How to Study Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

Studying is very important. Sometimes it’s hard. Let me take you through my ideas on how to study even when you don’t feel like it.

As students, we all know the feeling. Complete demotivation to study. Knowing that you have to study to get good grades, but not being in the mood. I mean, it’s literally the one job we have to do in this stage of our lives. School. It’s up to us to do well in school and succeed, then get a job and work hard at it.

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Read also: 10 Study Hacks for Students to Help you Study Every Day

Studying feels like unrewarding work most of the time. You feel like it has no immediate gratification. You’re not getting paid for studying. You don’t get any gifts for studying. That’s why you feel demotivated to study. The feeling sucks, I know. You could be a straight A student but sometimes you just don’t feel like studying. This post is going to help you to learn how to study even when you don’t want to.

While you’re here, check out this post on How to Increase Motivation to Study.

Lack of motivation to study comes with its own set of challenges. Here are a few posts that will help you to deal with them:

• How to Stop Being Addicted to The Internet
• How to Stop Feeling Tired All the Time
• How to Stop Wasting Time and Be More Productive
• Self Care Tips for When You Feel Overwhelmed

Why you should study even when you don’t feel like it

Before we get into how to study when you don’t feel like it, let’s take a dive into these facts that can motivate you. So why should you study even when you don’t feel like it?

1. You’re going to thank yourself later

Studying is rewarding. Think of all the times you were in a test or exam and desperately wished you could go back in time and beg your past self to study more. This tip can help you in your quest to find out how to study even when you don’t feel like it. Studying is like being a mission to make your future better. Imagine the happiness you will feel when you see that you studied all the questions on your exam. That feeling is one of my top feelings in the world.

2. Studying is your job

The truth is, as kids we never really get a chance to determine what we want to occupy our days with. It’s always something. Parents, or school. Here’s the kicker: if we were left to our own devices, a lot of us would really like to learn things. School gives our lives some structure. Studying helps us to grow our brains with knowledge. Meeting others and interacting helps us to develop our communication skills and to meet our emotional needs.

Read also: How to Have Fun while you Study

3. All play and no work makes your life very dull indeed

Many of us want to be free to chill and hang out forever. I’ve been there, done that. Take it from me: it gets boring really fast. That’s why studying is so important. It gives your brain work to do. It improves your memory. It keeps your brain fit and ready to keep up with your tests and exams.

4. Studying keeps your knowledge fresh

Working out is for the body, but studying is for the brain. Being consistent with studying means that you are going to keep your knowledge super fresh. It’s going to be at the tip of your fingers. You know how in exams you have to think hard to remember what you studied? If you study consistently, exams are going to be a breeze.

5. Repetition makes things stick

This is no secret. However, it’s a secret that seems to elude us. Repetition is important for studying. It makes things stick. That’s why you should study even when you don’t feel like it. There’s no way you are going to have time to review your notes if you didn’t even study in the first place. You should have time to review your study notes at least 3 times before your test or exam.

How to Study Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

Fear not, because I am going to dispel your laziness and motivate you to study harder and smarter than ever before! Read on to find out what to do if you don’t feel like studying.

1. Set really small goals

When you don’t feel like studying, the best approach is to do the absolute least that you can. You know what they say: something is better than nothing. Using this method will help you to feel like you were productive for the day. Studying like this will even help you to slowly build momentum and start studying more.

2. Make it fun

Admit it: studying is boring most of the time. If you’re studying even when you don’t feel like it, it’s even more boring. It might be time to shake things up. Use colorful pens, highlighters, gel pens. It might also be time to bust out your calligraphy skills. Doodle relevant pictures for information. Make up mnemonics for hard stuff. Tell yourself jokes based on the notes you’re reading. This can really help you to figure out what to do when you don’t feel like studying.

By the way, sometimes you want to study, in fact you want to study real hard. The catch? You’re low on time. You need to study last minute. Head on over to How to Study Last Minute. A list of 10 strategies to teach you to make the most of the limited time you have! Moving on…

3. Take breaks

Hunching over your notes for hours is not ideal. It’s time to take breaks. You can set timers to stop yourself from studying yourself into a headache, or worse, back pain. You can get up and stretch once in a while. Organize some snacks to have in your break. You can also listen to some music and close your eyes for a while. This will help to make your studying more bearable.

