Please tell me how to motivate myself to study harder

[Kain]

I really don't know why, but I hardly can be bothered to sit down and study. I am always on the Internet roaming around, reading posts and such, but I never spend real time studying enough. I also tend to leave things off till the last minute. I mean, lets say I have to write a paper than is due in a week or twos time. If I sit down and start the paper a week before, I keep saying to myself "Why bother doing it now when I have a whole week left?" This way I keep putting it off until I basically have to time left.

Can you guys who have gone through school and are now working please give me some tips on how to improve my study habits?

[rjb294]

Kain,

I had this same problem when I was in school. you are in college right? Well...I guess that really doesn't matter, but the thing that helped me was the library. I had a certain place that I always went to and studied there. I made myself go no matter how bad I wanted to play on the net or watch a movie or do anything besides study. Plus you have to keep your goal in mind. Whether it is graduating from HS, or College you have to stive for that goal. It means making some sacrafices sometimes, but that is what life is all about. The best way to study (for me anyway) is to go to a quite place where it is just me and the books. Focus all your attention on the books and nothing else.

Also on the paper thing, the best thing to do is to work on it a little each night. I used to procrastinate so bad that I had to pull and all nighter just to finish a paper. I learned to work on them little by little and then you might still have an hour or so left, but that is better than 20 or more. Know what I mean?

So stay away from the net and the movies and all the distractions. Find a well lit area and go there no matter how bad you don't want to. You will see the changes come test time. Good luck!

RJB

[Kain]

Thanks for the advice.

I agree, I need to focus just on the books when I am studying. Sometimes when I study, I dream off to "Klipsch Land."

[rjb294]

LOL...don't we all. No prob on the advice

[JasN00b]

i have this same problem, i'm only in 9th grade but MAN is it frustrating.

because the thing is... i intend to be a musician.

thus listening to music, playing my guitar have WAY more importance to my brain.

i know its important for me to do well in school...

and then the issue of the fact that i am way ahead of the grade level i'm in.

its all so elementary to me what we're doing, i just cant bring myself to waste the time doing the senseless work!

in 9th grade adv. english we are analyzing "the bean trees"

HOW AMAZINGLY LAME!!!!

first off i read the book in one sitting.

terrible book.

then we come to school where our excessivly feminine english teacher forces analyitcal stuff down our throats.

bio... dear lord bio.

our bio teacher, tells us to take notes, then quizes us on the topic without teacher us at all!

eventually me and my drummer friend talked to the guidance counselor and she reversed it... and whadda ya know, i get like... 98 on the thing as opsosed to the 30s i had been getting because if i hear smeone say something i wont forget it!

geo is good, we have a very good geometry teacher.

history... we get this dialectal note thins, which are just dumb i never use them and refuse to do them. i still have a B dispite have like... 30% homework average

spanish is good. we have a very cool teacher. she gave me a stress ball

if you knew me in real life you'd know why

right my rant is done but i HATE school SO much

oh and our study hall is ran by a friggin' nazi!

plus theres a loud kid who sounds like me... so i get moved due to him a lot.

ok NOW my rant is over

i lied its not

i think at 9th grade a sort of college like approach sould be taken, beacuse in order for me to recieve musical education i'm going to have to be bussed over to a school in a nearby city...

[lancestorm]

----------------

bio... dear lord bio.

our bio teacher, tells us to take notes, then quizes us on the topic without teacher us at all!

----------------

And that, kids, is what I like to call "college" !

[jt1stcav]

rjb294 said it best. Unfortunantly, it doesn't end after graduation.

Distractions continue to keep you from doing what has to be done in life as well. I'd rather be on this forum, on eBay, playing music, having sex...then to be at work, or paying your bills, or going grocery shopping or to the dentist's office!

Anytime I get a bonus or a raise, I'd rather spend the money on a great tube preamp or new turntable, or replace all my interconnects, then to put the money away and save it for fixing up the house or paying the property taxes.

I learned the hard way; to make a long story short, I filed for bankruptcy because of my champagne taste and beer budget!

I learned my lesson! I have to save for a rainy day (or an emergency). I force myself to do what has to be done, and I shut down the stereo system or stay off the internet until the task at hand is done. I think, the sooner I get the job done, the sooner I can relax and enjoy the things I like to do!

It can be done if we're determined to get it done.

Hope this makes sense.

[Colin]

I had this same problem in college too. Though it wasnt the Internet back then, there was always parties to go to, girls to visit, stereos to see, jobs to work. The real problem was that I could pull an all-nighter and write the damn paper and get a B (good enough for me, as long as I got As in Economics). Worse, this bad habit continued to work quite well for me. Even now, I will rough up an article, put it aside and then polish it off at the last minute.

