Some people call putting off learning procrastination, others call it laziness. We often do everything at the last minute. How many times have you studied the night before an important exam? Does that make sense? Not really. When we spend the night, the next day our body is simply exhausted, so the brain has no chance to work properly. Concentration is lowered, and consequently, grades in school and college or our performance at work are not satisfactory
Our main opponent is the brain. This organ is inherently lazy and therefore discourages us from doing anything. The brain has been tuned to conserve energy for thousands of years. As a result, the more ambitious our plan, the more our brain discourages us from doing it. According to it, the harder we exert ourselves, the less chance we gain to survive. This is the crude logic by which it guided itself hundreds of thousands of years ago and continues to do so today.
Furthermore, perhaps as humans we rely too much on motivation. It is a feeling that is supposed to encourage us to do anything, but it quickly disappears. Most often, motivation runs out after 3 days and it’s time for discipline. So how do we force our brain to learn? Here are 5 effective ways
Sleep is responsible for the regeneration of the body. The fewer hours of sleep we get, the less productive we will be. Too little rest results in distraction and poorer concentration, so learning can simply frustrate you. Seven to eight hours of sleep is the best tactic for increasing your productivity and activity throughout the day. Getting enough sleep promotes a good mood and positive thinking. It’s the easiest way to get motivated!
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Our brain sees more material the more it doesn’t want to learn it. Often, plans are too ambitious to achieve. It is extremely important to divide the material into chunks and then set yourself a deadline for each chunk. The Baby Step Method is widely recommended for anyone struggling with procrastination. It allows you to motivate yourself to learn in a quick and effective way. Also, remember that it is much easier to learn part of the material in one hour than the entire textbook in 8 hours. Usually, after only 90 minutes, the brain starts to feel frustrated and gives up on the plan
Habit is not the way to gain motivation, but it does work for effective learning. Especially if your exams recur periodically or you are learning a foreign language. This is when a study habit is essential. It allows you to establish a routine during which your brain starts to be set up for success. How to achieve it? Set a time every day at which you are going to study, and then do it. There is no easier way to do it. It can take up to 90 days to build a habit, but after that time, your every day will be filled with routine, and our brains love it. After 3 months, days without learning will seem strange to you
Pick a measurable goal and then bet on it. This will motivate you to learn efficiently and quickly. How to do it? To begin with, you need to choose a learning goal. It’s important that it’s achievable but not below your ability, e.g. if you want to pass an exam, bet that you’ll get at least a 4.0. Then set a time frame and choose a person to bet with. It can be a friend or a family member. Above all, it must have one important quality – it should enforce you to complete the task. Next, choose a penalty for not keeping your bet. The punishment could be doing an activity you hate for a month
This method works differently than the previous one. In this case, it is associated with something nice and looked forward to. The reward could be the shoes of your dreams or making time for your friends. The possibilities are many, just remember that you have to follow through. The brain can associate positive experiences with learning, making it more likely to learn later
