The dog days are over

You know, I dream sometimes about flying. It starts out like I’m running really, really fast. I’m, like, superhuman. And the terrain starts to get really rocky and steep, and then I’m running so fast that my feet aren’t even touching the ground, and I’m floating and it’s like this amazing, amazing realness. I’m free. I’m safe. Then I realize… I’m completely alone. And then I wake up. 

“They say once you grow crops somewhere, you have officially colonized it. So, technically, I colonized Mars. In your face, Neil Armstrong!”

Mr. Robot (2015) Created by Sam Esmail

having self-discipline while studying can be immensely helpful, and it’ll help you get over procrastination and motivation slumps. here are some tips for developing more self-discipline! ahhh this post was kinda hard to write because i’m still trying to build up my own self-discipline! hopefully, some of this will help you guys out!

remove all temptations

yes, it’s so so tempting to check tumblr and youtube and twitter and instagram and whatnot while studying. a simple way to fix that is to log off all of your social media accounts, put your phone away and out of your sight while studying, and setting up a website blocker if you need to. chrome has quite a lot of extensions regarding website blockers, so try searching for one that you like.

be ready to study

get all of your materials out, fill up a bottle of water, make yourself a study snack if you want to, make sure your work space is clean and ready to go, etc. it can be disruptive to your own work flow if you suddenly find that you desperately need something halfway across your house during your study session.

don’t wait for “the perfect moment”

waiting for “the right time” and “the perfect moment” can be incredibly detrimental to your own discipline. it’s nice to spend a lot of time digging through a motivation tag and you feel very light and happy to start working. however, that’s not helpful if you’ve spent too much time in that and not enough time to get your own work done. get a start on your own work and try to finish it efficiently so you can get back to whatever you were doing before :-)

don’t make excuses

this is kinda like the one before it, but stop making excuses to yourself unless they’re genuine. i know that other things in your life may come first, and that’s completely fine! just remember to be honest with yourself and stop making up flimsy excuses to push off something that you don’t want to do.

schedule things.

good time management = good self-discipline :) keep track of all the tasks that you need to do that day, and try to finish all of them in the same day as well. don’t overload your schedule though; be realistic in your planning. you don’t have to cover 15 chapters in one day!!

start whatever you need to do at that time

by pushing it off, you’re inviting yourself into the dreaded loop of procrastination. if you’ve already fallen into procrastination, force yourself to start the task for at least 10 minutes. after 10 minutes, check to see if you’ve gotten into a nice and steady work flow or if you’re still just worn-out and tired and don’t want to do it at all. if it’s the first one, smile and continue on! you’ve succeeded! if it’s the second one, maybe it’s because you’re too tired and worn out. take a 5 minute break and then try again.

finish what you start

it’s fairly simple: try to finish whatever you start that day. don’t push it off or wait til the next day to finish it.

make up your own deadline

by establishing your own deadline, you set yourself a time frame to finish something in. this pushes you to actually do the work in that amount of time. also, it’s really helpful especially when working on projects. you can split up the task into separate chunks and make deadlines for each “chunk.” it makes it a lot easier to handle too!

take advantage of mornings

i absolutely detest mornings, but waking up early can be a huge advantage. by waking up early, you’re strengthening your own self-discipline as well as gaining a large amount of time to study and work! besides, it feels great to have a whole night to yourself if you finish all of your tasks in the morning!!

remember to forgive yourself and remember to take breaks!

not everyone can be hyper productive forever. people have their ups and downs, and you’re no exception. don’t beat yourself up over not finishing x amount of tasks that day or for having too many long breaks or whatever. it’s good to shake yourself back into shape, but please please don’t go overboard and despair about your failures. it’s so easy to guilt yourself and spiral away from your built-up discipline ;; the longer you’re off, the harder it is to get back up and keep going. the key thing is: you are trying and your efforts are validated and you have made some progress with your self-discipline and studying. forgive yourself and move on.

remember: don’t get discouraged the longest journey starts with a single step (◕ᴗ◕✿)