have you ever sat down at your desk with
the intention of studying for a couple
of hours you're 10 minutes in and you're
just not feeling it the whole process
just feels boring and you can't seem to
keep your focus we've all been there
before but there's different methods and
tricks that you can use to help you
continue to study for hours without
getting bored
[Music]
staying engaged when you're studying and
not getting bored is crucial to you
being successful long term especially
when it comes to exam time you need to
be studying more than usual and be doing
it consistently not getting bored here
is key throughout my time in university
i've spent countless hours studying and
rarely have i found myself getting bored
and it's all because of these five tips
that i'm going to share with you in this
video the first thing that you need to
make sure that you're doing is varying
your workload don't spend all day on the
same topic you want to make sure that
you're doing a little bit from a variety
of topics during the day you're more
likely to get bored if you're spending
hours and hours and hours studying the
exact same thing the aim is for you to
stay engaged for as long as you can and
stay studying and motivated for as long
as possible and this just isn't going to
happen if you're looking at anatomy of
the upper limb for the whole day there's
also a higher chance that you'll face
multiple hurdles if you're studying the
exact same topic which can be tough to
overcome what i mean by this is that for
example you might be working all day on
anatomy anatomy has its challenges a lot
of them come from the fact that there's
odd naming systems and simply because
there's just so much to memorize and
learn on top of this you need to know
which nerve innervates which part of the
body which muscles are attached at what
origin and insertion and how these
muscles all work to instigate movement
it's a tough thing to do no doubt about
it and spending all day on it means
you're kind of facing an uphill battle
with no respite the amount of anatomy
and the challenges of studying it aren't
going to go away but learning them in
bite size pieces over the course of a
few weeks instead of all just being
crammed into one day makes it a lot
easier another way to vary your studying
is to not spend the whole day using the
same study method instead of just going
through lecture slides all day you know
try explaining these concepts to your
family or friends fellow students you
can go over exam questions test yourself
using anki watch a sketchy video or a
youtube video on the things you don't
quite understand changing up how you are
learning and receiving information in
this way i think is so stimulating and
it helps keep things fresh over the
course of a long study session now the
best part of keeping your studying
varied is that it helps you retain
information that you're studying many
studies have shown that obviously space
repetition but also varying the topic
and module or schedule of what you're
studying can help gamifying your studies
can be so useful for you to stay engaged
and not get distracted easily we tend to
learn better with games because they're
fun so it's best to try and use
resources that help make your work into
some sort of game this could be puzzles
quizzes flash cards whatever it could
even be creating a paper to-do list so
that you look forward to crossing off a
task after you've completed it sort of
gamifying completion it can seem like a
slightly strange concept but there are
lots of wider benefits to making your
studying into a game it's important to
look forward to studying and games like
doing flashcards or doing past paper
questions might be kind of fun in
comparison to just going over lecture
slides endlessly and taking notes coming
into studying with a good attitude like
this and looking forward to your work
can help you maintain interest and not
get bored over the long term now you can
gamify your studying to actually learn
the content but you can also come up
with your own version of the game
whatever it is by challenging yourself
with your studying habits for example
something that i often do is i challenge
myself to study for the next hour or two
hours or whatever in order to unlock a
reward of eating a snack or going to get
a coffee or some time on my phone or
whatever i do this type of thing all the
time trying to find little ways like
this to help push you towards your goals
and keep you engaged and consistent with
your work can be really helpful because
it kind of gamifies the whole experience
of studying and gives you something to
look forward to i've talked about
extensively in another video what the
best music to listen to is when studying
you can check that out somewhere over
here but regardless of what music you
choose music can be a really good tool
to keep you from being completely
distracted and getting bored if you
really need to get work done but you're
feeling bored or unmotivated then it's
probably better to just listen to some
music in the background even if it's a
bit distracting than not studying at all
doing something is always better than
doing nothing now once you get into a
rhythm of studying with your music then
it becomes something that you know is
going to help you get into the zone you
can add music as part of your study
routine and it might even be something
that helps you associate studying with
something that you're looking forward to
after all tasks that might be inherently