As I got older (**** happens) however, I found that more and more of the projects in my life involved other people. I needed this information, or that material. More and more often, as projects or activities grew in complexity, and more of the wretchedly unreliable carbon units called humans became involved, I found that I could not leave things until the last minute and score an A.

Instead, I learned to take care of most of the project when it first appears. The garbage goes out when I get home from work, even if it is too early according to town rules. Article assignments are roughed up and researched when I first conceive of them. Material for contracts is demanded first thing; I must have the information right away. I find that now, many things are just too important to leave to the last minute.

Procrastinators leave things to the last minute because they can get away with it. I suspect that you do too. You dont start now and do three to five times the work for a solid A, not when you can surf around, pitch in a few hours at the last minute and still get a B. Considering your last ditch attempt, a B is pretty good. Working full time through college, dating as many girls as I could afford; it was for me.

Procrastinators, such as the one writing to you now instead of working, also need to let themselves off the hook. Dont try to do everything ever. Instead, only do the two or three things most important to you. Need to talk up the girl with the most potential for giving it up? Then go do it. Now. Chat her up and go on to the next thing. Get those most important things out of the way. Pretty soon, the less important things (like the stuff that you really hafta, but dont wanna) do, will raise to the surface. (Okay, you chatted up Kathy, got a beer, checked out the For Rum at Klipsch, now lets take a whack at that paper.)

I didnt learn these lessons until I was working for myself and nobody wanted papers from me, gave me any grades or even cared if I spent my whole life surfing the Net. I started reading several books on motivation and procrastination, but never finished them. Truth. But one said something profound. It said to let myself off the hook. Instead of trying to do the six most important things that I had to do each day and trying to get as much done as possible, it said only do the two or three most important things. Get those done. Make sure they get done. Do them. Now. Dont worry about the other things. They will always be there. There will always be things that you have to do, so dont sweat them. Just take care of the really important stuff.

Next, make sure that you are constantly dividing all of your projects into small tasks. Break that paper down into sections. Any section, doesnt matter as long as you divide the paper. Cut those sections down into chapters. Any chapters. Slice those chapters down into paragraphs. Make each paragraph about one point. Now look back at the list. Hey! Isnt that an outline? Wow, you have flushed out the framework for your paper. Now all you have to do is find the supporting research, document it, discard the crap that you cant support and write some language to connect the dots. Simple, almost easy.

Lets go back to girls, since that is a subject near and dear to my heart and four brains. Constantly break this project down into small parts too. First, you have to be meeting a lot of them. Second, you have be talking to a lot of them. Third, you have to be asking a lot of them out, etc.

Make the plan, work the plan. If it is important, really important to you, you will do it. Start on the things that are really important to you. The other stuff will follow. Besides, we all know that while the paper is 80% of what you need to work on, the other stuff, (girls, beer and stereo For Rums) are what life is really all about. Do them first. Now. Get them out of the way. You wont procrastinate and you will score As.

[duckloads]

I worked a 40 hr per week job and put myself through Mechanical Engineering school with a home mortgage, wife, and 2 very small childeren. After 6 years of nights and weekends, I earned my BSME degree. I didn't have the best grades in the world, but I finished. My future and my family's future was at stake. So, How bad do YOU want it? Work stuff was work stuff. School stuff was school stuff. And, home stuff was home stuff. NEVER try and mix things up. Leave your cushy little home, get to the library or some other scholastic environment and do your school work. When that's done, then you can enjoy the rest of your like by working for a @#$% head employer .

Good day,

Chris Hollis

[fini]

Do like I do: Put candy bars in the book every 5-10 pages. YUM!

fini

[cluless]

fini -

I'd like to borrow one of your books that you haven't read yet.

[Q-Man]

Get real, and get an education. Do you want to work at the local 7/11 the rest of your life? If your on this Forum, I would think that you have dreams of owning a high end audio system someday.

Or will you be content with a Boom Box?

Your a big boy now, you make the call.

[Audio Flynn]

I used to never leave campus until late at night.

Small salad and coffee were about $ 1.75 20 years ago at the MichSU cafeteria.

Then I would take a break and go to the student union to play pool and think about the academic subjects of the day while I practiced 8 ball.

8-14 hours a day on campus.

AND...

Develop a healthy fear of being hungry and destitute.

I still have dreams of missing my last final and not graduating; 20 years after the fact.

BUT as always...

I got issues.

Good Luck!

[prodj101]

whenever I feel like skipping the homework for the night or not studying (every night almost) I just think of the audio products studying will bring down the road . thats what motivates me.

[kev313]

"Develop a healthy fear of being hungry and destitute."

Amen to that. You must realize that there are people YOUR AGE/GRADE out there who DO study hard, who DO strive to get only the best grades, and who DO work their @sses off constantly.

They are your competition now to get into the best colleges, law, business, and medical schools. They are your competition for jobs. What you do or do not do now will have an impact.

