Let’s face it: I Hate Studying

Two days ago I was studying for my final grade exams with all the fervor I had, giving it everything I could, mainly because of two reason: 

1. I really did not want to fail.

2. I kinda wanted to do good in them but I had not studied the whole year. 

It took its toll on me, guys, the whole stress and exhaustion did. 

On many days I slept only for a couple hours at night and woke up at 5 a.m. with an alarm ringing, to study with my eyes barely staying open for more than a few minutes. And all I could tell myself was—just this once. Just this exam. Everything will be alright once they’re over. 

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. 

I had been too much deprived of sleep, my eyes were tired and I couldn’t even muster up enough energy to walk straight. I tripped down the stairs, two times, and bruised my knee. (The bruise has turned purple now, maybe it’ll vanish in a few days.)

Long story short—the acute tiredness was showing on my face, leaking out of my eyes in the form of those tears of strain and exhaustion. 

Like, whoa, what had I done to myself? 

Though I’m out of that state now after a few good nights’ sleep, and downing glasses of carrot and beetroot juice, I still can’t get that image out of my head. That image of helplessness. 

And that precisely has prompted me to write this blog post here, because, man—so many of us, take so much stress in our lives, just grinding ourselves into the struggle and hassle of our monotonous everyday life. This tension could really harm us, like, it could deprive us of our very ability and happiness. 

And so, of course, it’s a worldwide fact that we need to relieve this stress. 

(For those who take a high level of stress in every field of life, I would suggest checking out this post if you wish—Do You Feel Stress? )

But today, however, I’m wanting to talk about exam stress in general.

The kind of stress that plagues all students in all parts of the world. 

Do you guys too have trouble finding the simple motivation to sit down and put your mind to the books in front of you? Because I do. That’s the reason why I was writing blog posts all year and only focusing on my school when it was kinda a necessity to study for the exams to pass the grade.

It’s easy. If you take out time for other things in life, as a student, you gotta take out time to study too because that should be a thing in life too. In fact, adults wants you to have it as a priority. 

For me, finding motivation was easy. 

I was driven by this desire to own my website and a functional blog, but I did not care about my studies whatsoever. 

I should have. 

Just this last year of school, you know. Gotta do my best. 

For that reason, mainly, I’ve decided to think up this post to put forward the four big steps that helped me cope up with these exams and do good (okay, maybe just mediocre), without studying all year. These helped me to find that little sliver of motivation to study and to pull it off. 

Put it to use as you see fit for yourself. 

#1 Remember Why You’re Doing This

We all have motives to do things. 

Know what motive you have; maybe (or most probably) it’s not something related to being the top A student and getting the college degree or the scholarship. 

Maybe you’re among that part of the population whose motive comes later in life. Maybe you wanna be a musician, entrepreneur, an innovator, a content creator. Maybe you wanna be an author (that’s me! Welcome to the club!) Maybe you don’t wanna do anything with studies at all, because, come on, knowing every formulae of chemistry doesn’t help when you want to read sheet music. 

In that case, you might find it difficult to sit down and spent the time you could be doing something more productive into studying. I know there are many things more productive than studying. 

But think about your short-term motive here. Maybe you wanna make yourself, or your parents proud. Maybe getting these grades would lead you to something better in life. Maybe you want this scholarship on this college degree. These are the motives all the students have. 

You must have some motive like this too. 

So whenever you sit down to study, remember it. 

Remember the reason you started. 

#2 Sit Away From Distractions 

Wherever you sit down to study, just keep any distractions away. Anything that can distract you should not be in the same vicinity as you. That includes your phone, your TV, your video games, your iPods, your little sibling, your dog. 

Another, more important factor would be the time at which you study. That matters a lot. 

You need to select a time when you don’t have any other pressing task to attend to, so you can spend all your focus on the task at hand. For me, the best time to study is when the whole world is asleep so you have absolutely no distractions. 

If everyone around you is lost in dreamland, and you are the only one awake, it gives you a sense of confidence. You know you are doing something better. 

So, understandably, the time stamps I’m talking about are late nights and early mornings. Just remember that all of it will pay off someday. 

And then get to work. 

#3 Don’t Study In Intervals

Even if almost all the study motivation posts I’ve read say the same thing, I have different views.

I can’t study in intervals. I just can’t. 

Maybe it works for you, but it never worked for me, studying in intervals. It was just that whenever I studied for one hour and took a break, even of, say 10-15 minutes, I just couldn’t get back to studying with that same dedication. My mind kept trying to get back to what notification was arriving on my phone, or I was simply just lost within my own thoughts. 

My focus had already gotten divided and now it took another 30 minutes to get back into study mood. This was simply a silly waste of time. 

At last I figured out the way out of this. 

I was going wrong when I took frequent breaks amidst my study schedule. What I instead needed to do was to be dedicated enough to sit down to study once and then not get up for a given number of hours or until I had hit a self-defined target. Yeah, I could get up for bathroom breaks, of course. 

From then on, whenever I opened my books to study, I did not close them for another 3-4 hours. This worked especially well with the previous rule. 

Sure, at the end of that study time I’d be completely drained. But I’d at least have completed some of the syllabus. 

One great method of doing this and making this work is to dive into your studying mode at 5 a.m. in the morning and study continuously till 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. . 

Since you have already gotten so much done in the mornings you can let yourself loose a little for the rest of the day.

#4 Reward Yourself After, Not Before

This is so simple and straightforward that we all already know this. The best way to create a habit is to have a cue, a routine, and then a reward. 

The cue is your motive to study. 

The routine is the time you spend studying. 

The reward is the thing you love, that you do after you’ve completed studying. 

In this way we can build a habit of studying. 

After completing a target, we can reward ourselves with anything we like to do. But only after we’re satisfied with what we’ve accomplished. If we’re not satisfied however, well, we should keep working harder. Until we’re proud of ourselves. 

It also never helps spending the time before studying doing somethinf you love. In that way, you won’t be able to leave that entertaining activity and pick up the books. After you’re done with studying and hitting your targets, give yourself a break, a treat, do something you love (try not to make it social media). Or simply spend some time with yourself. 

#5 design your playlist

Furthermore, wanna get in the mood for studying with some music? Trust me, it helps. When you’re feeling tired and want to take a break, just put on your headphones and jam in some music. Songs are great too to get that feeling of confidence and inspiration, but I think soft, soothing sound flowing through your ears when you’re studying is a great anxiety-reliever. 

Find the songs that instill within you the drive, the craze. Whenever you’re feeling low, listen to them. And if you don’t have enough time to do that, you can listen to this exclusive playlist I designed especially for you. 

So these were the four rules I found the most effective for studying in these final exams I attempted recently. I really hope they can help you too. You won’t know unless you try. Just stay on track and remember why you’re doing this. 

And take care of yourself—your health and well-being. Get enough sleep, drink water, and work out everyday to stay fit.