boring to you can be made way more fun
with music for me personally when my
motivation is running low but i know
that i need to keep going then putting
on some lo-fi hip-hop beats in the
background solves this problem 90 of the
time yes i'm not as focused as i would
be without the music but at least it
keeps me going and actually kind of
makes the studying a bit more fun if you
can i think listening to music without
lyrics is probably better because with
lyrics it's very distracting to listen
to words and read words at the same time
but hey some people don't have a problem
with that so do whatever works for you
try and find something that motivates
you but isn't too distracting and that
should do the trick sitting at the same
desk looking at the same wall every day
for the six weeks before your exam
sounds terrible you're likely to get
bored just because of the repetitiveness
of the routine itself changing up your
study location can be a great way to
just shake things up a little try
studying outside especially on a nice
day like this you know this can be so
motivating because it's so different to
what you're currently used to and can
really give you the boost to keep you
going this could be at a garden a park
your library or even at an outdoor space
like a cafe if this isn't an option
because you live in london and gardens
aren't a thing or if you live in the uk
and the weather is usually really
unpredictable then you know you can try
going to a library or a friend's house
or a coffee shop anything to just change
your environment a little this works
wonders you can even try just working in
a different room in your home or in the
communal area of your halls i remember
in my first degree at the university of
toronto when we got bored of studying in
our rooms we would just move to the
hallways and you know all sit in the
hallway with our laptops or our notes
and just study over there you can also
try empty lecture halls or just random
rooms that you find throughout the
buildings communal sitting areas lounges
things like that it can really help make
a difference to your routine it helps
with boredom because you're exposing
yourself to something new which means
you're less likely to call it quits when
it comes to studying after just a short
while changing location can also be a
motivator because actually getting up
getting dressed organizing your bag and
leaving the house going to the library
for example means that you're probably
going to want to make the most out of
your day out of your journey we also
can't forget the effect of being
surrounded by other people who are
studying going through the same thing as
you which can be really motivating in
itself seeing other people around you
working helps get your mind in the right
place and makes you want to do more and
this takes me on to my next point very
nicely i've said this loads of times
before and i'll continue to preach this
as something that's incredibly
beneficial study with other people it's
so motivating in itself and because
you're not only having to engage
yourself in the work but also engaging
others and they're engaging you you're
probably going to be able to study for a
lot longer it's also holding you
accountable for actually working because
your friends will be wanting to work and
making the most of your time together
and you'll see them working they'll see
you working so it's just a nice
accountability bubble you can also learn
so much from other people on your course
this sort of study environment really
does boost your productivity and can
keep you from getting bored over long
periods of time if you see everyone
around you is studying really hard or
taking a break then you know you're
likely to do the same thing as them and
so doing everything together as a
community is really really valuable when
you study with your friends you'll find
yourself taking on their healthy habits
also be careful because you might take
on their not so healthy habits or their
bad traits for studying and things like
that but just keep an eye out and do
what works for you what you think you
would benefit from the feeling that
you're all in this together sort of
studying and working towards an upcoming
exam is irreplaceable and i think it can
keep you studying for longer and more
motivated than a lot of the other
techniques i share in my videos i do
have a patreon which gives you access to
a discord server where people are
studying in these community based groups
every day all the time and of course
there's tons of other things you can do
in the discord server over there if
you're interested in joining a group of
like-minded people i'll leave a link to
that patreon and discord in the
description down below thank you so much
for watching this video if you found any
of it helpful you can try and
incorporate maybe one or two of these
tips into your own studying into your
own life and maybe then you can use them
all together i found all of these things
really helpful when trying to not get
bored while studying in my nine years of
higher education or so if you found
something that really works for you and
you're happy to share then please do so
in the comments down below i'm probably
going to be studying for the rest of my
life as a doctor so i'd love to see
what's working for you all as well
that's it for me guys and i will catch
you in the next one peace
[Music]
it helps so much with boredom because
you're exposing yourself to something
new and so it helps