The above statement, however, misses the really important point. Study because its good for you. Read books. Develop INFORMED opinions on all different aspects of life rather then just speakers. Become an interesting person. Enjoy learning and success will follow.

[Dave in Nashville]

Having trouble studying you poor little thing? You'll get no sympathy from me.

Unless you have a valid reason such as a death or terrible illness in your family, you have no excuse.

You have a choice to study or not to study. The decision is entirely in your hands.

If you're still in school, call some of your friends who didn't come back this semester because of poor grades. Ask them to tell you how much fun they're having as the reality sinks in that they're now on the sidelines watching the world pass them by.

Still undecided? Go down to the unemployment office in your city and spend a couple of hours getting to know your new peer group.

Better yet, go to a trailer park or a subsidized apartment house and see what your new neighborhood might look like.

Are your parents paying for your "education?" Just think how proud they'll be when you flunk out. Just think how much pleasure your mother will get telling her friends about you. Better yet, just think how proud she'll be when her friends tell her about their children.

As I see it, you actually have three choices regarding your future. You can quit feeling sorry for yourself and just get your studying done. You can get a job at McDonalds. Or, you can join the military. There, they'll make all your decisions for you....when to get up, when to eat, when to sleep.

Do what you've got to do.

[bkrop]

Work hard,play hard!

[cluless]

Dave was 100% right on that one. I have zero sympathy with you because you cannot control your impulses. I taught college math for 3 years..and beleive me your sob story ranks zero!

[WMcD]

Wow, it seems there are people on line here with no sympathy for people who problems sitting down and studying. I do have sympathy.

I am a dummy. Maybe someone else will step up and say, I am a dummy, too.

Let me give you some tips, if you don't mind; things that I think work. Not theory, but items which actually take into account the real world. They don't solve everything. But they are a start.

- - - -

Much, if not all, of studying, is lonely work. It is little wonder that other pursuits which involve human contact have more appeal. And all young people are lonely.

- - -

The tip to use the library is a good one. Everyone else there is studying. So that's a help. You might run into a club of scholars. This could be so even if you're not engaged in the same subject. A lot of people in scholasticim have the same problem.

Cranking the work. Work for no reason exept to pass. Someplace in here, you make it a personal project. To get beyond the blocking point.

- - - -

Someplace along the line, people run into a point where the level of subject matter is beyond what they can pick up on native resources. There is the temptation to just say, "I'm stupid." Don't do that though. You just need some tools.

- - - -

Studying "harder" is something which parents and teachers say. The term is devoid of meaning. It doesn't tell us what to study, how to study, or tell us what we're doing wrong.

One thing I learned in law school is that I am not good at studying anything. Or, at least not what people think of as studying -- which seems to be reading a book and somehow hoping you'll remember something which will be on the test.

On the other hand, in law school, students are encouraged to make an "outline" of what they are studying. A subset of this is "briefing cases." What are the facts, what is the law, applying them to reach a logical conclusion.

This sort of tool (outlining) is very helpful works in all studies. To a large extent it works because it is taking on a creative project. It is a shame that few school teachers actually teach people how to study. And equally shameful that they have not been taught how to teach. They are the ones who passed tests with ease.

Perhaps it is because they are "natural students." They have good memory and concentration. However, the rest of us need a methology which works. Outlining helps.

An example of outlining is when you have a text of information to study. Look at the table of contents of the book, in the opening pages. Type that into your wordprocessor, even if crudely, don't worry about formating functions. Just make the skeleton of the immediate chapters of interest that week or month.

Then, as you read through the text of the book, look for one major idea in that paragraph. Insert that into the outline in the proper place. You have a lot of freedom here. One dense paragraph may need more than one sentence. Some paragraphs may be pure fluff. Those might get no entry.

In the end, you should find that you can look back at what you've created, and gained insight into what the author was trying to say.

Please note that what I'm proposing, in reading, is "reverse engineering" , from what teachers say you have to do in writing a paper. They say, make an outline of your thoughts, and put one major thought in each paragraph.

Therefore, if you start with an outline of the text to be read, from the table of contents, you will have the same structure which the writer started with.

I think Morter Adler wrote a book about "How to Read a Book" folllowing the same technique.

- - - -

In essay questions like social studies, history, etc.:

In taking tests, it is fairly typical that there will be three essay questions. Look at your outline. It probably has three major subject areas. To do your final test preparation you must distill down your outline to the size of one hand written page, which you write out. No, not a cheat sheet you smuggle into the exam.

You just do this because it is a good way of loading information into your brain. You do it by writing it down longhand (typing seems to me to lead to "copy typing" and it doesn't stick). The wordprocessor outline is too much to memorize. But do take a good look at the one page distillation before the exam. Look at major headings you've created. You may make up a crazy mnemonic to memorize the first letter of each heading.

