
If you think you have not performed enough, do not reward yourself, otherwise, it will have no effect when you do.
Self-affirmations are also small rewards that we can give ourselves while we are working.
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Find the ideal study context
Each person performs better in a specific context and schedule. Therefore, it is necessary to know what is our ideal time and environment to study.
For example, we can study with music if it is appropriate, study in a place where there are more people like a library, or on the contrary be totally alone and in silence.
In the same way, during the first hours of the morning, we may find ourselves more clear to work well or, on the contrary, the afternoon is our ideal time to concentrate better.
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Use the libraries
Even though, as mentioned above, each person has an ideal place of study. Libraries provide us with a quiet space without the distractions that we may have at home.
Besides, if you are accompanied you can set joint goals and rest together with another person, which always makes long study sessions more bearable.
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Adapt your workspace
Make sure that everything works correctly and that you have everything you need to study or perform the tasks that you have pending. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time looking for things and you can get very frustrating when you see that you cannot get the work done.
Also, an orderly and clean workspace will not make us feel more comfortable and at ease.
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Think about long-term goals
Reflect on what has led you to carry out these studies or activities, as well as what you can achieve once you finish them. All of this will boost your motivation and help you find a reason to continue.
A good option is to leave it reflected somewhere, a paper or a blackboard that will serve as motivation and can help you remember what you are doing this effort for.
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Don’t procrastinate
Procrastination is the “art” of leaving what we do not want to do for another time, replacing it with something lighter and that we want more. Although this sounds good, the reality is that you will always end up putting it off, so the best thing is to propose to do and do it when we still have energy.
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Assume a certain level of stress
Experiencing a minimum level of stress is not harmful, on the contrary, it helps us to stay active and attentive to what we are doing.
However, we cannot let it seize us. Although a little stress is good for our performance, a lot can make us saturated and the anxiety that accompanies it can prevent us from concentrating and doing our work well.
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