How to make the rewards of studying higher

Question 1

How can you improve your brains perceived reward value of doing the work you are supposed to do?

Answer 1

Visualize your inner positive result of completing.

What:
Spend time to visualize how you would feel when you have achieved your goals. What does it look like when you have completed your education or gotten that degree.

Example:
Actually meditate on the reward and how it would make you feel.

Souce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETBel1IScU

Question 2

How can you get you brain to fear not doing the work you have planned to do?

Answer 2

Visualize the inner negative effect:

How would it feel if you don’t do the work you set out to do. like telling friends, family or coworkers that you did not do what you were supposed to do.

Example: Visualize and feel how painful that failure would be to let others know.

Souce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETBel1IScU

Question 3

What values can motivate your brain to want to do the work you planned to do?

Answer 3

Intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic: Personal inner motivation; the fulfilment you get when achieving.
Extrinsic: External motivation; Social pressure

Question 4

How can you use social pressure to motivate you to focus?

Answer 4

Let others know your plans so that they can hold you to account.
If you don’t follow up, you are putting you reputation as someone who does not follow up on their promises on the line.

Souce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ETBel1IScU

Question 5

How can you use rewards to make you work more focused?

Answer 5

Small rewards: For every portion of work you can give yourself small rewards. Like a small snack. 5 minutes of screen time or something that you like to do.

Large rewards: I’m doing this big thing when this is done, but not before.

Question 6

How can you use threats to make you focus?

Answer 6

You can have a contract with yourself that if you fail or don’t reach a certain goal or checkpoint you must do something that you don’t want to do.

Example: Donate a large sum of money to a cause you really don’t support.

Question 7

Does rereading study material help you retain information better?

Answer 7

Marginally. Although this is one of the most used methods by students, it is a very ineffective method of retaining information.

A better way of revisiting a topic is to use flashcards or questions you have made. Putting effort into trying to remember something is more efficient than rereading.

Source: ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26173288/

Question 8

Does highlighting text improve your retention of information?

Answer 8

Almost nothing.

A better way of understanding and committing info to memory is to look away from the material or pausing the video/lecture and to try to rephrase the concept in your own words.

Source: ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE

Question 9

Does taking notes and summarizing help you retain information?

Answer 9

Limited.
This is one of the most used methods, but research shows it has very limited effect.

A better ways of taking notes is to write down questions and make flash cards rather than just writing down a summary.

Source: ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE&t=291s

Question 10

Does self testing help you retain information?

Answer 10

Yes
This is one of the more effective ways of retaining information and making it stick.

By writing down questions or making flashcards instead of notes, you can use these to self test.

You can also use pre made tests from the lecture or book if they are provided.

Question 11

Is pre testing before learning about a subject worth the time?

Answer 11

Yes.

By taking a test and seeing where you fail, your brain will pay closer attention later on when learning these facts. This is called the Hypercorrection effect.

Source: 🔬 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection_(psychology)

Question 12

Does active recall help you retain information better?

Answer 12

Yes.

Any cognitive effort you spend on trying to retrieve previously learned information is a very helpful action.,

Active recall makes you reuse the information and in turn strengthens the neuron patterns in the brain that got formed with the information.

Source: ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE&t=821s

Question 13

How can you decrease the burden of large tasks?

Answer 13

Break big tasks down to smaller tasks 🌳 to 🍃

that can be completed in short amounts of time.

Make them so small that you feel like you can quickly crush that task. 🏠 🔨

⭐️Like micro achievements in video games.

Source: https://www.brainscape.com/academy/study-motivation-procrastination/

Question 14

How can you use the tactic of breaking down tasks for something big like a big exam?

Answer 14

Leverage one of those rare moments where you do feel motivated to take an hour to plan out your subject.

Think of how a super stressed and short on time future you can actually study even if they only have five minutes to spare.

Source: https://www.brainscape.com/academy/study-motivation-procrastination/

Question 15

How should you plan for future study towards a big goal?

Answer 15

Break down all the things you need to know along the way.

Write down items that you can squeeze into small time slots along the day. Ways to practice that does not take a lot of prep or effort.

Example: Spaced repetition with flashcards. Or reciting core concepts to someone else, or just a rubber duck.

Source: https://www.brainscape.com/academy/study-motivation-procrastination/

Question 16

Why does small tasks help you stay motivated?

Answer 16

Completing small tasks feel like constant progress and your brain will get quicker drips of dopamine for achieving tasks.

The goal is to make the big tasks never feel like impossible massive hurdles, but just a chain of many small simple tasks.

Question 17

What are the two different types of distractions that will often pull your attention away from studies?

Answer 17

Internal distractions and
external distractions.

Internal distractions are tasks and chores that keep pulling on your attention and feel like you should do.

External distractor are things in your surrounding that is pulling on your attention. Like your phone.

Question 18

How can you get away from internal distractions?

Answer 18

Write a list to clear your mind, and do small tasks.

Some internal distractions could be small and quick chores that you should consider to just get out of the way before studies.

Some other internal distractions can be eased by putting them on a list, so you can come back to them later.

Question 19

How can you prevent external distractions?

Answer 19

Eliminate and minimize.

Find a place where you can study in peace.
Put the phone on silent or airplane mode and a place where you can’t see it.
Consider using a page blocker if you are studying on a computer online.

Question 20

Why are small distractions a big problem?

Answer 20

Just small distractions can pull you out of focus that can take up to 20 minutes to get back into.

Question 21

How can you nudge yourself to start a task?

Answer 21

By telling yourself that you’ll just do 1 minute of this task. This makes the starting of a task feel less daunting.

Question 22

How can you “force” yourself to start focusing?

Answer 22

By counting down and saying, “In 10 seconds, I’ll f*** do this. No way out!”

Question 23

What is a good tactic to keep focus?

Answer 23

Using the pomodoro technique. 25 min focus 5 min break.

Feel free to combine with small rewards.

Question 24

When does motivation come?

Answer 24

Motivation often come after you have started. So focus on making starting as easy as possible.

Question 25

What does it mean to make the lazy task the right one?

Answer 25

Make all the distracting behaviours harder to do, so you make your desired behaviour the easy choice.