Our Top Ten Study and Productivity Hacks
13 December 2021
Trying to stay productive and on task can be difficult, especially during the holiday period or when you've been cooped up looking at the same four walls, for what feels like 1000 years. Whether you are studying for exams, trying to learn a new hobby or concept, or you have decided to start a business, it's always handy to have new ways to help you stay productive.
We love productivity, and we have been seeing so many inspirational young people sharing their productivity and study hacks online, so we thought it would be great to take the best that we have seen and share them with you!
Keep reading to find our top ten productivity hacks;
- Need help remembering the things you learn? Try the Feynman technique.
First, pick something that you want to understand. Second, write it out as an explanation, as if you were teaching it to somebody else. Then re-read about the topic, and fill in the gaps that you haven't understood. Finally, simplify it so that someone younger than you would understand.
**Bonus tip:** Another way you can do this is through blurting. To do this, you blurt everything you remember about the topic onto a page. Then you revise the topic, and write the things that you missed out on the page in a different colour.
- Need help keeping up with online lectures or study videos? Get your transcript!
If your lecturer uploads your lessons to YouTube, you can click the three dots next to the share and save buttons, by the title of the video. Then select Open transcript. Following both the video and the transcript will help you to experience your learning visually and auditorily. This increases your chances of remembering what you have learned, and taking the information in.
**Bonus tip:** You could also click ctrl+f on your transcript to find specific concepts that were spoken about during your learning if you need to brush up on a specific part.
Feeling lonely studying online? Try an online study group!
Create an online virtual study group with your peers or other aparto residents who you know are also in university. No one has to talk to each other, just knowing that people are there can help you feel calmer and more focused in the moment.
- Prefer to listen to your reading content? Turn any text into audio!
Use podcasting tools like podcastle.ai and turn any text you need to read into a podcast you can listen back to! You can also use free Chrome extensions, like Speechify, to listen to texts on your computer too!
Remember to get permission from whoever owns the device before downloading anything on to it
- Struggle to find your work with so many tabs open? Group your tabs!
If you're using Google Chrome, right click on a tab and select “add to group”. If you don't have any groups already set up, it will ask you to create a name of a new group. Choose a name for your group, and then go through the rest of your tabs that relate to that name, right-click, and add them to the group. You can create as many groups as you need!
- Want to keep all the things you need to read in one place? Create a reading list!
This one is really simple. If you're using Google Chrome, right click on a tab that contains an article you need to read, and from the drop down menu select “add to reading list”. Your articles will be stored in a reading list that you can find underneath the three vertical dots, in the top right-hand corner of your Google browser page. It also has a little red dot that appears when there are unread articles in your reading list.
- Tired of reading your work over and over again? Have it read back to you!
Proofread your work by listening back to it. Depending on what version of Word you have (if you use Word) you can click review and then X to listen back to your work. Listening back to your work can increase the likelihood of you spotting mistakes.
- Struggling to stay focused? Try keeping a distractions list!
Thoughts and ideas come into our minds when we are engaged in activities that we find hard or boring, and can be really hard to ignore. It is often like an itch that needs to be scratched! Try using a distractions list to satisfy that urge. Each time a distracting idea comes into your mind, write it down. Then, when you have finished your work, you will have a handy to-do list of things that you both need and want to do!
- Still struggling to stay focused? Try scheduling your distractions!
As we mentioned previously, our brains come up with distractions to give us relief from boring or difficult tasks. Scheduling in distractions can help release some of the guilt that can be triggered from being distracted while working. Do this by allowing extra time for the things you need to do. If you know a project will take you approximately 3 hours based on how long previous projects have taken you, schedule yourself more time for the next time you do it to incorporate time for distractions.
- Feeling tense and anxious while studying? Try scheduling reminders to breathe!
Schedule in Reminders to breathe into your study time. You can do this with specific apps, for example Lifeat.io, on your apple watch or you can set calendar reminders in your phone or on your computer through your email, that prompt you to take a few minutes to breathe every 30-minutes or so.
- Want help staying calm while studying? Try studying in nature - virtually!
Head over to YouTube and search for your favourite nature sounds. You can pick one you like, depending on how long you want to study for. Play them, in the background, while you study to help you keep calm.
You might search for:
- Waterfall sounds
- Rainforest sounds
- Tree sounds
- Bird sounds
And there you have it! These are our top ten tips! What did you think of them?
Have you tried any of these before?
Studying and university can be difficult, especially when you have the extra pressure of exams.
Kooth Student is a digital mental health care platform available free for all aparto residents.
At Kooth, individuals are able to connect with mental health professionals to receive safe, anonymous, and personalised support. Kooth users also get access to a whole host of useful resources such as a magazine, communal discussion boards, mini-activities, and podcasts.
Find a link in your residents facebook group.
