Studying and Working Tips from Airi! I didn't study psychology for nothing!
Wish you had a cute work and study buddy 24/7?
Well, even though I can’t be with you all the time, I wanted to share my favourite ways to study! Over 3 years of being a university student, these are the things that help me the most! ~ I hope these can help you too!
I really love the pomodoro method! But not all pomodoro is built the same. The standard format is 25 minutes of working and 5 minutes of break, but I’ve seen many people use different methods. Some use 25/5, others 50/10, some even 120/10! Two hours of studying for ten minutes of break would be far too long for me… So I think it’s important to find the time window that works for you. Even though 25/5 is the most common and popular, I found that 50/10 works much better for me because I really get to spend a decent amount of time focusing, and the break is long enough to allow me to do things I enjoy.
Aside from that, getting rid of distractions is such an obvious but really important thing. I usually keep my phone on me all day, but that makes the urge to reach for it and check my messages or even just the time really high. Nowadays I make an effort to put my phone on the other end of the room while I’m studying and put it on “do not disturb” for anything other than phone calls. That way, I can just go get it during my break but won’t be tempted to take it while I’m studying.
Now this next part is actually something that I learned about in university! Different people focus better at different times. Some people can focus amazingly in the morning, others are way too tired to remember anything if they try. I found that for me, the late evening or even the middle of the night works the absolute best for studying. I hate distractions and annoying sounds while I’m trying to work, so at night I can really lock in! So try to find a time period that works the best for you, because not all are built the same.
And here comes Airi’s super secret trick (this one unfortunately only works for studying, not so much for working): smells and contexts can help you remember things! Did you ever smell a shampoo and it reminded you of a specific childhood memory? Or did someone’s clothes ever remind you of a show you watched? Context can help you unlock memories, so try to make your studying environment similar to your test environment. Don’t have school chairs to put in your room? No worries, Airi will share her super secret: I always wear the same perfume while studying as I wear on the day of the exam. But you can do this with anything! Studying for maths? Chew mango flavor gum and use the same gum during the test! It also helps to use different perfume/cologne/tastes for different subjects so you don’t get mixed up.
Finally, rather than deciding “I have to do this today”, I like to think of it as “I’ll work hard for (insert amount of hours today) - it makes keeping track of my progress less daunting, and I feel super proud when I get to look back and go “wow, I locked in for 6 hours! incredible!”. You should try it!
Airi hopes that some of these tips will be useful to you! \(★ω★)/
Good luck studying and/or working! 💚