Tips to motivate yourself to study

The importance of motivation when it comes to studying

Studying requires effort, perseverance and motivation, a lot of motivation because, at times, it becomes a challenging task. For this reason, motivation is key to be able to advance and reach a fixed goal.

At various times studying won’t be easy and, at times of greatest stress, you’ll say “I have no motivation to study”. This is why it’s essential for students to be able to motivate themselves and channel their energy, effort and behaviour towards meeting their learning goals.

In this post we will give you tips and ideas on where to find the motivation to study so you can reach the goals you’ve set for yourself and those you must meet at each stage of your university journey.

Ideas to motivate yourself to study

Set yourself small goals

Goals shouldn’t overwhelm you, which is why they have to be realistic and achievable. It’s important that these goals can coexist at times when you have high volumes of work and you’re under high levels of pressure.

This is why we’d like to remind you that goals must be achievable. In this way you’ll get a continual sense of achievement which will motivate you to continue, even in difficult moments and when you have a high workload.

Plan your study session

Sitting down to study and be productive requires forward planning. You have to decide which subjects to start with, which subjects you find harder to understand and also know when you retain information best and better understand numerical concepts.

To take all this into account, it’s a good idea to make a to-do list of all your outstanding tasks and cross them out as you complete them.

It’s also important that the tasks on your list are realistic and achievable so you can complete them and keep yourself motivated.

Do the most difficult tasks first

Your energy will be at its highest at the start of your study session and this is when you should do the tasks you find the most difficult because your energy will wane as time goes on and your effectiveness will start to dwindle.

Take breaks

Breaks are necessary so you don’t become fatigued. Rather than push yourself to the limit, it’s best to take regular breaks so you brain can rest and recuperate before you continue.

This is important because if you have to leave a task because you’re exhausted, when you return to it later it will be harder to get back into it and this may demotivate you.

Avoid distractions

You have to avoid external factors which distract you from your tasks because when we get distracted we get side-tracked, waste time and refocusing on tasks can be difficult.

This is why we recommend leaving your mobile phone, which is the main cause of time wasting, outside the study room so you can concentrate fully and be productive.

Find the optimal study system

It’s important to know that everyone finds some things easier and others more difficult depending on the tasks to be completed. The same thing applies to studying and that’s why you need to know which study system works best for you so you can stay motivated.

This is an important point to keep in mind because if you don’t use a study technique which you find helpful and effective, you can waste a lot of time and become frustrated and lose focus.

Reward yourself when you meet your goals

When you have finished your study session, reward yourself if you think your work has been productive and you’ve done well.

Valuing the effort you’ve made is also a fundamental part of a study system, whichever one you choose. When you’ve finished the session it’s important to do something so your brain knows that the work has been finished successfully.

We hope these study tips are effective when it comes to motivating yourself to reach your goals and we’ve given you some ideas to find a way forward and study with enthusiasm.