When you get into the exam, look at the questions. You may think you're supposed to answer those questions in some magic way which will get you an "A" -- which could lead to panic. Do not panic looking for "magic". You are only going to use those questions as an excuse to write down your one page outline, trying to make it fit the questions.

My technique was a little more refined. When given the exam "blue book", I'd immediately try to recreate the one page outline in the book or on scrap paper, whatever is allowed.

When the teacher grades the paper . . . they will see that you've learned something. It may be, to you, you're like an ape or parrot throwing it back. And what is the sense of this? But I think you'll see that you've learned something the teacher thinks is important.

- - -

Languages are more difficult. Flash cards, manufactured by others help. But as above, doing something creative can get you into insights. So make your own flashcards. Maybe this is only copying the commercial ones.

It is not a matter of having them, it is a matter of making them. Once you make them, you could burn them and still have the important stuff in your head; at least for a while. So do save them.

- - - -

Math is more difficult. Good books have "example problems". I find I think I understand them when reading. Not quite so.

Write them out for yourself, copying them. One on each page. Paper is cheap.

Your teacher will assign homework problems. Take a stab. You may find that you don't understand the problem. That is okay.

Take a clean sheet of paper and write down the problem. Maybe it will look like some example. It will probably look like an example if you've written them both down.

Again, paper is cheap. Put one problem on each sheet.

If you get to calculus, please find "Quick Calculus II". It is a programmed text, by two profs from Harvard and MIT. Much of it is a very gentle demonstration of pre-calculus math. "Oh, that is what the teachers were trying to teach."

- - - -

I was reading a biography of Issac Newton. According to the book, when he wanted to study something, he took out a piece of paper and make a list of what he found in books he'd read, and looked at the list. Then said to himself, do these things make sense (true, in between, and false?), and where am I going from here.

I.N. is generally considered the best scientist and genius that ever lived. Maybe he was on to something in making such lists. I'm working on it myself.

- - - -

Winston Churchill disliked the study of English grammar as a child. However, he was put in a class taught by a teacher who had the kids diagram sentences in colored ink. That turned the project into fun creativity. Winston liked it very much. Much later he won the Nobel Prize for literature.

- - - - -

Talk to your teachers. Clewless blundered into the fear of all students in her comment. We know the teachers will grade our papers, and if we come to them with questions, we are prejudged as morons. They only like the A students.

Sometimes that is true. However, if you have written out a question, and maybe an example problem, then they'll know you're trying, or looking.

There are teachers out there who are not the mentors they should be. Others really want to share the wisdom. Others are in teaching positions because it is a way of making a living. Some are in between. Whatever their personal situation, they will be receptive that you meet them half way.

You may find, as I have, that they will be a big help out of the class room. They like a student who comes to the office with questions. Some are really nice, normal people. There are exceptions in the teaching profession.

- - - -

When writing, put three sentences in each paragraph. This was pretty much drilled into me by a pedant ex boss. You might have two or four as necessary. Please use the return key on the computer.

There is the tempation to run on with one's thoughts in the first draft. Please do. Then edit. Put progessions of thoughts into the packets of three sentences.

Great works of literature violate this rule. They are darn difficult to read. For example, "Moby Dick" is a gross failure in readability. Herman Mellville should have gotten an F on that basis.

Also, look at how many long posts on this very good bbs are unreadable. One solid block of text, line after line after line, page after page. Mine look ragged. However, I think you'll have appeciated they do march though with some progression of thought.

- - -

If you are forced by teachers to write about some odd time or subject, please find a personal interest. You'd be surprised that even minor issue of technology, well explained, hold sway. E.g.: You could even write about why you've found horn loaded speakers to work better and whether the internet and bbs have been a constructive exchange of ideas.

Regards,

Gil (Edited 1/20/03)

[JasN00b]

wow... i think i'll print that out.

hehe thats a great idea.

see the thing is... i'll study my music theroy and practice my guitar with such enthusiasm it'd make you wanna vomit. because thats what runs through me and its what i want to do, i want to be a musician.

its SO hard to study when i just drift off and listen to some music in my head or something, and my guitar is 2 rooms away from me and i cant touch it!

and its different then a want to play a computer game or talk on the phone... its just something you know you were meant to do.

but i was gifted with the ability to remember words and thier definitions so fast most people think i'm insane... usually one read down an english list and i have them memorized, and 3 reads down a spanish list (about 50-60 words a list)

problem i have is with math.

too many little erros that can be made... not like in english where the words i put on the paper have a meaning and i put them there for a reason, and to invoke certain emotions in the reader, or to paint a strong visual.

in math... everything must be precise, and precision is my weakest point. i dont know how to practice precision... and i have a hell of a time studying math.

sure i can memorize the theroms and postulates in 2 minutes, but then applying them drives me nuts.

i know HOW to solve a problem, or prove something.. but i cant go about doing it.

argh enough i gotta go study for social studies