The Nerd’s Word: Distractions are Everywhere! Keep Them Out of Your Head

bradwellen@precioustimeny.com

There’s no doubt about it, some of your classes and course material are so mind-numbingly boring that it’s painful. College students have always felt this way. Chances are, that agonizingly dull 80-year-old physics professor made his students suffer just as much 50 years ago.  Students have always been bored, and they’ve always found ways to block out a professor’s lecture or to procrastinate on their homework and studying time. However, there’s a big difference between the bored students of yesteryear and the Generation Y college students of today. These days, the number of technologically advanced and tempting ways that students can ignore their academic obligations have skyrocketed.  So with so many fun ways to avoid your work, how can you be expected to pay attention? Learning how to pay attention in such a gadget enriched environment is not an easy task, even for the best students. But the thing is, if you’re going to succeed in school, you need to learn how to resist temptation and pay attention. Unless you plan to pull an all-nighter every time you have an exam or essay assignment, you’re going to have to learn how to sit down and do your work, no matter what.

Eliminating Distractions

A truly useful study hour (or week) means a lot of will power-and if you don’t have a lot, you have to make things a little easier on yourself.  Here are the top distraction factors of college life, and how to tackle them. Note that these don’t seem very difficult in principle, but the hard part is following through.

Problem: Studying is Boring. Compared to the party down the hall, the new Wii game your roommate is playing, and all those DVDs stacked over your desk, studying is a drag.

Solution: Change Venues. You know what makes studying seem more interesting? A silent school library. You’ll start studying just to escape the monotony of all that quiet.  So go somewhere quiet and subdued so you can focus in on your study material and make sure you don’t enable yourself with other distractions.

Problem: The Internet. The biggest distraction ever. Aside from surfing, you have e-mail, instant messaging, MySpace/Facebook/etc., blogs (to write or read), YouTube, and millions of online games to distract you.

Solution: Turn Off the Internet. GASP!  Can you imagine being cut off from the net? It really is the easiest way to avoid distractions though, even if you put up an away message, you’re still going to be tempted to check people’s profile messages, scan through Facebook, and check your email every minute or so. So if you have wireless, turn off your card. If you’re plugged in, pull the Ethernet cable. You can do this.

Problem: Cell Phones. Maybe you’re ignoring calls, but just one more text message wouldn’t hurt, right…?

Solution: Again… Turn it Off. Sometimes the temptation is too strong – that girl/guy you have been pursuing is calling, your roommate is texting, you just want to download one more Sisqo ringtone. So turn your phone off. I know it feels like severing a limb, but at least you can turn it back on when studying is over.

Problem: Hunger. How are you supposed to study when your stomach is growling?

Solution: Snacks & Food Breaks. College students are notorious for not eating during study time, but this is a bad idea. Your brain needs fuel if you want it to work. If you’re in for the long haul, you have a couple of options. First, bring healthy snacks like granola, nuts, fruit, etc. (cheesy poofs aren’t going to give you the energy you need). Second, take a break and head over to the cafeteria for a meal. That’s the time to turn on your cell, meet up with a friend, or pull out the Sudoku for a little break from study time.

Problem: Sleepiness. If only you hadn’t stayed up all night watching LOST reruns, maybe then you could focus on Organic Chemistry instead of cat napping face-down on one of the library computer keyboards!

Solution: Sleep & Learning to Stay Awake. So, first and easiest solution, is to get a good night’s rest before you start studying. Remember, caffeine is a not always the best way to go because your body can get dependent on it and it can lead to a crash where you need sleep immediately.  Keep in mind that NERD The Focus and Energy Beverage is always a wise choice in these situations.

Problem: Music. Some people study better with music on, others just start lip-synching, head-bobbing, or buying more music on iTunes.

Solution: Leave Your Headphones at Home. When you head off to your quiet study zone, you’re going to find yourself very unpopular if you try to listen to music without those earmuffs – which is the perfect motivation to leave your tunes off.

As I said earlier, all of these problems have seemingly simple solutions but as the old cliché goes “it’s easier said than done.”  If you can execute the game plan that Nerd has laid out for you above, you’re study sessions will be quicker and more effective than you could ever imagine and the proof will be in your rising GPA.  The Nerd will be back next week to lay out the pros and cons of studying in a group environment.

Related posts:

1. The Nerd’s Word: Bullet Points for Brainpower bradwellen@precioustimeny.com The following tips have proven to be extremely powerful...
2. The Nerd’s Word: Timing is Everything bradwellen@precioustimeny.com In his 1748 Advice to a Young Tradesman, Benjamin...
3. The Nerd’s Word: Put Your Mind Into Motion bradwellen@precioustimeny.com Has a teacher ever told you that you are...
4. The Nerd’s Word: How to Keep from Catching Z’s When You Should Be Getting A’s bradwellen@precioustimeny.com There are so many different reasons why students have...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.