How To Get Better Grades – Motivate Me To Study

Lack of motivation is the most common reason that things don’t get done. If you’ve ever lacked the motivation to do something you know the feeling I’m talking about. The loss of interest, the tiredness, the boredom – it’s all related to the feeling that you have “no motivation”. But worse still is the feeling that you also don’t know what to do about it. But there’s no need to fret, it happens to everyone at some point!

Whilst a lack of motivation may not be your biggest challenge personally, it is one of the biggest challenges that students face as they try to find the strength of character to push through high school and College.

If motivation is not present in the individual, simple uncomplicated tasks have a nasty habit of becoming huge complicated problems – ones that can end up being avoided for days (and sometimes weeks or months!) So how does this happen?

Well, when you feel ‘motivated’, it’s easy to stay focused over a long period of time and work diligently towards your goal. However, when you are not feeling ‘motivated’ you will have virtually zero focus and the chances you will even start the task are minuscule. Either that or it will require someone threatening you with something before you’ll get started on your work (like a parent taking away your iPad or a teacher removing you from the class). That’s not a great way to get motivated!

Generally, motivation comes in the form of fear. As in, what will happen if I don’t complete this task? What will happen if I don’t hand in my paper on time? What will happen if I don’t do what my parents say? What will happen if I don’t go to school? It’s the fear of negative consequences that really motivates us as a human race. It’s the way we are conditioned to behave. Why? Because it creates order.

If there were no consequence for not doing your homework, or not doing exercise, or not following the laws – what would happen? It would create chaos wouldn’t it? Why would anyone do anything they didn’t “feel like doing”?

Fear of negative consequences has its place in the world. It’s important in its own way – however it should absolutely not be the ultimate reason for you to do whatever it is you do each day. It should not dictate your behavior. That’s not living. That’s just “existing”.

Whilst “existing” may work for you for a period of time (and for many people it works for their entire lives) it doesn’t both work and lead to a positive approach to life. The motivation we seek to promote is one where you want to complete the tasks you do for positive reasons.

Real motivation is borne out of a possibility. A possibility of what may happen from taking a certain action. The possibility of what can be created. For example, when you ask a girl or guy you like for their phone number, you are living into a possibility. The possibility you may get to go out on a date with them! Sure, you may not succeed. You may get shut down. But so what? The power of living into a possibility drove you to take that action. If you act out of fear, you probably won’t ask for the number or take any action and you’ll just feel regret. Why? Because fear of negative consequences (like being embarrassed or laughed at) won the day. By living in fear you don’t really live. By living in fear you don’t feel the amazing power of real motivation.

So the next time you are doing something (anything) ask yourself “Am I acting out of fear, or out of possibility?” You may be very surprised by the answer.

HelpMeToStudy.org is the premier resource for learning new study skills, changing your studying habits and finding the best study tips available. We will help you change the way you think about study – and even better – we will show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | Motivate Me To Study

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How To Get Better Grades – Motivate Me To Study



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Time Management Tools: 5 Tips To Manage Your Study Time Better

If you struggle to manage your time then you have come to the right place. One of the most difficult things to control and use effectively is your time – because it just keeps ticking away no matter how quickly you work or how much you want it to slow down.

But giving up is not the solution. Instead, let’s look at some easy to implement strategies and time management tools that will help you make the most of the time you already have available and also create some more free time for you.

Tip number one – to-do lists are your friend. If you want to know what you need to get done, then you need to actually write it down and assign a priority to it. So write down all the things that you want to complete and start putting them in order of their importance. People love listing items and then ticking them off as they go. It’s very satisfying! It’s also important that your to-do items are specific and it’s easy to understand when you have completed it. Don’t create items like “make a start on my history paper” because “making a start” is too vague. Instead, break the tasks down into simple tasks like “write the first sentence of my history paper.” Makes sense doesn’t it?

Tip number two – create some goals. It’s very easy to overlook creating goals and instead just get started on things. But working towards something specific helps create a direction for you. For example, if you make a goal that you will have your “Science homework completed no later than 8 pm tonight” then you have something specific you are working towards. If you have no goal in mind then you might end up drifting along until 9 pm without even completing the Science homework at all. So start listing all the things you want to achieve and when you want to achieve them by. This will help you easily see which activities are a total waste of your time and which are going to help you reach your ambitions.

