3 Ways to Get Focused When Studying

Often when we sit down to tackle a study period we struggle to know what to do next. This lack of focus means we move around in circles not achieving anything and not getting a feeling of accomplishment with the time we do invest. Here are three ways to help you stay focused during your study session.

1. Know what you need to get done:
Before you start any study session, you should know what you want achieve during that time. This applies whether you are undertaking a formal course of study or have your own self directed learning program to learn a new skill. Ideally each week you will know what you need to do towards completing your overall plan then before you start a study session you will be clear on what you want to get out of the time you put in. At the end of each study session it can help to note down where you are in your study plan so you know exactly where to start at the next session – note down what page you were reading, any ideas for further information you need find or actions to take, or the next idea you need to write about.

2. Set time limits for your tasks:
Setting a time limit for your study tasks helps in two ways: 1. it breaks down a long session into smaller achievable tasks and 2. it helps you focus on what needs to be done and not waste time. In the beginning it may be difficult to work out how much time a task will take but if you set yourself time limits regularly you’ll soon figure out what is realistic for you to achieve in a given period.

3. Get Started:
This is always the hardest part of any task. Often before you start a task you’ll tell yourself how hard it is going to be and how much you don’t want to do it. However if you can overcome this self talk and get started, you will be able to build on the momentum that comes just from the act of starting. One of the easiest ways to trick yourself to get started is to tell yourself that you will just do the task for 5 minutes. It is usually easier to convince yourself to get started for a shorter period of time but once you do start you are likely to keep with the task.

These three simple things will help a lot in helping you maintain focus while you’re studying. If you want to find out how much timing your study activities can improve your productivity try the action machine, great software that keeps track of your tasks, the time you have allocated to them and how long the task took.

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Finding Your Study Area

If you are serious about learning a new skill or achieving a qualification, you need to have a place where you can study effectively. There are as many different living arrangements as there are topics to study. A lot of people share accommodation such as living in a hall of residence or having flatmates while others have to share their living space with families including pets and small children. Very few people have the luxury of having a space entirely to themselves. While it may be difficult to find a great study space, the effort is worth it as you can train your mind that it is time to learn when you are in that place. Here are three tips to choosing the best study space for you.

1. Decide how much space you need: There are many topics that do not require anything more than a computer, textbook, pad and pen but other skills such as learning an instrument or how to sew require space to put equipment. Have a think about how much space your learning materials require and whether these can be packed away easily.

2. Consider location: If there is no area in your house where you can create a permanent study area, try thinking outside the box. Are there times when the house is empty when you can set up a folding table and not be disturbed? Or can you get the agreement of your family to take over the dining table at set times each week? If there is absolutely nowhere in your home where you can study, think about your local area. If you are studying a formal qualification, your institution may have a study area you can use. If you are undertaking self study consider the local library or coffee shops. Some people have been known to go into work early or finish later so they can use the office to study (with agreement from the boss of course). If you require space for your learning, you may be able to share the rental of a workshop or studio with others.

3. Influence your environment: Ideally you will have a permanent study area with all your study materials to hand but even if you have to make use of the local coffee shop think about how you can make it better for studying. Do you need to take your iPod along filled with nature sounds or classical music to drown out the background noise? What about a cushion if you are sitting for long periods of time? Having your study materials together and easily accessible is important to avoid procrastination. This may be as simple as keeping everything together in a plastic storage container that you can easily take with you.

While very few people have their absolute ideal study space, it is possible to make studying easier by either establishing a permanent study area at home or knowing two or three other places where you can study. Make sure you engage your family and friends in the hunt for good study locations. They can be your greatest ally in helping you find the study time and space that you need.

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How Brain Waves Affect Your Study Skills

You may have heard of brain waves but have you thought about how different brain waves can improve your study skills? It is obvious that your brain is in a different state from when you are sound asleep to when you are reading a book so it is logical that your brain waves affect how you absorb information. Here is a brief introduction to the different brain waves and how they can affect your concentration and study skills.

