Tips to start studying after long time
You have to take a deep breath and just begin.
I understand that this is frustrating. The first step in doing anything is usually the hardest one. But, it’s doable — it’s a matter of figuring out how to approach the problem. In this case, your first step is to change the way you think about this problem. Here’s what I mean by that.
👉🏾 First, adjust your MINDSET.
When we say, “I can’t” or “I don’t want to” or “I don’t feel like it” we are giving priority to our emotions and therefore we have an emotional response to the problem. Where are the emotions coming from? Is it just your current mood or is this a typical reaction to this particular task or others similar to it? Is it a reaction that has become habitual every time you see your textbook? If the answer is yes, maybe it’s your fixed mindset talking.
What’s a fixed mindset? It’s your belief that your skill set, your strengths, and even your affinity to the subject matter are “fixed” i.e. you’ve had them forever (or never had them), and that’s just how it is — you can’t change a thing.
How does this play out in your everyday life? You say, “I don’t want to do this because I know I won’t be good at it!” or “I can’t do this because it will be painful and hard, and it will take a long time to do, so why try?”
What’s better than a fixed mindset? Cultivate a growth mindset: show yourself that you can build your strengths and skills through your efforts over time. The benefit: a growth mindset can be hugely empowering during your years of studying. Read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to better understand how you can make lasting change with continuous effort.
👉🏾 Don’t think of studying as an OBLIGATION.
If you want to get rid of this problem, it’s important to identify where the sense of obligation is comes from. It can be external or internal.
External: Is someone else telling you that you have to study? It could be a parent, a professor, or a manager. Consider what they’re telling you: do they have your best interests in mind, are they considerate of your future, or do they have another agenda? Use your critical thinking to see if this advice is valuable to you, and if it isn’t, consider other options.
Internal: Are you telling yourself that you have to study? If you know there is something that’s important for you to do, it’s easier to come up with a solution. All you need to do is make the task less of a chore, and more of an important piece of work — just one piece, not all of it — that is critical to your personal development. How do you focus on that one piece? Read on.
👉🏾 Promise yourself you’ll reach ONE STUDY GOAL a day.
If you experience resistance towards your studies every single day, the best way to get your mind on board to begin studying is ask yourself this question each morning: “What is the one thing I am committed to completing today?”
There are many benefits to this technique. It will encourage you to think strategically about the day, keep you focused on your top study goal, make you prioritize what you need to accomplish, and limit the time you’ll actually spend at your desk. It won’t feel infinite any more. Keep in mind this — identifying your one thing doesn’t mean you don’t have many study goals, but it does means that you can finish one today (read a certain number of chapters or practice exam questions, for example), so you can concentrate better on other goals in the days that follow.
It’s easy to implement. Write the question in big letters on a sheet of paper and hang it on your bedroom or bathroom wall. Pick a location where you can easily see it as soon as you wake up (next to your bed or the bathroom mirror, for example). Then, read it out loud as you start your day. Take a few moments to think what you want to prioritize, and then come up with an answer and say it out loud too. As you go through the day, make sure you’re working on completing your single study goal before you do anything else.