Study Schedules

[Lyraina]

I'm curious to know the result of this, I'm finally building a schedule for me to take study more seriously. I'm worried that if it is too difficult or complicated in the beggining, odds are that I'll lose motivation and that's bad :/ So, how it went for you guys? Now that you had been through it, is it any more tips on how to make and stick with a schedule? Thanks!

alexfreitas: Don’t make it too complicated or hard in the beginning, when you’re not experienced enough to really judge how long something will take you, how many hours of concentration you can fit into which part of your day etc … better start with some simple structure of times and contents, see how it goes, and then improve that schedule with what you feel works best for you. You can go as simple or complicated as you want, or start mixing things up if that helps keep you motivated! It’s all about finding out what works best for *you*.
And this is something that works different for everyone, but is super important for me: Don’t allow yourself to cheat and make exceptions when you want to build a habit (i.e. sticking to a schedule, or a new eating/exercising habit, or whatever). Be very very carful about allowing yourself to break your schedule for some reason, unless it’s honestly a *really* good reason (or has been scheduled in advance). Don’t lie to yourself here. Don’t be easy on yourself. Once you made one exception it will be way harder to stay disciplined later on. If you realize that your schedule doesn’t work, redesign it, it doesn’t have to be a rigid thing, but instead is there to help you get your work done.
(But again, this ‚no exceptions‘ thing is not for everyone, some work better with less hard rules. It’s how I seem to function, so I thought I’d share).

If you really need *extra* motivation, there’s some tools/crutches that help by appealing to your animalistic cravings like instant gratification, google for „habitrpg“, „chorewars“ or „dontbreakthechain“. I’d suggest not using tools like that if you can do without them though, relying internal motivation is always better!