So you’re sitting down to start your amazing four-hour study session. You are pumped up, you have your pens laid out perfectly, you have your light set up so you can see everything you open your first hardback and you read the first line…..and then you hit the wall.
You get distracted by the simplest of things, maybe those pens you spent so long setting up have gone askew so you spend the next ten minutes straightening them out. Then you google the best way to have your desk when studying and next thing you know its 1 am and you’ve watched 5 hours of cat videos and TikToks.
Don’t worry this happens to everyone. No matter what your secondary school teacher told you there is no perfect way to study because, guess what? Everyone is unique. I do have a few tricks up my sleeve to help customise your Study Workout.
Tidy Workspace
This is probably the first thing you should make sure you have before you start. clear aside even small table that you know you can work on (please make sure it’s not in your bedroom because let’s face it who wants to associate their bed with their study zone… it’s not great for your mental health) so what classes as a tidy desk? let’s keep it simple a place you can fit your notes, maybe a laptop, a cup of tea and then most importantly you. don’t forget you need to fit into this space as well. there is no point in making a workspace if the working cant fit there.
Let There Be Light
This is so important but a lot of people overlook it. You need to set up your lighting so that you can see everything – make it nice and bright (but also not too bright because the last thing you want to do is give yourself a migraine). It is a bit of a balancing game, but make sure you do take the time to find that sweet spot because it will help you keep going for longer. Blue lights are in most mobile phones, tablets and laptops. These lights are the ones that make your eyes nice and tired and will keep you up at night (I know they suck!)
Don’t worry because the majority of devices that have these lights also have a setting to filter them out so make sure you turn on the filter. If your device has no filter then have no fear you can always pick up some stylish blue light filtering glasses from as little as €15 in a lot of chemists and online retail stores but remember you do get what you pay for but most of them do the basics and that’s all you need really.
How to Sit
This question has literally no answer…. everyone sits in a different way that and that’s what they find comfortable. Some people can sit with their back pressed all the way into the seat other people sit with their legs tucked in underneath them and then some people throw the chair out the window and sit on a big auld yoga ball. That’s right you don’t need to sit on a regular chair …and to be honest you don’t even need to sit down. If you find it easier to roll around your floor with you book in hand and that works for you then, by all means, do it. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.
Fidget Much?
Ever notice that when you focus the best is when you’re spinning a pen around your finger or shaking your legs? Well, guess what? ME TOO. While I’ve been writing this article I haven’t stopped rolling a ball around with my foot. There are so many different things you can do to scratch that fidget itch and some work amazingly for me and some will work for you.
My favourite is the ball under the table. All you need is a tennis ball or any ball really and just pass it from one foot to the next or roll it under your foot …trust me its class.
Terraband attached to the table legs or chair legs work well too. These bands are great because you can set them up in so many different ways. The way I use these is simply kicking against them or pulling against them and oddly enough these little movements help me focus more on what I’m trying to do.
Some people find it useful too but a small ball in between their back and the back of their chair and just roll it around with their back it not only helps with the fidget urge but also gives you a lovely back massage!
Do It Your Way
As you can see everyone uses different ways to study and even though I’ve only given you 3 of my fidget methods, be sure to try some of your own out you never know when they might come in handy.
And Finally…
There is one item I have left out of this list and that is music. Or more Listening to anything while trying to study or work. Personally I love to listen to music while I’m working or while I’m trying to study and a lot of people do but at the same time a lot of people don’t. I still remember studying for my junior cert and my father coming in and giving out to me for listening to music while I was studying but when I think back he would be a person that needs silence to work because that what he would be used to. It really is a person by person study aid much like everything in the article it depends on what works for you. There is no method that will work for 100% of people because everyone is wired differently which makes everyone so amazingly different and amazingly perfect.
Remember these aren’t instructions on how to study they are ideas for you to come up with your own combination that works for you and you never know you might come up with the new normal study routine.