4. Create a study routine

Number #4 on how to study even when you don’t feel like it: Create a study routine. Humans need routine in their lives. It’s easier to be more efficient if you create a routine for yourself. Set out a particular time for your studying. Decide what you will do before studying and after. It might take a while to cement the routine into your life, but being consistent will help you to get into routine. Soon, you will be carrying out your routine on auto-pilot. Studying will become so easy when you don’t have to fight yourself into it every day.

5. Create a study environment

What to do when you don’t feel like studying? Choose a location that you will specifically use when studying. Organize your study table and keep your notes, textbooks and writing tools well arranged. Being well-organized is very vital for getting yourself to study when you don’t feel like it. This will be part of your study routine. You will get up every day knowing that you’re going to go sit at your study environment and study efficiently.

6. Think about why you’re studying

It always works to remember why you study. If you study, you’re going to get good grades. Motivation is never really consistent. You have to keep motivating yourself to study every single day. You can check out hashtags and get inspired by all the people dedicating time to studying. One of my favorites is to watch people studying on YouTube. Down below is one of my fave YouTubers to watch for studying. I’m in love with her aesthetics. These videos can even give you ideas to study better.

7. Remember the last time you didn’t study and got bad grades

The formula is simple. Studying = good grades. If you don’t study, you can’t be too sure about getting good results. Getting bad grades is painful. I remember all the times I would get back my test papers with bad grades, I would swear up and down about how I would study every day until my next test. That initial feeling of seeing your terrible marks is what you need to visualize. This will help you to study even when you don’t feel like.

Read also: 10 Habits to Break to Get Better Grades

8. Find your study style

Number #8 on how to study when you don’t feel like it: Find your study style. Chances are, if you ask yourself why don’t I feel like studying? You haven’t found your ideal study style, you don’t really ever feel like studying. If you want to know the study style that works best for you, you have to experiment on everything. Are you a visual learner or prefer to listen to audio notes? Are flash cards more helpful or do you prefer to sing out your notes. To give you an idea of different study styles, check out this post from teach.com Learning Styles.

9. Meditate

When your mind is cluttered, it’s going to be hard for you to study. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and explore your mind. Why do you not feel like studying? You just might find the answer within your own mind. There might be something bothering you that you need to fix. I recommend using guided meditation to go deep within and figure out why you are having trouble studying. Here is one of my favorite videos for guided meditation.

10. Journal

Number #10 on how to study even when you don’t want to? Journal. Journaling is another method to help you figure out why your mind is restless. Did you know that journaling is almost like therapy? Check out this post on why journaling is important for mental health.

I write down why I don’t feel like studying. Journaling is about you going within and understanding the underlying reason why your own mind is not cooperating with you.

Study Anyway

You have to put your need to get good grades above your current state of mind. Even when you don’t feel like it, push yourself. Make it easier to study. Set smaller goals. Motivate yourself. Meditate, and journal. I hope you benefited from this post on how to study even when you don’t feel like it.

PS: If you would like to comment on this post, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and share with me your favorite study tips!

Thanks for reading this post! You can go ahead and explore these posts that might help you in your studying:

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• How to Study Using the PQRST Method
• Is it better to study at night or morning? How to Decide When to Study
• 7 Ways to Study for Long Periods of Time
• Why You Can’t Study at all
• 10 Reasons Why Studying is Hard
• How to Focus on Studying
• 10 Rules to Stay Focused on Studying
• How to Study Smarter, not Harder Using 80/20 Rule
• How to Enjoy Studying even When You Hate it
• 10 Study Hacks for Students to Help you Study Every Day
• 15 Study Session Essentials
• 16 Healthy and Easy Study Snack Ideas
• How to Study Better at Home
• How to Study Last Minute
• How to Study Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
• How to Have Fun while you Study