College offers a great deal of activities and distractions from actual classwork. Here are five simple and easy ways to stay focused and motivated in your classwork and education.
1. Stick to a schedule
A solid schedule plan is a necessity to keep you concentrated on your school work and keep your days consistent. Without a basic schedule you can find yourself lost in the days without a direction or purpose. Many college kids find themselves skipping classes and falling behind without a hard agenda.
2. Keep a Planner
The easiest way to keep track of your schedule is to keep an agenda with your whole schedule plan. Write all your assignments and goals for the day in your planner and you are much more likely to get these things done. Students who try to build there schedule solely out of memory tend to make many mistakes and lose track of all there school work. Sustaining an agenda and writing down your calender is a necessity to keeping focused on your education.
3. Balance your social life
The biggest trap that college students fall into is spending all their time socializing and no time studying. Although there is a time and place for partying and socializing, it is smart to balance your social life and party only in your free-time. Alot a certain amount of time every week or certain nights out of the week for socializing and having fun. DO NOT go out whenever it seems like a fun night or just because friends are going out. There will always be another party and time for you to have fun.
4. Solid sleep schedule
Countless scientific researches have shown that sleep is a huge factor of classroom productivity and doing well on tests. Keeping a solid sleep schedule of at least six to eight hours a night is essential to your educational well being. Try to go to sleep around the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. Even slight deviations from your normal schedule can throw you off in huge ways. Stay focused and concentrated with a solid sleep schedule.
5. Ask for help
Do not be embarrassed or unsure about asking for help in any of your classes. Many students can easily cruise through high school without ever needing help or any extra studying outside of the classroom, but college is a large leap ahead of high school and much harder. There are many people you can ask and places you can go to get help for any subject.
6. Tutors
On every college campus there is bound to be students who are willing to help you out in a class. Just ask around for a tutor, or ask upperclassmen that have already passed the class you need assistance in. Wherever you are it will be extremely easy to find a tutor and receive help for a small fee
7. Professors
If you are having trouble in a class the first person I would recommend contacting is your professor. Read the professor's syllabus and figure out his or her office hours in which you can come in and talk one on one. Building relationships with your professors is also a great way to get ahead in class by getting on their good side and branching out your connections. College professors are always willing to help you out it's just up to you to take the initiative and talk to them on your own.
8. Study groups
Getting together with a group of classmates and studying is a great way to collaborate and share knowledge with your peirs. Study groups can be a great way to learn and keep yourself active in class; however, it is also easy to get nothing done and only socialize in study groups. Try not to fall into this fallacy of counter-productivity by actually studying while in a study group.
9. Make Good Decisions
In the end when it all comes down to it, to stay focused on your education you just have to make the right decisions on a daily basis.
10. Listen in class
Going to class and actually paying attention is the best way to make sure you keep up with your classes. Don't skip classes or even mentally skip classes. Stay involved and attentive in class or you are bound to miss something. Find a way of note taking that pleases you; some popular methods are cornell notes, article style, or bulleted lists. Although you might be enticed to take doodle notes please note that they are not an efficient way of note taking.
11. Take an initiative, don't procrastinate
The hardest part of getting your work done is starting it. Don't procrastinate on your work, just get it done. It's really that simple, so stop reading this article and get on to your work!
About The Author:
George Zimmerman: Staff editor at PongRUs, Mentor to all, Illuminati Master Chief.