The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.
Transitioning to college is difficult, even without considering what years of the pandemic and Zoom may have done to your study habits. Here are 5 tips (and 1 amphibian) to help build better study habits and prevent burnout!
- Just Eat the Frog
- Get. Stuff. Done. The best way to avoid procrastination is to force yourself to do things early. Mark Twain once said, “if you have to eat a live frog, do it first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day”. The frog isn’t a literal frog (hopefully) but a metaphor for something undesirable that you know needs to get done. It’s important to prioritize important (or icky) tasks first and force yourself to power through them. Delaying them (promising yourself you’ll definitely get it done late) will only make the frog more putrid.
- Food (especially protein!) Feeds the Brain
- Caffeine and sugar early in the morning have been shown to cause crashes, tiredness, and irritability if they’re consumed on an empty stomach. Veggies, proteins, and whole grains are great to boost energy throughout the day. Make sure your brain (and stomach) has something filling before your caffeine fix lest a crash ruin your productivity (and mood) for the day.
- No, you will not catch up with that lecture you missed
- With midterms and Halloween coming up, it’s tempting to ditch a class and promise yourself you’ll make it up later. Which inevitably results in an ever-growing chasm of a deficit as you fall behind. Please just go to class.
- Put your toys away
- No matter how addicting the drama may be to read about (gasp Ned?!?), it’s important to focus when you want to dedicate time to studying. Insta, TikTok, and other delectable sites are wonderful entertainment and dreadful distractions. It’s important to Marie Kondo yourself free of distractions and temptations so that you’re sharp and focused when it.
- Remember to make time for breaks
- All work and no play make Jill a dull girl. Adding on to my last point, it’s also important to give your brain breaks. The American Psychological Association states (supported by many long-term studies) that spacing out study sessions over a longer period of time is more beneficial for understanding material. Making space for a 30 min review sesh periodically (giving your brain time to digest) spaced out by breaks is more effective than a multi-hour long grind. If you do need to cram though, small breaks spread evenly will help a lot with comprehension and prevent burnout.