How to motivate yourself to study, in 12 keys
Several tips to stay motivated while studying and preparing for exams.
Motivation is the emphasis we place on performing certain tasks or activities. A high and lasting motivation is vital to help us achieve everything we set out to do, especially when it comes to studying.
However, sometimes it is not so easy to maintain, so here we will see several tricks to increase your motivation. tricks to increase your motivation to studyThe following are some tricks to increase your motivation to study, either during the times of exams or for the moments to learn quickly on your own.
- Article related: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources".
The importance of motivation in the study
As the majority of activities or actions that we realize the persons, the motivation is the motor that makes that these activities are carried out in a satisfactory way.. This motivation can be either 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.
Motivation can also be affected by our state of mind. Sometimes the different situations we go through in our day-to-day lives condition our mood. condition our state of mind 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 we get some bad news. Our mood is likely to drop, our energy is likely to drop, and so is our motivation to study.We are likely to lose our motivation and our desire to go to the library to study.
In addition, study habits, like many other activities, it is necessary to start from a starting point, a 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 motivational strategies for study are conditioned by our perception of what we are studying. are conditioned by our perception of the subject or subject matter, or of the tasks we have to perform.or the tasks we have to perform in order to study. For example, surely we will not perceive studying for a subject with a lot of theoretical material in the same way as studying for a subject that is more practical.
12 tips to motivate you when studying
Next we will see a series of advices so that to begin a session of study turns out to be something much attractive and bearable to you. By following these small steps, little by little they will become habits and your academic performance will improve significantly.
1. Plan your 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 try to set a time limit to do so.. A good idea is to make a list of the tasks to be done during the session and order them according to their priority. As you get ahead in the tasks you will feel more motivated and accomplished.
2. Set small goals
The establishment of small goals or objectives in those moments when the study or work material is of great volume **will help us to feel fulfilled and therefore to keep our motivation high.
3. Do the hardest part first
During the first moments 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 this time.
Otherwise, if we leave it until the end of the day, it is very it is very likely that we will have hardly any strength left and we perceive this task as much more complicated than it is.
4. Avoid distractions
Cell phone, social networks, internet, television, etc. All these are distracting agents that divert us from our task and make our mind wander, making it much more difficult to concentrate on our task.
All these distractions only succeed in making us waste a lot of time, be less efficient and therefore less effective.They make us less efficient and therefore encourage us to develop a feeling of incompetence and demotivation.
5. 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 to resume it and, surely, we will do it unmotivated.
The ideal is to take short breaks of 10-15 minutes 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 sit down to work again.
6. 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 to motivate you.
In order to do this effectively you can follow these steps:
- Set a goal and set the reward beforehand. This way you will be motivated to achieve 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 well enough don't 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.
7. Find the ideal study context
Each person performs better in a certain context and schedule. Therefore it is necessary to 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 such as a library, or on the contrary be totally alone and in silence.
In the same way, it is possible that during the early hours of the morning we are more clear to work well or, on the contrary, the afternoon is our ideal time to concentrate better. our ideal time to concentrate better.
8. Use the libraries
Although, as mentioned above, each person has an ideal study place. Libraries provide us with a quiet space and without the distractions that we may have at home.
In addition, if you are accompanied you can set joint goals and rest together with another person, which always makes long study sessions more bearable.
9. Adapt your work space
Make sure that everything works properly and that you have everything you need to study or perform the tasks you have pending. Otherwise you will waste a lot of time looking for things and this can become very frustrating when you see that you can't get your work done.
Also, a tidy and clean workspace will make us feel more comfortable and at ease.
10. Think about long-term goals
Reflect on what has led you to undertake such studies or activities, as well as what you can achieve once you finish them. All of this will boost your motivation and will help you find a reason to continue.
A good option is to leave it reflected somewhere, a piece of paper or a blackboard that will serve as motivation and can help you remember what you are doing this effort for.
11. Do not procrastinate
Procrastination is the "art" of leaving what we do not feel like doing for another time, replacing it with something lighter and that we feel more like doing. Although this sounds good, the reality is that you will always end up you will always end up putting it offSo the best thing to do is to propose to do it and do it when we still have energy.
12. Assuming 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. helps us to stay active and attentive to what we are doing, but we cannot let it overwhelm us..
However, we cannot let it overwhelm us. Although a little stress is good for our performance, too much can cause us to become saturated and the anxiety that accompanies it prevents us from concentrating and performing our work well.
(Updated at Apr 12 / 2024)