How I prepare for the perfect study day

I know a lot of you are new to the studyblr community, which is absolutely exciting! It’s great to see so many new people joining and the community growing every day. When you first get started it’s hard to break of habits and remembering and learning how to make productive studying a daily habit can be a challenge. One of the easiest ways to form a habit is to make a positive association with the action.

This is why addictions to things like sugar, nicotine and fat are so easy to create. These types of chemicals form a positive rush in the brain that makes us feel good. Humans are motivated to maximize rewards and minimize consequences, so they’ll repeat behaviors that bring rewards. That means you must associate studying with a reward.

At first glance you may think that there is an automatic association with studying and rewards, however this reward can be delayed. Additionally, you have no control over that reward. While you may study hard and work hard a lot of your results are down to the performance on the day or the correct interpretation of a question. That leaves a lot of wriggle room for disappointment – as sad as that may be. What that means it that you need to provide yourself with a little reward system that will allow you to build a positive reward system surrounding your study.

Additionally, we need to minimize the exhaustion that studying brings. When you first start out your studying, begin with a habit of three hours of ‘active’ study daily. You’d be surprised just how exhaustive it first is when you begin to do this daily. Once you’ve achieved this for a week you can consider doing more than three hours, but before that limit yourself to this amount of time.

Some parameters of studying that you need to consider when reading this article;

-        Study does not refer to completion of assignments

-        Study may include homework

-        Study should not be passive

-        You know your body and mind best and this article is to be taken as a guide not a rule book

My full study day routine

I begin the night before by;

Ø  Preparing a list of the subjects I need to study

Ø  Marking the textbook chapters involved

I also pack my bag the night before so that I can grab it and go.

Backpack Checklist

1.      Stationary

·        Highlighters

·        Pens

·        Pencil

·        Ruler

·        Eraser

2.      Sticky notes

3.      Water bottle

4.      Laptop and phone charger

5.      Planner

6.      Notebooks

7.      Study guides

8.      Printables

I also like to prep a little lunch box for me to take. This is because going out to buy lunch can get expensive and if you have food allergies like me it can be very time consuming. Additionally, if you’re a bit of a grouchy riser it might be an idea to prep some tea or coffee on your bench. Just put out the coffee jar or tea bags next to your mug so that you can sleepily pull yourself together.

I like to pin up my list on my door or pinboard so that I see it first thing in the morning. This helps me to remember why I have to get up and get dressed. It is also a visual reminder of how busy you are – and stops you wasting time in the morning!

Now set your alarm for six o’clock and let’s go!

When I wake up in the morning I make sure to treat myself well. I’m not a very happy morning person, so it’s important that I get my coffee first thing! However, to make sure we have a healthy start I like to mix some apple cider vinegar in some water and have a few gulps before I start on my coffee.

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I get really dry skin during the day, especially when I’m working in the library and the air conditioner dries out your skin. While keeping hydrated is a good way to prevent any discomfort that may come from this issue, it is also a good idea to use a facial cream.

At the moment, my favorite at the moment is ottergenics daydream facial cream, it’s very easy to get on Amazon. I don’t usually stick to one brand, but I’ve really fallen in love with this cream, especially because I suffer from bad dry skin. It’s a little different to normal face creams because you get to control just how watery it is. This is because it comes in a concentrated form with 0% water which you then can mix with water to make it spreadable.  I like to mix it with lotion or foundation instead of water because I prefer that texture better.

It makes a beautiful smelling cream that helps me not to feel dried out and I get to spend the rest of the day with beautifully soft skin that doesn’t leave me feeling tired and drained. And after eight hours with my face in a law textbook – that’s pretty impressive! Better yet the product is entirely natural and isn't filled with chemicals. It's a cream that's highly versatile that I'd recommend anyone incorporates into their daily routine.

Then I try and pull my hair out of my face because no one likes to deal with hair in your eyes when you’re struggling through a textbook or a theory.

I’d recommend going on pintrest to find some sweet library outfits you can wear to go studying. I find that the usual sweatpants and shirt can get pretty monotonous. It’s always a good plan to have a few different comfortable outfits that you can wear which you really feel comfortable and pretty in.

Hitting the library

Once you’re dressed and feeling suitably luxurious you’ll be in the right mood to study. I made sure to highlight to you that you need to make sure you’re in the right headspace because if you try to study when you’re not feeling good your productivity will drop. I can guarantee then any study you do will go in one ear – out the other-  and you’ll give up on maintaining this habit.

If you’re not sure what to actually /do/ while you’re studying look at these top five study activities to get an idea for how to structure your day.

However, the real challenge will be keeping yourself motivated and productive. It’s not a simple matter of sticking your head in a book and keep going until your brain shuts down. You need to make sure that every second is used wisely. There are several ways that you can do this but I think that the best method is using a visual tracker.

To create one of these, use the articles above to plan out the tasks that need to be done. Then list them along a piece of gridded paper. It doesn’t matter what order they are in you can jump around as you need. Using the boxes that you’ve drawn as a guide write in a step by step guide for what you need to do to finish that task;

Now throughout your day, every 25 minutes you need to stop and color in just how far along you are in completing that task.

You can use a pencil to show yourself just how much you need to get done to be at an appropriate stage by the end of the day.

This is best coupled with a time indicator scale which gives you a brief overview of how you plan to spend your time. Although it should be left a little flexible – and don’t forget to schedule yourself in some 5 minute breaks every 25 minutes.

Once you’re done – STOP!

Once you start to get into the habit of studying you can struggle to stop. It’s very important that you exercise self-discipline both ways. You need to firm with yourself when you need to begin studying, and when you’re ready to stop studying, put your books away and allow your brain to rest. A well-rested brain absorbs far more than a strung out one! And don’t forget the recommended amount of sleep a night is 8 hours and 8 and a half for teenagers. 

Note Ottergenics; I received this product in exchange for review from Giveaway Service website. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Lulu Hensman