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Are you finding it hard to study with confidence? Do you have any learning strategies?  Maybe you are easily distracted by smart devices, or daydreaming and finding it all really frustrating. Sitting at a desk trying to cram as much information into your brain doesn’t exactly sound like fun, does it?

Read on for my 11 top tips to help you study with confidence!

Another hurdle could be low confidence, having a lack of confidence goes hand in hand with self sabotage. Do you think you’re worthy of the achievement? Self doubt gets the best of us at times so it’s important that you’re honest with yourself and face any confidence issues that could be stopping you from studying. Sometimes we convince ourselves it’s better to not have bothered than to try and fail. This could be a subconscious thought you’re not really aware of so it’s important to plan your time out as this will show you if you are sabotaging yourself. Is there always a reason why you can’t study? Will you have a different excuse next time? How about the time after that?

It’s also quite normal to become overwhelmed by the thought of having to know all the information and then be able to remember when you need to. The best way to study is with a calm and relaxed focus. Knowing what you need to get done during the time you have set out and having clear goals will set you up for success.

Study smart, not hard

Smart goals make it easier to study with confidence and keep you on track.

Smart stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time framed. Let’s break these down and explain them a bit more.

• Specific – have clear and specific goals. What do you want to get done? If you have a large set of exams like GCSE’s break the different lessons into smaller chunks. Look at one part at a time. The smaller you can break the chunks down, the easier they become to manage.  Work out a plan for your study time when you have these smaller chunks.
• Measurable – Having a measurable outcome will help you stay on track. Keeping clearly defined action plans can help you measure your progress. Making it easier to track your progress and show you how much you’ve achieved!
• Attainable or achievable – You might want to get the revision done in one sitting but is that an achievable goal? Breaking a task into smaller pieces will give you more of an idea how to tackle it. This makes the goal more attainable and less daunting if you’re worried about how much you need to study.
• Realistic – And it might be attainable but is it realistic, does your goal match your ambitions? I know a man who makes amazing sculptures out of matchsticks which shows it is possible to do. It is physically achievable but is it realistic that I myself with no talent in art could do the same? In the same time frame as he does? Probably not! Setting myself a goal to do this would be unrealistic. It’s possible to learn the periodic table but is it realistic to have this memorised in 5 minutes? Probably not! In the same sense it might be possible to cram all of your studying into one evening but it’s not very realistic to expect your brain to hold all this information if you overload yourself.
• Time framed – Set yourself deadlines, you could use something you find enjoyable as an incentive like a break outside or another cup of tea. Celebrate your milestones and try to set realistic completion times.

To get into the ‘flow’ is easier than you thought possible. By flow I’m talking about that calm, focused state which I’m sure you’ve experienced before at some point in your life. Maybe you feel this when you are doing something you really enjoy or something you find easy, what if you could have the same focus when your studying? It is possible to have this focus with hypnotherapy!

My 11 top tips for helping you find your flow studying include:

1. Make sure you eat, trying to study while you’re hungry will distract you and stop you fully concentrating. Have a drink and snack close by to keep energy levels up.
2. Are you getting enough sleep? Just like being hungry, being tired is also a huge distraction.
3. Set out your study space. Make sure you have everything you need to hand. Once you’re in the flow you won’t want to break it for something as trivial as a pen or a text book.
4. Put your phone away. Turn it off, put it in another room or put it on silent and don’t touch it! You can go back to it once you’re done.
5. Spread out your studying and take your time. A week of one hour sessions is more effective than one session of 7 hours.  Think of quality over quantity, after a few hours you will become tired which could make it harder to retain information.
6. Take regular breaks. Get some fresh air and rest your eyes, especially if you’re studying on a laptop or computer. If you’re writing on paper stretch your fingers out regularly.
7. Check your posture. Bad posture can cause discomfort or can be an unnecessary distraction.
8. Using practice papers to test yourself can highlight any gaps in your learning. Asking someone to ask you random questions, or having cards up around your home can help you memorise information more easily.
9. Overcoming procrastination with timer challenges. If you find getting started is hard or you’re distracted by the smallest things and leave everything to the last minute the timed challenge might be just what you need to succeed. All you do is set a timer for 10, 20 or 30 minutes and go. Just keep going until the time is finished. 5 days of 10 minutes is better than nothing, imagine what you could do with the extra time studying?
10. Tackling the most difficult subjects in the morning, or when you start studying will make it easier to get them completed and will stop you from putting them off “I’ll do that tomorrow” you might say to yourself but this usually turns into the day after or the day after so just get it done. Get it out of the way.
11. Using mind maps can help embed knowledge. Making connections to information can make it easier to recall at a later date.

These simple tips will help you cut out procrastination and study with focus, determination and with a relaxed mind and body.

I’ll let you into a little secret, there is no such thing as failure, if you see this instead as feedback which can show you where you need to improve you give yourself more room to grow. Life has no limits if everything you do is an opportunity to learn something new.

How can hypnotherapy help you study with confidence?

Hypnotherapy can help you study with confidence and stay in the flow or in the zone, relaxation techniques like hypnotherapy help you create the same calm and relaxed mental state you need for success. It is in you right now so all you need do is teach your sub conscious mind to narrow its focus and you will be able to study more effectively. You can train yourself to focus on any chosen goal where and when you need to, becoming the master of your own concentration! Imagine how confident you will be going into an exam knowing that you have studied to your full ability and been able to focus entirely on your learning, with clear concentration. This focus, this clear concentration will also stop you from getting distracted from your goals and stay on track to success.

You can learn more about how hypnotherapy can help you study with confidence in our podcast HERE with a free hypnotherapy audio that includes techniques to help you rid yourself of self doubt and narrow your focus more easily. You can try this today to help you study with confidence!

If you feel you need more help with your studies you can contact us today by calling 01438 358174 to discuss your goals further.

Here’s a video I found on Youtube that has some great tips to help you study with confidence!