What to do when you don't feel like studying

[Tofurkey]

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Hello,

What do you all do when you don't feel like studying? I mean not just taking a day off...but when you don't feel like studying for several days at a time or more. What inspirational techniques do you use to force yourself to do it? I like science, but sometimes I have to really FORCE myself to sit down and study.

Any advice?

 

[Nutmeg]

This may not be the best place to ask this question-- a lot of us are avoiding studying by yacking on SDN😉

 

[Megalofyia]

Tell yourself that if you don't get cracking on the books you won't be getting into med school.

 

[Amy B]

It really does get hard to kick yourself in the butt sometimes. When I got like that I used to bargain with myself and say... ok, this evening I will not study but that's it for the week. The rest of the nights I would study and make sure I was away from distractions. Video games on my computer (and SDN) used to stop me from studying so on those days I would drive to the library so I would be forced to study.

Now, thank you for your post... I really need to study Biochem and stop reading SDN. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[destined_wind]

Originally posted by Megalofyia
Tell yourself that if you don't get cracking on the books you won't be getting into med school.

Yeah, that's my motivation as well.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Having a study partner is a great way to keep yourself motivated.

 

[Jeffy]

Forcing yourself to go to the library always helps, especially if you trick yourself. For example, put all your books and notes into your backpack and head to the library telling yourself, "I wonder if there'll be any hotties in there." Once you get there and realize that good looking girls don't study, you're stuck alone with no other choice but to study.

Works like a charm.

 

[fonzy]

Ah! so I am not alone....😀

 

[premyo2002]

Originally posted by Quagmire, M.D.
Forcing yourself to go to the library always helps, especially if you trick yourself. For example, put all your books and notes into your backpack and head to the library telling yourself, "I wonder if there'll be any hotties in there." Once you get there and realize that good looking girls don't study, you're stuck alone with no other choice but to study.

Works like a charm.

LOL!!

in the words of the real Quagmire "ah right" *nods head

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by Amy B
It really does get hard to kick yourself in the butt sometimes. When I got like that I used to bargain with myself and say... ok, this evening I will not study but that's it for the week. The rest of the nights I would study and make sure I was away from distractions. Video games on my computer (and SDN) used to stop me from studying so on those days I would drive to the library so I would be forced to study.

Now, thank you for your post... I really need to study Biochem and stop reading SDN. Thanks for reminding me.

the library doesn't help if computers are everywhere. 😀

 

[DrWuStar]

when i don't feel like studying, i don't (unless i have a specific deadline like a test in two days, and then there's just no getting out of it). i find that if i take the night off and do other things, i can usually get back into it soon after.

for me, the thing that drags the non-studying laziness out is worrying about not studying while i'm not studying. it's really important for me to make sure i'm genuinely relaxing if that's what i've chosen to do. if i spend the "night off" harrassing myself and feeling guilty over not studying (even when it's mostly subconscious), then it's not really a night off and the next day, i still don't feel like studying. so now that i know that about myself, i have little talks with myself about it (in my head, not out loud) and make myself promise to not worry or even give a thought to my work when i am not doing it. works like a charm.

 

[trauma_junky]

Think of it like this:
I don't do well in school and have to really find a creative way to do my med school application to not sound like I'm wining but explain my poor grades. You don't get accepted and now you have to do more school to get them to look at you. So you do a masters, and do well, but they still give you a hard time. Finially your at the adcoms office with a double barrel sawed-off and in jail because you can't understand why the adcoms will not look at your graduate work over your undergrad. this could be a true story in the future.

 

[Sonya]

carrot method...

aka, i'll once i finish studying these two chapters in bio, or this problem set i'll go get some ice cream, or watch a movie, or play my favorite game. Give myself a little reward after i finish something productive.

sonya

 

[biobossx99]

I find that the most effective way to beat out your laziness is with good personal health. That means regularity in your consumption and exercise. Maybe you'll all disagree with me, but this is what I found to be effective:

No CAFFINE! God, I see so many girls (fine btw) walking around with a latte in their hands @ UCB. it's horrible, it's an addiction. Once you get off you get into caffine withdrawl with the whole headaches and sickness.

Earlier to Bed. Set study hours that you always follow week after week. Try finding a certain place too. Clump lectures together (personal preference, I got from 8-12 5 days a week). Call me psycho, but I wake up around 5am everyday, either to catch up on HW, lectures, notes etc, or just to enjoy my morning by reading and drinking tea (probably just as bad as coffee)

Eat good stuff, Bananas! Who here likes that? Potassium to get your nerves working. Good fiber for crapping and digests well with anything. Eating healthy really really really helps! You'll find yourself with more energy and looking better too! (went from 180 -> 140lbs).

Listen to instrumental stuff, without lyrics. I can't be listening to Iced earth or black sabbath when doing HW. Lyrics and erratic music really disturbs me. I also found myself more focused around something with a subtle yet consistence noise (IE small stream of water flowing by a creek) I usually listen to classical things or instrumental scores (Kenshin OVA!)

Join a sport! I'm doing crew to keep myself fit and focused. Maybe it makes me so tired that I can't think about not wanting to do HW, but something with intensity really helps my mind focus.

Meditation, read a time article recently about it and i've been doing alittle recently (but don't dooze off and sleep, once woke up in th emiddle of the night on some random grass lawn)

Honestly, motivation isn't something you can really muster without help and much personal development and honing of your habits.

Anyways, hope that helps someone premed or not.

 

[DD214_DOC]

As long as libraries have exit doors, that method will never work for me.

I find I perform much better under pressure. I know it sounds stupid, but what I normally do is NOT study for the first exam of a course, unless that exam counts a large percentage of our grade. But in courses where the professor will drop an exam or replace or whatever, just don't study and take a stab at it.

I find that when I'm faced with a possible bad grade, I get to crackin' and bring that grade up to a B, B+, or A by the end of the year.

Be forewarned, however, it doesn't help at all when you intentionally forgo studying and still score above the class mean for an exam. That happens a lot in my psych courses, especially on the first exam of the semester since most of it is just rehashed material on theories and stuff I've already had 1000000 times in the past 3 years.

You can't force yourself to study, you need a reason. Unfortunately, medical school is often too far removed or distant for that to be a legitimate reason for us to study. The threat of failure is always a good motivator.

 

[Anka]

I just go into machine mode during term, or when I've got something to study for. I find my job gives structure to my day
5 a.m. wake up, scan journals (for work), texts (for class or, at least until April, MCATs).
7 a.m. - 6 p.m.: work, deep read scanned materials. Review flashcards when able. Luckly, my job has quite a few "breaks" where you're waiting for something to finish, and it's not like I can leave and hang with my friends.
6:45 p.m.-10 p.m.: study.

Weekends I have some volunteer stuff that I genuinely enjoy, haing out with friends, and do more casual studying if necessary.

Since there are huge blocks of time I'm just not able to study (i.e., work when there isn't one of these breaks), I generally sit right down when it's time to study and just get it done... I mean, it's *my* project, *my* goals, after working all day dealing with other people's ****, ya know?

Anka