The Different Brain Waves

Brain waves are measured by electrical activity in the brain. The brain produces the most electrical activity when you are fully alert and this normal state in which you do most of your daily activities involves beta brain waves. When you are in a more relaxed state your brain creates alpha brain waves which are important for creativity and stress relief. You are even more relaxed when you experience theta brain waves. Theta brain waves create a dreamlike state that most people only experience when they are falling asleep or when they first wake up. When you are fully asleep your brain produces delta brain waves. Recent research also indicates the presence of gamma brain waves which is the fastest of the brain wave frequencies and associated with peak concentration.

How to Change Your Brain Waves

It used to be that only people who regularly meditated or practiced something like yoga were able to enter different states at will but now modern research and technology has made it easier for anyone wanting to change their brain waves. Today there are a number of audio tracks which play sounds at different frequencies to promote different brain waves. Some brain waves help you study more productively. Studies have shown that alpha brain waves help with learning by promoting relaxation and concentration. Theta brain waves also help study as they improve memory and help a person absorb information.

There are a number of audio programs which focus on delivering particular sound frequencies to the listener through stereo headphones. There are a range of different programs – some are designed to be listened to while you undertake study and others are designed to create a relaxed state before or after your study session. Also different programs are designed to tap into different brain waves and some programs include subliminal messages. Listening to one of these audio programs for four to six weeks can have a dramatic impact on your ability to study.

Being able to concentrate better and enhance your learning is a vital asset when learning new information. Finding it easy to concentrate and focus not only helps you absorb information easily, you’ll also find studying easier and are more likely to be motivated to study.

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How to Focus – part 2

10 WAYS YOU CAN INCREASE MENTAL FOCUS Continued

Previously I listed five ways you can learn how to focus. Here is part two with a further five methods you can use to increase your mental focus.
6. Set a goal for each study session: Each time you sit down to study you should have a goal of what you want to achieve. This might be to review a chapter or identify five key points of the material. If you are learning a new language you might have a goal to review a certain number of words during your study session. It is important to set goals that are achievable. There is no point deciding you are going to read 100 pages in the next half hour (unless you have some amazing speed reading skills). By setting a small goal and achieving it every time you will get in the mindset of achieving goals when you study.
7. Set yourself a time limit: If you are a person who has trouble starting a task, setting yourself a time limit can help you focus and overcome your initial dislike of the task at hand. Knowing you only have to focus for the next 30 minutes makes it seem much more manageable. Also you will find that once you get started, you will often want to keep going after the timer is complete. You can time yourself with any stopwatch but there are also some cool tools that can time you and help you focus such as the Action Machine.

8. Take breaks: A lot of places plan their classes for 50 minutes. This means for each 50 minutes of study, you get to take a 10 minute break. One reason for this is that you are more likely to remember what you cover first and last in a study session. A lot of people won’t be able to start with 50 minutes so you may need to build up to that. Perhaps study for 25 minutes and take a 5 minute break.

9. Stay physically fit: Believe it or not being physically fit can help you focus and study. Aside from exercise being a great stress reliever, being aerobically fit supports optimal brain function. Being physically active also helps you sleep better at night so you will be less tired and find it easier to focus. The chemicals released when you exercise will also put you in a better mood.

10. Establish a habit of starting: As mentioned many people find getting started the hardest part of studying or learning a new skill. The most important thing is just to do it – don’t wait untill tomorrow, or for conditions to be perfect or worst of all, for inspiration to strike. Getting started straight away can become a habit if practiced long enough. Getting started can be made easier by breaking your goal down into smaller parts, setting yourself a time limit for the task and setting a routine that you complete before you start studying.

Everything takes practice but if you implement these tips on how to focus regularly you will find they become easier to implement. Sitting around thinking about how much you need to do will drain your energy so now is the time to get on with it.

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How to Focus – part 1

10 WAYS YOU CAN INCREASE MENTAL FOCUS

Being able to focus on what you are studying is one of the most important study skills. However a lot of us don’t know how to focus and get distracted when we sit down to study whether we are reviewing notes for a test or reading a manual for new software at work. How well you focus also influences how much you remember so increasing your mental focus will also help you remember the information.

