Developing The Habit Of Studying

Hello Everyone,

I am a student studying independently. I am preparing for an exam due next year. Earlier i was in school but now i am done with it and i am studying by myself so that i may join a college.

I wanted to tell that i was never in the "habit" of studying.
I was not a very good student.
I have difficulty starting to study. It's not that the topics are difficult, i just have difficulty getting down to study. I just feel lazy as if i don't care. Whenever i begin, i get bored after 5 minutes or so. Even if i am studying an easy or an intriguing topic, i get easily distracted. I feel the urge to get up, move out or eat something. I think i have become lazy, but i am really stressed about it. I want to drive away this unwillingnes.

I am unable to follow my goals. I can't afford any tutor. I am alone right now and i don't have any friend to help me. I don't want to waste any more time.

Please help. :-(

The best thing I can suggest is to start with that 5 minutes. Commit yourself to that. Once that 5 minutes is up get up - get a drink, do something else briefly as a 'reward' for completing the 5 minutes work and come back. It can be frustrating but in time that 5 minutes will get easier. Then you can look at increasing the time slowly.

It definitely isn't an easy fix but it really can help.

Thanks mazing,

I get your point. I am still practicing daily. Althought i've found 5 minutes is not suitable for me so i've change it to 15 but it's working for me. I studied for two hours like this today, something i had a hard time doing previously. Thanks for your support.

Actually, this was a duplicate thread i made by mistake and some people posted on the original one. It was going to be deleted because it was confusing most people but that did'nt happen (i had already flagged it for the admins). Hope you did not mind. :-)
Thank you once again.

I always have the same problem. My friend sent me this article and it helped so much for motivation and productive studying. It talks about the proper times to study and like how long to take breaks for, pretty cool stuff.

The last one worked the best for me

UBER Productive Schedules and Proper Break Times. - Explore. Create. Live. | Explore. Create. Live.

Congrats for studying for 2 hours, Duke (not Duchess lol). It's nice to hear that studying is getting easier for you. But now I'm kinda curious, if you don't mind my asking, what subject are you studying?

Well, it's Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. I'm studying for examinations for entrance in major universities of my country.

There's an excellent description here if you want to read that :

http://priceonomics.com/the-iit-entrance-exam/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian...ce_Examination

Thanks for asking.

Thanks jcrowely, excellent article. Maybe i should try the pomodoro technique, it may help me a lot.

Hey Duke, I would quote your post about what you study but, alas, I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do that on my Ipad. Anyway, I had so many racing thoughts about that exam while reading that article on the JEE. First it sounds incredibly, freaking, ridiculously hard and stressful! I can't imagine having my entire family invested in a test I'm taking. I'd freak! The competition sounds never-ending and really rough, even after getting into the IIT, I mean after all that hard work and studying, you can't even study what you want to if your test score isn't high enough! That's crap.

But the school sounds nice and prestigious, and like it could change your life for the better. I hope you can study and maybe even find a tutor to help you along the way. And I can see why studying is hard- those are all the subjects I Hate, with a capital H. I wanna be a diplomat sooo.... i don't think I'll need chem and math, thankfully. But good luck, Duke. I'm sure you're more capable than I am with academics .

And as for jcrowely's article, I would have to do some hardcore studying because the pomodoro technique would not work for me. I cannot focus for just 25 min. I'd just never focus and typically when I study I do it for at least an hour at a time.

Hi Nymph,

Although, i'm not confident about getting into the IITs but i think i can get into the NITs. They are a "worthy" alternative to the IITs.
I'm going for Computer Science and i am interested in doing research. I still miss those programming classes at school. But i'll have to wait for a year. I too hate these subjects except Maths although i'm not very good at it. Chemistry bugs me the most.

About the Pomodoro technique, i tried it today but could'nt maintain the flow for a long time. It needs practice, then maybe in a few days i'll be able to get a hold of it. I too like you cannot focus for more than 10 minutes.

Thanks for your insight..... :-)
I wish you good luck for your endeavour too.

I need to relearn some of the stuff in this book, but I highly recommend this book: Amazon.com: Super Memory - Super Student: How to Raise Your Grades in 30 Days (9780316532686): Harry Lorayne: Books

It has helped me a lot, but I need to get back into it and make it a life habit. It works for just about any subject you take, and has a chapter on several, including math. It's basically a technique to improve your memory, and it's not too expensive, so you don't risk losing a lot of money if you don't like it. I think the first few chapters are worth the price on their own.

Thanks Maven,
Maybe i won't be able to buy it online (i don't own a credit card) but i'll surely try other sources or look it up on any store.

I need to develop the habit of studying and stop procrastinating! I never used to procrastinate in high school, i always used to study and do my home work and assignments on time and do well. but now it's like i lack all motivation and determination. i was okay in my first year of university, studying and whatnot. and i studied in my second year, but i failed. so i had to do over that year. which i did. but i failed again and then i lost all motivation, it's like i gave up. and i barely purposely barely studied. but either way, from the beginning, law was harder than i thought it will be. so deciding that law wasn't for me, i switched to graphic design and well, so far i like it, but i'm still not motivated and whatnot and that is sooooo frustrating! :'( and everything feels hopeless, like i feel like i've no purpose and no future and i feel like a burden to my parents. and i feel guilty that they wasted all on that money on me in law school. and now they're paying for my graphic design degree. i started working last year summer for the experience and whatnot, but i like to pay and contribute when and where i can out of guilt and because i feel like i have to sort of pay them back. i just want to be motivated and stop procrastinating.... *sighs*

Hi lonelygirl,

I appreciate the fact that you changed your career. I think it was a good decision on your part because one should do what one loves to do. There is a lot of scope today for a career like that. You can be a successful designer and make your parents proud.
I just came around an article while surfing the web, thought it might be good for you.

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/138c5efd45e9

Although i'm not much into art, but i respect artists. If given a choice, i would have been a designer instead of a lawyer (i'm into computer science by the way). I don't mean any offence to lawyers, law is a respectful field. It's about interest, there is no use being a bad lawyer when you can be a good designer.

The only way you'll be able to re-link your parents' trust in you is by being a good and successful graphic designer. Try to make something good everyday, any work of art. Doing this will motivate you and it will boost your creativity. You'll be tempted to do more and that will end your procrastination.

Thanks for posting. :-)