One thing that many students struggle with during the course of their academic years is staying focused when studying. Distractions are everywhere – iPhones, video games, friends, parties - you name it. To improve your concentration and motivation to study, follow these 11 strategies for how to focus on studying, all backed by research.
1. Study in a Group
If you’re looking for ways on how to motivate yourself to study, forming a study group is a very effective strategy that enhances learning. In fact, more than 20 years of academic research has consistently demonstrated that fact. Groups share unique insights and learn from each other.
The benefits of group study include:
- Externalizes thoughts better
- Keeps study sessions stimulating and fun
- Maintains accountability
- Provides support and motivation to study
- Helps clarify any questions
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Tests comprehension
2. Create the Right Setting
Where you study is almost as important as what you study. Studies have found that the place in which you study affects how you’ll remember that information.
- Pick one place and stick with it – over time, your brain will catch on and you’ll enter “study mode” much sooner.
- Get comfortable, but not too comfortable. Change out of your pajamas before you open your books to give your mind a signal that it’s time to get down to business and study, not lounge.
- You’ll remember something more in the place where you first learned it, so you may want to consider re-creating the environment in which you will be tested in.
- Look for natural light to bring real warmth and vitality to the space.
- Keep your space sacred. If you’ve created a space you truly love, you may be tempted to do everything there – watch Netflix, chat with friends, eat dinner – but whenever possible, keep your study space reserved only for studying.
When you finally sit down in your designated study spot, the last thing you want to be doing is getting up multiple times to go grab an item. When you get up too much, you often lose the momentum or the “study bubble” that was so hard to reach. Making the right efforts to make sure you have everything around you will minimize the need to get up.
Consider setting up your space with the following items:
- Water bottle
- Post-it notes
- Tissues
- Pens, pencils and erasers
- Non-messy snacks
- Chapstick
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Essential oils
3. Listen to Calming Music
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Music produces several positive effects on a human’s body and brain. Enhancing your studying with music activates both the left and right brain simultaneously. The activation of both hemispheres can maximize learning and improve memory.
- Music is effective at reducing stress, decreasing blood pressure and anxiety and lowering heart rate. It’s a great way to strengthen your resolve with being overwhelmed. So, when you’re looking for ways on how to get motivated to study, turn on relaxing music to get your mindset in the right place and keep stress at bay.
4. Limit Distracting Apps and Websites
The goal of a study space is to maximize the attention you can devote to studying while minimizing the amount of effort necessary to do so. It can be extremely difficult to achieve this if your space is full of distractions.
It’s useful to start with what to leave out and then add things from there. Getting in the mood to study will differ from person to person. However, here are some things you should probably avoid in your space if you want to remain productive:
- Cell Phone
- Video Games
- Lots of Open Tabs
- Messy Food
Distractions threaten your study output. In fact, research shows that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after being distracted. Considering this research, those seemingly small interruptions can really add up throughout the day, making it much harder to get back into your groove.
5. Exercise
One of the top tips we can recommend how to motivate yourself to study is through regular exercise. A recent study suggests that what we do physically plays an important role in long-term memory. In the study, it is mentioned:
“The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.”
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