[vc_row height=”medium” columns=”1″][vc_column][us_hwrapper][us_image image=”404″ size=”thumbnail” css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22max-width%22%3A%22100px%22%2C%22max-height%22%3A%22100px%22%7D%7D”][us_text text=”CHC33021 Certificate III in Individual Support” tag=”h1″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22font-size%22%3A%222rem%22%2C%22line-height%22%3A%221%22%2C%22margin-top%22%3A%22auto%22%2C%22margin-bottom%22%3A%22auto%22%7D%7D”][/us_hwrapper][us_text text=”< Back to Course Info” link_type=”custom” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fchc33021.com.au%2F”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row columns=”1″ height=”medium”][vc_column][us_text text=”How To Stay Motivated When Studying Online” tag=”h1″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22line-height%22%3A%221.1%22%7D%7D”][vc_column_text]Work and study from home has become normal for so many of us in recent years, but it’s still difficult to find motivation either at home or while travelling.[/vc_column_text][us_separator][us_text text=”Have a clear reason for studying” tag=”h2″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22line-height%22%3A%221.1%22%7D%7D”][vc_column_text]
Why study for a certificate or diploma? Whether it’s to upskill in your current role or to get a qualification to transition into another job, defining the ‘why’ in your study is crucial.
There’s plenty of ways to define success: Getting your qualification, learning something new, or maybe it’s just for bragging rights. Decide what your core ambition is for studying, and then identify if there’s a deeper reason behind that.
Getting a certificate or higher qualification might lead to getting a better job, which would result in status and more money, which would allow you comfort and ability to take care of those around you, ensuring a more meaningful connection to community. In this case, finding the deeper ‘why’ gives much more motivation than just studying for a qualification.
Your definition of success must be personal to you, otherwise when you achieve everything you want, it won’t feel as satisfying.
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The longer you sit still, the harder it is to get up. Procrastination can quickly snowball into a bad habit of putting off important tasks. Thankfully, identifying how to add study into your existing schedule can be easier than you think! Finding a reliable routine is a matter of starting small. The same way procrastination can turn into a bad habit, making continuous small progress can become a good habit. Start with something so easy you can’t say no – Instead of meditating 10 minutes a day, start with 1 minute. Instead of a full workout, start with jogging up a flight of stairs. Rather than cramming a whole topic every night, start with one revision question a day. Motivation is like a muscle that needs to be exercised to get stronger.
When is the best time of day to study for you? For a lot of people, the best time to study is just before bed, so their brain can hang on to the last bit of information it absorbed. For others, early in the morning might be best because that’s when we have the most energy. Someone else might read a few pages from their study material during a lunch break at work because they have an hour or so to take notes. Find the time of day it feels most natural for YOU to study and start there.
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Have a true priority list each day – Break down your To Do’s into five or six essentials, and do those first before anything else. Your essential tasks can be study-related or personal, as long as they maintain a habit.
The more our brains process a piece of new information, the more likely we are to remember it. Creating more “connections” between new stuff you learn and old stuff you already know, makes it easier to recall when it comes to exams. Any way to connect study material to your own life will increase memory storage strength.
Organising your study resources can be a great way to trick your brain into remembering them. Try highlighting important text about different topics in different colours and create a mind map of the relative information. Read aloud to yourself or make quick voice memos summarising your connected notes.
Study at your own pace. A great baseline is to study for 25 minutes, take a 5-10 minute break, repeat four times, then take a longer break. Adjust to your routine.
Break larger tasks down into smaller ones. A large assessment project may seem daunting, but can just be a collection of smaller questions, each with its own topic sentences to explore. Isolate these smallest parts and create a rough outline of how to address each one. After you have a few keywords to answer each question, you can flesh out ideas from there.
Variety makes the difference when studying. If you’re getting burnt out on a topic, switch to something else, do a bit of exercise, or take a break from your screen. Powering through when you’re exhausted is never a good option.
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Avoid multitasking wherever possible. It might seem faster to get through two or more tasks at once but dilutes your attention. Multitasking leads to mistakes and poor retention when studying, meaning you’ll need to reread over your notes anyway. Keep your study times to study, and your relaxation times to relax. Physically moving to a different room in your home or going to a library or park is usually enough to switch your brain into study mode, especially if whenever you go to that room/library/park it’s to study. The same applies when you go to the lounge room/coffee shop/movies, your brain is ready to feel relaxed and take it easy.
Getting enough sleep is hugely important to study and memory. If you struggle getting to sleep at night, consider blocking out light from a window, lowering the temperature in your room a few degrees, dimming lights and silencing notifications 30 minutes before bed, and limiting sugar, caffeine, or alcohol up to two hours before sleep.
Make sure to get some sunlight every day and talk to the other humans.
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In the same way you decide on a motivation to study in the first place, having a good idea of what you want to do to relax is important too. Consider a small reward to work toward, like buying lunch or watching the latest episode of a TV Show, or a large reward like taking a day off or going to the movies. Decide on something you absolutely have to get done, like completing an assessment or finishing a recorded lecture for a small reward. Once you’ve achieved that and you’re still in the mood to study, take advantage of your momentum and keep going, then decide on a larger reward once you’re ahead.
Different rewards work for different people but should always be seen as a celebration of making progress. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t reach your goal, look for other things to get done or reassess what you can get done in a day and plan rewards for that.
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