Study Smarter, Not Harder

Trying to learn something and struggling with retention?

If you have an hour I highly recommend this lecture by Marty Lobdell.

If you don't have an hour here are the highlights:

1. Your Study Place Matters.

What do you do in a kitchen? Eat. Bedroom? Sleep. Home office? Work. Family room? Watch TV. Get it? When we try to study in a room dedicated to some distraction we are easily distracted and our mind can't focus on what we are trying to consume. The solution? Make a study room. Only use the room for studying and learning.

If you can't give up a dedicated room make a dedicated space that you can be alone in and that doesn't need to be used for anything else.

2. Buy A Lamp.

What? you heard me. Buy a lamp. We tend to associate our surroundings with our state of mind. When you're near your bed you want to sleep, when you're in your kitchen you want to eat, etc. In your study space buy a lamp but only turn it on when you're studying. Even if the room is so dark that you trip at night do not turn on that light. An experiment with university students in Hawaii showed that when you have a thing such as a lamp that you turn on when you're studying it helps tell your brain it's study time which puts you in the state of minded needed to retain the information you're studying.

3. Don't Listen To Music With Vocals.

When song lyrics are bouncing around in your head it ties up needed brain resources needed to compute and store the information you're studying. Instead, find some relaxing instrumental music such as something from a classical composer.

4. Study For 30 Minutes Tops.

If person A studies six hours a day for one month and person B studies 25 minutes a day for one month who will retain more information?

Well, it turns out that you're brain actually is fried when you study for long periods of time. Research shows that the brain only efficiently retains information up to about the 25-30 minute mark when studying. Studying longer is not the answer. The longer you sit there wishing you were doing something else and pondering on how you hate what you're studying the harder it is for your brain to want to retain and understand what you're consuming.

Make your study time count by following the tips above and putting study time first. If you want to go do something tonight don't wait until you get home to start studying. Do it before you leave so that your mind isn't wandering or reminiscing on the night's activities.

5. Repetition. But Not Grade School Repetition.

Back in elementary school you or one of your classmates probably complained because of having to do the same boring things over and over. Your teacher probably said something along the line of "Repetition plus variety equals learning." Well, your teacher was wrong like you suspected. To understand what repetition is and how it can be used to help our learning habits let's first define what good repetition is and what it isn't.

"Repetition, the action of repeating something that has already been said or written."

-Oxford Dicionary

When you have to write out or say the same spelling words over and over it actually didn't help much. While repetition is a good thing too much repetition doesn't work and is one of the least effective methods of studying.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

-Albert Einstein

So what is good repetition? Repetition, to be used effectively, must be used as part of a long term strategy, not a write it 100 times magic trick. To create an efficient learning habit you need to establish which facts or concepts need to be learned then write them down in a list. Then revisit and learn the content rather frequently for the first few days. After you feel you are beginning to understand the concept or memorize the fact you can begin decreasing the frequency that you revisit that content always coming back to it when you feel that you are beginning to forget it.

This tip along with the tips above are scientifically proven to help increase your retention and boost your brainpower. Let me know in the comments if you have any study tips!