Tip number three – set your study goals. What are you trying to achieve anyway? Do you even know what your goals are? And if you don’t know what you want how will you know when you’ve achieved it? Seriously, how will you know? Will you just get a vibe or something? When creating a goal you must be specific, measurable, achievable and time-based – otherwise it’s not a goal, it’s just an idea. For example, “I will have a B average in Maths by the end of First Semester” is a lot better than “I will improve in Maths”. When you know what you want you can easily identify those things that are going to help you get there – and those things that are a total waste of your time (i.e. pretty much everything!)

Tip number four – do what counts. A major trap we all fall into is trying to do everything that’s assigned. But that’s actually a waste of your time. You should do only what you know counts towards your final grades. If a paper is worth 50% then spend lots and lots of time on it. If your homework is not worth grades but must be handed in – then make sure you hand it in – but don’t spend as much time on it as anything that counts towards your final grade. Find out what counts the most and give that the most time. Worrying about everything will only drive you nuts!

Tip number five – schedule your work for when you are in your study Zen state. We all have different time clocks inside us that dictate when we have the most energy. Yours may be in the morning or it may be late at night. Whatever it is, schedule your work around this time. There is no point trying to push a horse up a hill – so just study at the times you feel super switched on and you will find it far easier to get the work done.

HelpMeToStudy.org is the number one resource for learning new study skills, changing your study habits and finding the best studying tips available. We provide free access to the world’s best and most engaging study resources and strategies that will help change the way you think about study – and even better – we show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | Time Management Tools

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Time Management Tools: 5 Tips To Manage Your Study Time Better



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How To Get Better Grades – How To Quickly Achieve Your Goals

Question without notice: What and why are you trying to accomplish in your life? Just think about it for a moment. What and why. This is a really key question for all of us. The first step in achieving an ambition is establishing what the ambition is and also understanding why you want to achieve it. Often we know what we want to achieve (like get better grades – especially in Math – or lose some weight) but we don’t have the right reason to back it up. So, what is your goal and why do you want to achieve it?

Once you have created a goal you want to achieve and understand you can move to the next level. The next level asks you to ponder the following questions: who do you need to become in order to achieve your goals? What do you need to do in order to achieve your goals? Are you being brutally honest about whether you are working diligently towards your goal or are you really just hoping that by some miracle your goal will be achieved?

Let’s look at this another way. What actions do you take each and every day in order to progress your skills and attitude to the point where your goal can become a reality? Are you taking any actions? Or are you just doing what you normally do but hoping that because you “set a goal” that something amazing will happen?

Achieving a goal is a process not an event. The problem is that people don’t like processes – we like events! You see, we like to get an A+ on our Maths test, but we don’t want to do the study and homework required (i.e. the process) to get the A+, we just want the event – the great score! We like the idea of looking fit and healthy but we don’t like part where we have to eat well and exercise constantly. Do we? It all makes sense when you understand that we don’t like the process – we just like the events.

The same goes for our education. We all want to be smart and learned (I hope!) But going through each grade and passing each test and handing in each assignment and doing all our homework and getting good grades is really hard work.

The process of passing school is hard, the process of being an A+ student is even harder. However, the events along the way, such as getting a good grade on a test, or getting a good report card, or getting into the College of your choice, are the enjoyable “events” (i.e. the rewards) for going through the process.

So what does this mean to us in terms of goal setting and goal achievement? Given that we now know that we don’t like processes and we do like events, it makes a lot of sense that we may enjoy setting goals such as “I want an A average in all of my subjects” but we don’t like doing the hard work to make sure that the goals actually happen. The process is hard and can be boring and tedious. We want the event (A average for every subject) not the hard work!

So, if you are going to set a goal, you really need to understand what process you are going to have to go through to achieve it and make sure you are committed to it. The event is secondary; the process is what you are really committing yourself to. You must ask yourself, “What actions will I have to take every day to go through the process? Who will I need to be to go through the process?” If you can’t answer that, you won’t be able to achieve the goal you have set.

