As someone who grew to love learning and studying, a lot of people ask me how I did so, as well as how I make it look so fun. For me, it was more of a mindset change than anything else, but there were a lot of other things involved too. In this article, I hope to touch a bit on both so that you, dear reader, can benefit! Here are 10 tips to make studying more enjoyable.
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1. Enjoying What You Study
This may seem like a no-brainer to some but it is, after all, the very first step you can take. Like falling in love, it doesn't have to be love at first sight. There are many who end up liking their previously most hated subject.
If you find that you cannot bear it, perhaps switch majors or drop the class. If you cannot do that, then carry on reading about how you can make it more bearable!
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2. Dress Up!
Sometimes you might want to feel pretty while studying. It's totally normal! (It's also normal to not want to, of course.) You can wear your favorite perfume, jewelry, and anything really. You can even change into your favorite outfit and vibe with what you are studying.
Fashion can be very empowering and can help set the mood to study. This Ted Talk by Maria Raveendran is really good to watch if you're unsure whether fashion can really help you.
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3. Studying With Others
There are many ways you can enjoy studying with others. I can definitely say that I find it more fun to study in the mere presence of people. You don't have to be studying the same subject or course to physically study together.
You don’t even have to talk to one another. Some people just find it comfy to study with someone they're comfortable with. It’s kind of like sitting in the same room as your friend but reading books together instead of talking to each other.
This works especially well if you like being with your friends and just hanging out for no particular reason. Planning study dates is also so fun that it makes you excited to study sometimes. You could also hold study groups to discuss things if you enjoy other people's company a lot.
If you are in lockdown and you cannot be with your friends, you can just hold video conferences. They don't even have to be your friends. If you think that you and your friends will just goof off, you can join discord servers and study-with-me videos.
Another thing you can do is to talk to people who are extremely passionate about whatever you're studying. I promise they would not be offended if you asked, and in fact, I am sure they would not stop talking at all. I sincerely hope that this is how you would feel about your major, but if you have compulsory courses (which you don't like), then this is a very fun thing to do. The excitement is usually very infectious and you may see things in a different light and start thinking the same way.
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4. The Vibes
First and foremost, see if you have a comfortable study place. Not only does this affect the quality of your studies, but how much you can enjoy it as well. The space around you definitely affects your feelings and it would be wise to take care of it for your benefit.
Secondly is the ambiance. This includes music (if any), lighting, and perhaps scented candles. Thirdly, if you can afford it, aesthetic stationery can very much make studying way more enjoyable.
5. Your Surrounding Environment
As mentioned before, your environment has a huge effect on how you feel. If studying at home makes you feel too comfortable and lazy, you can always study outdoors in a park, cafe, or library. If you're more of an outdoor person, this is probably a great idea for you. The air just hits different, you know?
6. Embracing Your Curiosity
A lot of the time, schools tend to focus on only what you need for exams and they don't exactly encourage creativity. Once in a while, you can pick any subject and allow yourself to find the answers to whatever you are curious about. So if I pick chemistry and am wondering how they discovered atoms, I can just go for it.
Yes, it's not on the syllabus, but I am satisfying my curiosity. If you find that you can identify with this, allow yourself to do this and you will definitely find that studying will become more enjoyable and it won't even feel like a task you just have to do.
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7. Gamifying Your Tasks
You can turn your tasks into a game! Think of studying as something to be conquered and won, or as something in which you can reap the rewards very soon. This can be a bit hard for some people, as quite a bit of self-control is needed. You can reward yourself for doing your homework with cookies, for example. If you are not sure how to reward yourself for completing a task, here are some suggestions:
- chocolate
- cookies
- chewing gum
- a nap
- some screentime
8. Dark academia
Dark academia is essentially a popular internet subculture and aesthetic that romanticizes and revolves around a love for studying in general. Light academia and chaotic academia are quite well known too and, are not as problematic as dark academia can be sometimes. The criticism of dark academia is valid, but one thing this aesthetic managed to do is to encourage studying for the sake of studying. In a world where school life revolves around test scores and nothing else, it can be quite refreshing to have a change.
A simple way to follow this aesthetic is to wear a blazer, light a candle, drink coffee, and study in a library or cafe.
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9. Other Small Things You Can Do
- Make vision boards of future careers on Pinterest or Weheartit.
- Create playlists for you to vibe out to while studying.
- Eat or drink something as you study or as a reward for studying.
- Use a cute planner or diary to keep yourself together.
- Take pride in your notes! Make it as beautiful or as ugly as you desire!
10. Romanticizing Studying
The dictionary defines "romanticizing" as making things seem more appealing than they are. I like to think of it in another way, in which romanticizing is not making things seem more appealing than they are, but rather, as finally noticing the beauty that has long gone unnoticed instead. So if you don't like studying, just know that it's because you haven't noticed its beauty yet.
If you are very imaginative, you can imagine yourself in some really cool scenarios. For example, if I was doing a lab session, I would pretend to be a scientist working in some very high-tech lab, trying to find the cure for a disease that was previously thought of as incurable.
You could also emulate your favorite academic icon. For me, it's Elle Woods from Legally Blonde (2001). I love how she does things with so much flair and allows her personality to shine while doing something she loves.
I also happen to love ultrafeminine things, and seeing a character that could be both is so inspiring to me. Not everyone may like this, but it certainly makes studying very enjoyable for me.
I hope that my tips helped change your mindset and gave you great ideas on making studying more enjoyable. Remember to take plenty of breaks and stay hydrated!
