Hey guys today's video [is] about building good study habits
I think this is a really important [topic] because lots of smart people do themselves a disservice by not building up
Good habits always hear people say that another person is lucky because they were born smart, but I don't believe that's true [in]
University the differences in grades simply come down to who has the best study habits
The steps I'm going to outline in this video
Will actually help with changing any sort of habit, but I'm going to talk [about] everything in the context of school
Let's start by talking a bit about habits in general our habits essentially make us who [we] are so we have to choose them wisely
what we do every [day] will ultimately define whom we become
That's why it shouldn't come as a surprise [that] someone who studies and invest themselves in science every day will become a good scientist
Likewise a good writer will write every day the thing is habits take time and effort to change
Studies show [that] we actually have a limited amount of willpower when we make too many choices in a day
We actually exhaust our willpower, and this is known as ego depletion
For example consider someone who has been resisting the temptation to eat junk food all day as a result. They are diminishing their willpower
According to the theory of ego depletion if this person was to tackle a [difficult] problem
[they'll] likely give up faster than someone who was not resisting [that] same temptation all day this idea really highlights the importance of habits
Habits are automatic behaviors that we don't really need to [think] about and because of that we exhaust less willpower in the day
Now I'll outline some simple steps for building good habits the first step is planning
We need to carve out time in our schedules and really pinpoint a concrete place for the habit
According to a study published in the European [journal] of Social psychology
Habits are best implemented alongside cues for example after dinner. I'll read for 30 minutes or after breakfast
I'll go for a 30 minute walk the basic structure is if x happens I will do y a
Common example that most of us already follow is when I wake up. I'll brush my teeth
the study found that the level of automaticity which is how automatic in action feels rose asymptotically as
Participants continually perform the action there are two main implications of this
This means that the first few days two months of building a habit are the most important
During that time you really don't want to break the chain because even one day makes a huge impact on how
automatic a certain action or behavior feels
Secondly it also means that the more you perform an action the less willpower will be required to perform it again
This means that the more you do an action the easier
It is to keep doing it and the harder
It [is] to break it
This can be [a] good thing if the habits you create are good for us and a bad thing if the habits we create are
bad for us
It was also shown [that] the amount of time to form a habit
Varied for each individual although the median time to form a habit was 66 days
Individual times fell between 18 days and 254 days this is because complex habits take longer to Form than simple habits
for most participants
Missing a day of performing the habit after the first few months did not negatively contribute to forming the habit
However, other studies suggested that taking breaks as long as a week maybe something like winter break or spring break do negatively contribute
to the formation of a habit I've
Included the study in the description for those who are interested in reading it the next step is monitoring
In order to determine if a habit is changing for the better [or] for the worse
You need to have objective measurements that help us gauge our progress
We have to quantify the habit for example if we want to lose weight
We should be tracking the amount of calories. We eat and the amount of exercise we perform studies have shown [that]
[there's] a significant correlation between
Self-monitoring weight loss and exercise frequency I can say from our own personal experience that it doesn't just stop [at] exercise
Once we know the numbers associated with a habit. We can take small steps to improve them in the directions. We want
For students who want to have better study habits they may want to consider the pomodoro technique?
Which I briefly talked about in my [six] time management tips video
Pomodoro's [helped] quantify the amount of studying a student does day
Once you have this information. You can take educated steps to achieving the results you want for example
Let's consider a student who studies for palma doors a day which are each 30 minutes long
that means this student studies [2] hours total in a day if
The field that they aren't studying enough and want to build a habit of studying longer they can slowly increase their time
They can add one pomodoro or one 30-minute studying block for the first week or month
Bringing their total study time to 2 and a half hours. This is a small and manageable change
After the first week or month they can add another pomodoro
They can repeat this [cycle] until they are studying as long as they feel is a good amount of time in
Gretchen Rubens book better than before she dedicates a whole chapter towards monitoring based off her findings
She claims that accurate monitoring helps determine whether a habit is worth the time money or energy it consumes
I would also add [that] it helped us make educated small and manageable changes to improve our habits
The next step is convenience the easier is to do something the more likely we are to do it
That's why it's important to make any habit that we want to keep as convenient as [possible] in
Rubens book she finds out her sister Elizabeth uses Jenny Craig to lose weight
when she discussed it with her sister elizabeth said that was convenience that made it easy to stick to the diet if
You're not familiar with Jenny Craig
It's a dieting program in which all the meals are prepackaged for you
And all you have to do is warm up the food
The reason it's so successful is because it creates a lot of convenience for dieting
The same Rule applies to any other habit. We want to keep in order to make going to the gym easier
I pack my workout bag before I go to sleep and leave it by the front door on
My way to school the next morning
I grab the bag throw it in my back seat, and then hit the gym on the way home from school
during stressful times like exams
I find it easier to eat healthy when I cook my food in bulk
And then store leftovers in the fridge to eat the next day this way
I don't have to worry about cooking every day and can focus on studying here are some quick convenience ideas
Want to be more social but busy with school make a study group or join a club on campus
Want to study more but distracted by technology like Netflix video games Etc
disconnect all the relevant technology and give it to someone [to] hide from you make it more convenient to study and
Inconvenient [or] [you] define and set up the technology?
Want to read more?
But can't find the time use audiobooks and listen while you're brushing your teeth or driving to school or work
The last step is smart rewarding before reading rubens book I was under the assumption that rewards helped Create strong habits
for example
I would say something like I've been eating healthy all week
So I deserve this cheap meal according to Rubens findings
and I quote this type [of] reward teaches me that I wouldn't do a
Particular activity for its own sake but [only] to earn the reward
Therefore I learned to associate the activity with an imposition a deprivation or a suffering
The solution to this is [to] find a reward within the habit itself
It would be better for me to say something like I've been working out consistently for a year
I'm going to spend money on creating my own custom home gym. That's a pretty expensive reward, but it gets the idea across
the Reward reinforces the habit
Ideally a home gym would help me work out even [more] another example would be I have an attending class [and] taking good notes
So religiously [I'm] going to invest into an iPad or Microsoft surface so I can continue to do that easier again the reward
reinforces the Habit and
There you have it a simple starter's guide to creating good habits
We start with planning a habit?
Followed by monitoring it then making it convenient as possible and lastly rewarding ourselves with something that reinforces the habit
Here's an example of everything put together
When I get home from school. I will finish [6] pomodoro's over the period of two weeks
I'll boost this number to 11 pomodoro's and stay there consistently
to make this habit convenient
I'll clean my desk after every work session and have all necessary materials laid down and ready to go for the following day if
I study consistently for a month. I'll buy a new iPad to streamline my note-taking process or a new app to make me more productive
So I got some good news guys
I finally got a Facebook page and an instagram page for this Youtube channel on the Facebook page
I'm going to post my videos and make them easier to share with your friends on the Instagram page
I'm actually gonna make one picture summaries of a video when I upload it
That way even if you don't end up watching my videos for the week you can take something valuable away from the photo
So yeah be sure [to] follow me on both of those the links are on the video and in the description
Lastly don't forget to [like] comment and subscribe. Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time