Studying is a project that, in many cases, is part of people’s lives in different periods of time. Training as a basis for professional preparation and reinforcing one’s enjoyment in discovering new ideas is often part of the lifestyle. To get involved in studying, you need a plan of action, time, and internal resources such as motivation and memory enhancement. This article will tell you how to find and improve these resources.
Memory is strengthened through constructive habits aimed at achieving a specific goal. How can you create a habit of studying? Here are 5 studying essentials to help you with this task:
Organise your workspace
Choose an area with a comfortable desk located in a well-lit and quiet place. You can also combine studying at home with time at your local library or university library if you prefer to go there.
Plan your schedule
Building a habit also starts with the anticipation of planning your schedule. Make a schedule that is flexible with your life circumstances to reconcile your study with your present reality. Regularity is critical in study planning to avoid postponing exam preparation until the days before the scheduled date.
Memorise concepts
Although study starts with understanding a subject through preparation that allows you to express what you have learned in your own words, it is impossible to make a complete argument without memorizing key concepts, dates, and authors’ names. Repetition is essential to memorise concepts.
Take short breaks
The motivation of a short break every hour or so is an incentive to concentrate. During these short breaks, don’t check your social media or WhatsApp because you run the risk of the break taking longer than you had planned. A practical solution to avoid distractions is to leave your mobile phone and any other distracting gadgets in a different room.
Ask yourself questions
If you want to know how to concentrate on studying and memorising, having an enthusiastic attitude towards learning, ask yourself questions, and find the answer. Through this internal reasoning, you also increase your involvement and, therefore, your level of concentration.
Your memory itself cannot be increased without proper concentration. To concentrate better, try the following advice:
- Express out loud what you have learned. You can do this in front of someone else or even yourself.
- Work in a team. For example, help a colleague who is having difficulties with a specific subject and, in other cases, receive this external support yourself. This constant collaboration improves concentration when studying by seeing knowledge as a good that increases when it is shared.
- Use the encyclopedia to look up information to document yourself on specific subjects and the printed dictionary to consult the meaning of terms you do not know. You can also use the new technologies with a pedagogical approach or seek help from a paper helper if you are stuck, but do not make technology an end in itself that replaces other traditional elements.
- Know yourself. The study is not only based on attention to an external good but also self-knowledge. For example, if you know that meeting a classmate to study in the library distracts you by talking about other leisure topics, avoid that plan. Similarly, if you feel mentally exhausted during an afternoon after a busy study schedule, make an exception during that day and take a break.
- Make the most of class time. To improve your concentration when studying, it is advisable to start by improving your attention in class. To do this, take notes and ask your teacher questions. If you are at university, choose a seat in the front rows of the lecture hall.
6 Leisure activities to improve your study memory
As necessary as the effort of studying is having creative leisure time. So how can you feed your mind through the activities you organize in your free time?
- Try cultural tourism. You can discover a new environment on a trip to the place where you live and in the surrounding area, for example, through the museums or cultural centres.
- Play memory games. The game is a pastime that can enrich your mind through its didactics through those proposals grouped under the theme of memory games.
- Create a blog on a subject you like. If you love a subject, perhaps you can turn it into a blog where you can publish articles written by you. It can also help you gain motivation for researching this subject even deeper.
- Learn a new language or improve the level you have already reached. It will increase your vocabulary and take you out of your study comfort zone.
- Read a lot. Reading is part of studying as an essential step in understanding a text. However, reading is also an incentive for a free time of those who integrate this literary component into their lifestyle. If you wish, you can join a club on this subject to discuss work in a group, or to broaden your reading horizons through the advice of the others.
- Do sports. Another routine that you can integrate into your lifestyle is to do a sport that motivates you and that you enjoy. A sport that drives you in the desire to practise self-improvement.
Helen Bradfield did her degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She has an ongoing interest in mental health and well-being.