Goals don’t just happen. They are clearly defined and then deliberately worked towards. You create an event (an A+ in Maths) and then you have to go through the process to get there. Focus on the process and the event will happen. Focus on the event (like everyone wants to) and nothing will happen. The choice is yours!

HelpMeToStudy.org is the best online resource for learning new study skills, transforming your study habits and discovering the best studying tips available. We will help you change the way you think about study – and even better – we will show you how to study effectively: How To Study Effectively | How To Set Goals

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How To Get Better Grades – How To Quickly Achieve Your Goals



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Study Smart By Understanding The 80/20 Rule

First of all, the 80/20 rule is not about economics or maths (even though it may sound like it), so let’s get that straight from the start! However, this rule does apply to your life (and everyone else’s life) so it’s very important that you are aware of it and can start manipulating it for your own benefit (in the way you study or in any other field you choose).

The 80/20 rule tells us that 80% of what we achieve in life is a direct result of only 20% of all the actions we take. Now the ratio may not be exactly 80/20 – it may even be 99/1 – but the rule makes it clear that a small number of our actions are actually having a big impact.

This rule applies to more than just our “actions”; it actually applies to everything (according to Pareto). So let’s have a look at some very straightforward examples to help demonstrate this. I’m willing to bet that you spend 80% or more of your social time with 20% or less of the people you know (friends, family, acquaintances). What about 80% or more of the time you spend online is on 20% or less of all the websites you’ve ever visited? What about 80% or more of the phone calls you make are to 20% or less of all the contacts in your phone? Seriously, you can apply it to anything.

The first major thing to take away from the 80/20 rule is to understand that there is no point focusing on the 80% of things you do each day that are creating only 20% of your results. You need to do the opposite! Forget the 80% that is impacting 20% of your results, you want to focus only on the 20% that is impacting 80% of your results! Are you following? Clear as mud?

Why? Well there is obviously no point focusing on the 80% of activities that is impacting only 20% of your results. That wouldn’t make sense would it? That’s totally backwards! Instead, you must address all the small areas that have the biggest impact and will maximize your performance. Do what counts. Don’t worry about everything, just focus on those things that create the biggest results for you. So, what are the things that create the biggest results I hear you ask?

Regrettably, this is not always easy to answer as many things can have a big impact on your results and everyone is different. However, there are always common denominators that seem to impact everyone in one way or another and we can safely assume they are impacting you as well. So what are they?

The biggest 20% area that undoubtedly creates and influences your outcomes are your habits. With poor habits come poor results. There is no doubt about it. You may not even realize it but your habits are impacting you right now. Change your habits and you will change your outcomes.

The next 20% area is motivation – an often misunderstood action driver. If you don’t “feel” motivated then there is a very good chance that you will take very little action (or take no action at all!) But how do you “get motivated”? The key here is that you must have something that calls you into action. You must have something that you want to work towards (notice that it’s about what you want – not anyone else). If you have no motivation you will do nothing. If you do nothing you will get some pretty poor outcomes. Again, this is just one small area that has a huge impact.

The next area is memory recall. If you can’t remember data and information very well then unfortunately you are going to struggle to get top marks. Tests and exams become far less daunting when you have honed your memory recall ability – and they are terrifying when you haven’t! You must be able to recall mountains of information in order to be successful because education tests memory as much as it tests knowledge. You would think they would have a subject called “memory” given how much focus there is on your memory recall ability! So again, we can see that a small area (your 20%) is impacting a huge part of your outcomes (your 80%).

Clearly, there are many areas that impact your results in schooling and your results in life for that matter. But by figuring out which areas are having the biggest impact you will be able to quickly change your results. Identify your personal 20% areas that are having a big influence on your outcomes and do something about them today. If you do, your grades will shoot up quickly. If you don’t, you should expect more of the same. Good luck!

HelpMeToStudy.org is the best resource for learning new study skills, changing your studying habits and discovering the best study tips available. We will help you change the way you think about study – and even better – we will show you how to study effectively: Learn The 80/20 Rule | How To Study Effectively

Study Smart By Understanding The 80/20 Rule



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