Study Tips #1 — Time Management
It is hard to focus while studying for long hours. You get distracted all the time, especially if you are working from home. Well, it is almost impossible to stay away from distractions, but I have a recommendation for you to stay focused as much as possible. This method is based on Pomodoro Technique (if you are not familiar, I explained it), but with a couple of modifications.
Read more to learn how to do it and how to work more efficiently.
Being successful requires effective time management. However, it is hard to keep track of time while studying. Rather than focusing on the task in front of us, it is easier to check Instagram (although you did that five minutes ago). So, what you need to do is to stay away from these distractions. But how?
I am sure you heard of the term ‘Pomodoro Technique’. It asks you to divide your time into 30-min intervals; 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break. After four intervals, you give a long break of 15 minutes.
As an example:
Interval-1: 25 min. study + 5 min. break
Interval-2: 25 min. study + 5 min. break
Interval-3: 25 min. study + 5 min. break
Interval-4: 25 min. study + 5 min. break
15 min. break
AGAIN!
Well, this method only works in theory. If you are a super person who can focus and start studying immediately within 25 minutes, you wouldn’t be reading this far, anyway. The problem with this technique is that being disturbed every 25 minutes causes a constant distraction which prevents you stay focused. Personally, it takes 10–15 minutes for me to start working on something in a very concentrated way. If you are the same, imagine that an alarm disturbs you when you just started working 10 minutes ago. The method that was supposed to make you focused becomes a distraction!
You can overcome this issue by increasing the duration of studying. That means instead of working for 25 minutes, work for 50 minutes and then give a break. Cool. But now, there is a second problem. Giving 5 minutes break is, again, almost impossible. If you look at your phone during this break, I can assure you it will take at least 10 minutes to start the next interval. Therefore, you can increase this break to 10 minutes, just like you increased the working period.
The original method allows you to work for 50 minutes in an hour. However, considering the transition period from the break to work, you can only work for 20–30 minutes (considering a 10–15 minute transition for each 25 min interval). On the contrary, in our case, you can work for almost 40 minutes. Also, since you are deeply focused on your work, you can sit there for an additional 5–10 minutes to finish what you have started (at least, this is what happens in my experience).
Now that you can control your time, how can you prevent yourself from checking your phone? The answer is — wait for it — your phone.
There is an app called ‘Forest’, which allows you to track your time. Although there are lots of apps in App Store and Google Play, there are a couple of features of Forest that distinguishes it from its counterparts.
- Modifying the time intervals:
Forest allows you to increase or decrease the pre-defined 25 minutes of working time. As I recommended, you can set it to 50 minutes.
2. Growing a virtual forest:
Each time you start focusing, you start planting a virtual tree in a virtual forest. If you quit before the pre-set interval, your tree dies. Also, each time you finish the interval, you earn some coins that you will spend within the app. You can buy new trees to enrich the species in your forest. The higher your work interval is, the larger your plant will be.
3. ‘Deep Focus’ mode:
Focus prevents you leave the app on your phone. You can lock your screen, stay away from your phone, but you cannot leave the app and take a look at another app. Forest gives you 5 seconds or so to get back to the app, but if you don’t, your tree dies. This feature is convenient when you unconsciously start texting one of your friends. The app sends a notification to warn you.
4. ‘Plant Together’ mode:
Another great feature of the Forest App is that it allows you to work simultaneously with your friends. For instance, I create a study room and share its link with my girlfriend. When she joins the room, we can study at the same time. I haven’t seen an app enabling a work-together mode, but this feature of Forest is great since working together increases your motivation.
5. Planting a real tree:
The best part is that Forest allows you to spend your coins to plant an actual tree on our planet. When you save 2500 coins in your virtual wallet, you can donate a tree with that coins.
The bad news is that Forest is not a free app, but you can purchase it for $1.99 (18.99 TL). Don’t worry; it is a one-time purchase. There are no in-app purchases (other than unlocking new tree species) or monthly subscriptions. (There is also a free Chrome extension that prevents you from watching Youtube videos or checking Twitter.)
Using the app, you can not only apply Pomodoro Technique but also create a beautiful forest of your own. Also, you can plant an actual tree in a month if you study for 4–5 intervals each day.
If you want to learn more about studying tips or time management, you can send an e-mail to saygili.murathan@gmail.com.
Have a great day!
