♔ 10 Study/Self-motivation Tips! ♔

HELLO.

What a serious introduction :')

My testweek is coming up (week full of tests, 2/3 a day) and I decided to share 10 study/self-motivation tips with you (: I am not a motivated person at all. Well, let's just say that I get distracted easily. And, because of this, studying is pretty hard for me. But now, all your pains and worries are gone! Yeah right. These tips will at least help you. And that's good enough, right?

So here they are:

  10 Study/Self-motivation Tips!

1. Make a schedule
Planning is really important, especially when you have more than one test. I, for example, have 9 tests next week :O Planning will really help, because you know exactly when to start with what and what to do. It gives your mind a lot of rest so you won't be completely stressed.

- Plan the most work on the days where you have the most free time
- Don't be too hard on yourself; Plan only 2/3 subjects a day
- Plan subjects that you find difficult more times. Repeating is very important, you will remind something better.
- Start with the subject that you have first: For example my first two tests are German and General Science of Nature (Yeah, idk). So I will start studying those subjects first.

2. Take breaks
Taking breaks is not only very important to not 'overheat' your brain, but also to motivate yourself again. After an hour of studying my brain is done as well as my concentration. Taking a break will relax your brain and you will be able to study again. Take a snack to boost your energy and to reward yourself. Also drink a lot! I always have one 45-minute break to watch an episode of a TV-show, and besides that I have a 10-minute/15-minute break between each subject.

3. Clean your room
This may seem quite weird, but cleaning your room really helps! Having a messy room will have an effect on your brain; You won't be able to concentrate as good because everything around you is messy. Your brain will be messy because of this as well. Being organized is a good thing so your brain is able to focus on just one thing: studying.

4. Don't stress, begin early
I know, I know. I am guilty as well. I trust my short-term memory and start studying the day before the test. It has actually been proven that you are able to study better when you stress because your test is the next day. But trusting your short-term memory has never been a good thing, unfortunately. You need to remember everything when you have your finals, or when all the sudden another chapter relates to the chapter you had studied before. Being stressed is not fun, trust me. You are only able to study very good when your mind has some rest, and that is only when you are not stressed. So begin a week or two before your test so that you have enough time and won't be totally stressed.

5. Turn off every device, unless you really need to use one
Turn off your cell phone, your computer, game device; just anything. These things will always capture your attention and are always your priority. Unless your house is on fire and you need to call 911 or you need to make something for school on the computer, always turn off every single device you own. It's hard, but it's better. You will have way more concentration and won't be distracted by those devilish things.

6. Mark important things/Write a summary
Marking important things or writing a summary will help to just pay attention to the important stuff. In study books they have the tendency to write totally nonsense stuff to get your attention off of the important stuff. They only want you to read MORE, stupid writers. By marking the important things or writing a summary you have less to read and you remember the important things better.

7. Study right before you go to bed
Studying before sleeping is one of the best ways to remember something. During your sleep your brain will memorize everything of the day, especially what you just did before you went to sleep.

8. Make up a story to remember something
This is what I do mostly with studying words. For example: Gluttony means excessive eating or drinking. Making a story about this word: Gluten are something that will lead Tony to excessive eating. This story is totally ridiculous and doesn't make any sense, but making up these kind of stories will help you remember them. It's weird but it works.

9. Move around
It's weird, but it has been proven that moving around will help you remember something better. I don't understand the science behind this all, but after every subject just move to another place to study the next thing.

10. Quiz yourself
Quizzing yourself will help you remember if you answered something wrong. Repeat, repeat and repeat every question until you get everything right.

These were my top studying/motivation tips (:

I hope you liked this post (:

If you have any suggestions for a blog post, comment down below (:

☀ Thanks so much for reading! x ☀

- Marit