Here are 10 tips on how to focus:

1. Take up meditation: People who meditate regularly find it easier to focus. This is not surprising as meditation is a good way to train the mind. Even meditating for 20 minutes each day can help you be more peaceful and focused. If clearing your mind is too difficult, there are guided meditations  that you can listen to.

2. Eliminate (or ignore) distractions: The ideal is to eliminate distractions through having a quiet place to study and shutting down distracting websites such as facebook. However if you can’t eliminate distractions, your best course of action is to ignore them. Recent research has shown our brains consider things we regularly ignore as being less important so diligently ignoring your distractions should reduce them.

3. Figure out your best time of day: Some people work best first thing in the morning while others are night owls happy to be awake in the early hours of the morning. As much as possible you should schedule study for your best time of day. Trying to study at low energy times will make it harder for you to grasp the information and make you more frustrated.

4. Know your why: Knowing why you are studying can help increase your mental focus. If you are clear on your long term goal for studying (whether it is to learn a new skill or get a good job), you will make more of an effort to get through short term pain. Make sure the end result of studying is something you really want to achieve.

5. Think negative: No that is not a typo! Heidi Grant Halvorson in her book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals outlines that people who think of their goals in terms of prevention are less likely to procrastinate. Rather than focusing on the good things studying will bring you, think about the pain you will prevent by studying. Thinking about the embarrassment of failure, the financial cost of having to repeat a course or missing out on your dream job as you don’t have the right skills might be enough to spur you into action.

You can use these five tips on how to focus immediately and with regular practice you will find that you increase your mental focus and make it much easier to study.

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How to Focus While Reading

Learning new skills involves absorbing a lot of information. Quite often this is in the form of text that needs to be read and sometimes depending on what you are studying; there can be a lot of reading to do. This makes reading effectively an important study skill.

Knowing how to focus while reading can improve your reading and the amount of information you absorb. This can save you time by increasing your understanding the first time you read something and reducing whether you have to go back and reread material.

Here are 9 tips on how to focus and improve your reading:

1. Decide what you want from reading the material: It is always a good idea to skim the headings of the material you are about to read so you have a general idea of what you will cover. Think about why you are reading the material – is it to learn a specific piece of information or memorise key points for an exam. Understanding what you want to achieve can help you stay focused and improve your reading.

2. Remember you don’t have to read everything: There is always a desire to read everything from start to finish however this is often not the best use of your study time. Particularly when writing reports or research papers, it is easy to get sidetracked by reading material not related to your topic. Once you know what you know your goals for reading the material, stick to reading material related to those goals.

3. Jot down the key ideas: Through noting down the key ideas of what you are reading not only will you have a handy reference for later but you will also be more involved in your reading and more likely to remember what you read. Mind maps are a good way to jot down key ideas without getting sidetracked from the material.

4. Read out loud: Reading material out loud also makes the reading process more active. While reading out loud will slow your reading speed it can be useful when trying to understand a particularly complex section or when you are having trouble focusing at all.

5. Ask yourself questions: By asking yourself questions about what you are reading you can improve your understanding of the material and link the new knowledge to what you already know. Asking yourself ‘what are the unique points of this material?’ and ‘how does this link to what I already know?’ will help you remember the information.

6. Review what you have read: Reviewing the information at the end of each section or chapter will help you make sure you understand your reading and whether you can remember the key points. Taking the time to mentally review your reading can make huge difference in understanding.

7. Choose your reading environment: Having the right study environment can greatly improve your reading. Try to pick somewhere quiet and comfortable so you are less likely to have distractions created by noise and discomfort. You can learn more about creating an effective study space.

8. Get into the right headspace: Clearing your mind before you start reading can help you focus and improve your reading. You are less likely to concentrate if you are worried about other issues. Meditation can help you clear your mind before you start. If you’re not sure how to meditate,brainwave entrainment can help.

9. If reading makes you physically tired: If reading gives you headaches or makes you fatigued, you might have more than just a focus problem and should check with a professional. Eyesight problems can make reading a real struggle and are often easy to fix.

Reading is an important study skill and a vital part of learning new information so it is important to improve your reading skills. Learning how to focus and absorb information through reading will make it much easier for you to learn new skills.

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