Five Tips on How to Study without Getting Bored
Although some subjects probably don’t interest you at all, you sometimes have to study them either because it’s necessary for your work or it’s part of the major you’ve chosen. With this in mind, studying something you don’t like or that’s very tedious can be boring. In this article, discover some tips on how to study without getting bored.
When you study something you don’t like, you’ll probably get bored. Although there are many dates, authors, or theories that won’t interest you at all, you’ll have to learn them anyway. Thus, boredom can lead you to procrastinate and leave studying for the last minute. In turn, this will lead to a lot of stress and anxiety. To avoid this, try the following tips.
1. Awaken Your Curiosity
One way to study without getting bored is to awaken your curiosity. Curiosity helps you learn with relative ease. Therefore, it’s one of boredom’s greatest enemies. In fact, if your curiosity is awoken, distractions will be more unlikely.
Imagine you’re studying Shakespeare but the textbook explains everything in a very linear and boring way. Perhaps some things you could do are look up videos, get interested in what happened in his life or, better yet, read some of the texts he wrote. Surely there’ll be something that catches your eye. Maybe it’s something that wasn’t in your textbook and will encourage you to learn more.
“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.”
-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-
2. Study in a Group
Although in many cases individual study is almost essential, studying in a group can be a great way to study without getting bored. In fact, it can even be more enriching. Following up on our previous example, imagine that someone in your class loves Shakespeare. You can benefit a lot from this if you study with them. For example, you could ask them questions and clarify some of your doubts.
Moreover, study groups help motivate oneself to study. For example, if you all agree to go over a particular subject early the next day, there will be an incentive to prevent you from procrastinating.
3. Move while You Study
Another great way to study without getting bored is to move. In addition, it’ll help you retain the information you’ve studied. Surely you’ve met many people who tend to study out loud while walking from one place to another.
This activates your mind and prevents drowsiness that comes from sitting down or not moving for a long time. Any basic level of physiological activity will starve off the sensation of drowsiness. At the same time, it’ll also promote the retention of new concepts.
4. Set Small Goals and Reward Yourself
Another great way to fight off boredom while studying is by motivating yourself with small goals. For example, if you have to study algebra or other math subjects, you can tell yourself that you won’t leave your chair until you can solve a problem correctly.
Once you’ve achieved this, you can reward yourself for your time and effort. For example, you can go outside for a run, take a short walk, or eat a piece of chocolate. Then, you can continue with another goal. For example, solving a trickier set of problems.
“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.”
-Earl Nightingale-
5. Be Creative
The last of the tips on how to study without getting bored is to be creative, as it’ll make your study sessions more fun. If there’s something that you can’t learn, such as the name of an important event in history, you can use a post-it to keep it in sight and not forget about it.
You can also come up with a song or try to remember something as if it were a story. In addition to this, underlining can help you study without getting bored. There are many options.
How do you study without getting bored? Have you applied any of the previous tips? Although studying something you don’t like can be difficult, these tips will help you study more effectively from now on.