How to Develop Discipline in Studying
This article is requested by @lightokunello , @dreamiingsoftly, and people who are quite sceptical about the feasibility of discipline-based studying (on contrary to motivation-based studying) as advised in my “Motivation vs. Discipline: Explained” here.
As I said before in the “Motivation vs. Discipline: Explained” post, studying based on discipline is basically studying out of habit because it basically means “studying without thinking of a future reward because your brain and body already think it is the normal thing to do.” Hence, to develop discipline in studying, you should make studying as your new habit. But, how can we make something as tedious as studying as a habit?
You can read many articles on how to develop a new habits and you can judge for yourself which one sounds most practical among the others, but first thing first, let me share my tips.
1. Make a commitment with yourself that you will make studying as your habit.
This is super important. Commit yourself to make this as your new habit. Don’t half-ass any of these suggestions or any other suggestions that other people give. Don’t give yourself silly, illegitimate excuses in the process. For this, you can do it by remind yourself on what your long-term goals in life are. Or if they don’t sound rewarding enough, remind yourself what failure feels like/ could feel like.
2. Keep a daily to-do list; break down the things that you must do into smaller, concrete activities and put those smaller activities in that to-do list; allocate specific time periods to do each smaller activities and put it the to-do list as well; set an alarm reminder for each smaller activities.
Say you have to study for Physics on Tuesday, because for whatever reasons you just decided to dedicate your time this Tuesday to study Physics. Bravo. However, I’d suggest that you break down that specific activity (or “daily goal”) before putting it in your to-do list. So, instead of just putting “study for Physics”, try putting “read and highlight Chapter 9″, “do Exercise I.II in Chapter 9″, “sum up the points in Chapter 9″; because putting very general/broad activity like “study for Physics” can actually make you too confused on where and how to start doing it, and make you very prone to distractions in the process.
Don’t forget to allocate specific time periods to them as well, such as 20.00-21.00 for reading and highlighting chapter 9; 21.15-22.00 for doing Exercise I.II; etc. To ensure that you do it, don’t forget to set an alarm for EACH activity (it can be on your phone, laptop, alarm clock, tablet, watch, whatever).
3. Aside of the daily to-do list, keep a weekly schedule; make your study schedule as consistent as possible every week.
It is easier to keep a habit if they are done consistently the same way and in the same time, just like how it is easier to maintain a skincare routine if you consistently do it everyday in the same time period (”peeling every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon”, “eggwhite mask every Saturday morning”, “cleanse using micellar water everyday at night”). It’s the same for studying; it is easier to make it a habit if it is consistently do it in the same time every week. Which is why I suggest you to dedicate the same day every week to study/do assignment for the same school course/subject. For example: only study for Physics and Math on Tuesdays – Physics at 16.00-18.00 and Math at 19.00-21.00; only study for Biology and Chemistry on Wednesdays – Biology at 16.00-18.00 and Chemistry at 19.00-21.00 — and keep it like that every week, every month.
4. Keep distractions at (very) minimum while doing each activity.
Try to focus on what you do and not think on anything else.
5. Track your progress – don’t forget to put a checklist on your to-do list after accomplishing a task.
It would relieve your stress a bit and motivate you to continue doing the remaining activities on your to-do list. ;D
6. If you can, put as few (smaller, concrete) activities in your daily to-do lists.
When it comes to studying, it’s still better to only study 2 hours every week for every subject consistently– I’d suggest to dedicate more hours though – than study for 8 hours for every subject only when it’s already one week before the mid-term/final exam week.
The reason why I suggest this is that putting too many activities to accomplish on your daily to-do list can discourage you from starting to accomplish them (”the ‘ah f*ck it’ syndrome” is real especially among procrastinators). Putting few, however, can psychologically trick yourself to think ‘yay I only have to do these several activities’ and do it.
7. Do this for at least a semester, and find yourself taking your Physics (or any other subject) coursebook and start highlighting the important points on a Tuesday out of habit, without thinking of any motivation beforehand ;D
If you need more than semester, that’s alright, everybody adapts to new changes and adopt new habits in different pace; as long as you keep true to your commitment and still accomplish the activities that you need to do, you’re doing it right! Believe me that one day it’ll be your habit. :)
