Finding the Beauty in Education
Coming from someone who failed two years of junior high school (8th and 9th grade), I realized the problem is not the number of hours I spend cramming the work down my brain, but the beauty I find in it.
Shift the 'boredom' mindset.
I know this sounds like the cliche, "with effort, you'll find beauty in your subjects and pass every subject" but it's not. Finding the true beauty in education is not what you're learning, but your willingness to learn from it. If your mindset is in the wrong place, the work will naturally be a bore and difficult to get through. This doesn't mean that you have to love every subject and learn the history behind every letter it teaches, it just means looking for the beneficial aspects of it.
PROTIP: Make a list of all your subjects and something that it could actually benefit you with, not your career, but you as a person. For example, Mathematics benefits critical thinking which can influence the way you think as an individual or your knowledge on finance which can limit chances of getting scammed out of your money in the future.
Hours spent doesn't equal knowledge learned
A lot of people typically think that if they spend 8 hours of work in a day and burn themselves out, they can get good grades, when in reality that's not as beneficial as it's made out to be. When I failed junior high school, I was doing the work, studying for hours, using timers, practicing from dawn until dusk, watching every video I could find and trying to ignore the burnout that was approaching me. That proved to be less beneficial given that I failed the same subject 2 years in a row, which made me readjust my approach to studying.
PROTIP: Instead of studying for hours, set one hour of focused study time with 25-minute interval for each subject. If you're focusing on one subject, do the full hour, but don't force yourself if you keep getting distracted. After that, give yourself a 45-minute to an hour long break. Scroll, watch a show, eat a snack, do whatever, just make sure you do whatever you want during that period so that you feel fully energized before the 1 hour round. Do this at least twice, splitting your subjects or focus points equally.
PROTIP22: If studying for an hour doesn't work, do as much as you need to do for that subject during that period. Typically, this means that if there's any work you're behind on or avoiding, tackle it just until the end of what's necessary. Don't rush anything, if the chapter you need to study is like 100 pages long, split it up throughout the week. If there's a new chapter that needs to be studied do 15 minutes for each part of the chapters.
I literally cannot stress the point enough!! Every life has its highs and lows, but when it comes to a study burnout, you can actually prevent it. Only doing what you can hinders a burnout. Don't try and do everything all at once, if pushing for 15 minutes is too tough, pause and let yourself recuperate. Do what you want to for an hour and then come back and tackle your work.
As one of the guilty overworkers myself, this point is important. The key to successful studying is understanding yourself. Know when to stop. The guilt that you feel for hindering the work will only lead to a crash since you never took a moment to lift your foot off the acceleration pedal.
PROTIP: If you start feeling guilty, it helps to have a mantra to remind yourself of why you need the break. You should know when you can't take it anymore, so don't overstimulate your brain for little gain.
This leaves the question: What exactly is the beauty in education?
The beauty in education is what you make it to be. Not just the beauty in your subject choices, but how you tackle them is the beauty in education. Work feels much easier once you're in control and can look at the pros of the subject rather than just the cons. As someone who hated poetry, I stopped looking at it through the eyes of disdain and actually gave it a chance. Once I did, I found the beauty of poetry and began to enjoy it more. Now that I found this beauty, I no longer struggle answering poetry questions but am able to relate to the emotions behind it.
The burnout I just came out of was pretty tough and it gets harder every day, but with the steps I started implementing, I've been able to avoid a burnout and period of laziness! This lack of burnout has influenced me to come back and start blogging again, so I'm so glad to be back with you guys again!
There will be more activity on this blog as well as a free digital copy of my magazine, so stay tuned for the updates! My monthly newsletter on Pinterest, will be about study tips so follow me there for more newsletter content.
if you have any more questions, feel free to reach out!
xoxo, ggg.
