College Success Tip #39 - Study Focus

And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

Nehemiah 6:3

Focus is key when studying within a group or even alone.

It is so easy to get distracted with what is going on in class and outside of class with that being said one must aim to remain focused in the task at hand. Sometimes one’s focus can shift for a variety of reasons including: social media, friends or family want to meet or an issue is going on. Another focus thief could be that the higher education student is thinking about what they want to eat and they become so distracted that they look online at restaurants, recipes and before one knows it they've made reservations somewhere!

Here a few suggested tips to stay focused while studying alone or with a group.

PRAY FOR WISDOM AND DECLARE A PRODUCTIVE STUDY SESSION- Go to God in prayer and ask Him to assist you and guide you during this study session. If you feel down and doubtful declare God’s word about who HE SAID YOU ARE as stated in His Most Holy Word.
UTILIZE A TIMER – A timer is beneficial to keep you on track. When you declare that you will only study one particular subject matter for 45 minutes, put the timer on, this will help you aim towards your study target.
FOLLOW THROUGH – After the time is set, now you must follow through with the intended targeted time you aimed toward. Actually study and review notes, don’t think that just because you made a God-honoring declaration about studying and success that you will automatically have a great study session you have to contribute. You must put some action with the faith!
SYKE YOURSELF OUT – This is what I tell my students when they express how they are having a hard time completing assignments. I tell them that there will be times when the coursework will be presented to you in a boring way and the subject matter could be very hard to understand or not interesting. One thing you can do is SYKE YOURSELF OUT. Tell yourself that this is the MOST INTERESTING, MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT YOU ARE FOCUSING ON RIGHT NOW IN THIS COURSE. Approach it in a different way. Sometimes when one does this they are open to understanding the information where a mental block once resided and then the information can be retained, but this is only a suggestion not an absolute proven successful fact.