Students who feel devoted to being successful worry about time management. They fear that that time is in short supply. Therefore, they rush from one task to another and try to do multiple things simultaneously.
This focus on time management is understandable because common perception and thousands of articles, teachers and books talk about time management.
Time is level one of study success.
Undoubtedly, suppose a student wastes too much time( TV, social media, or just doing nothing). In that case, covering one’s course material and succeeding will be a struggle.
Time in a day, month or year is limited. Waste it, and things will start to slip. No matter your mood, whether it is a happy or stressful time, time will always keep moving.
So make no mistake, managing time is critical.
But when it comes to becoming a study genius, you need to manage more than just time.
Level 2 is Managing Your Energy.
Time devoted to studying without the required energy is useless.
Let us say you devote 5 hours to study each day. Despite spending hours learning, you will find it hard to concentrate, use the proper posture, or absorb much if tired or sleepy.
Even though a small part of our body, the brain, needs about 25% of the total energy the entire body uses. Without enough power reserve, your brain is not able to function. As a result, your study performance will suffer.
I will cover how to get more energy in detail in another post, but here are quick tips.
Sleep – find out how much sleep do you need and get that much sleep. Usually, it is 8-10 hours for teenagers.
Food – I know you like junk, fried and other kinds of food, but keep those to particular days or on your off days.
Oxygen – just 10 minutes of any exercise that makes your heart rate go up will clear toxins from the body and provide the
oxygen required by the brain to metabolise energy.
Water – Your body needs at least 3 litres of water each day to ensure good circulation for your brain to function normally.
But there is one more level.
The last thing for top study performance is to manage your attention.
Let us say you are devoting time and are full of energy, but your mind is running in thousand directions. Of there are sounds, people, events happening that keep drawing your attention away from studying. In such a scenario, you will be unable to learn or retain whatever you study.
The study will only happen if you can pay attention to it.
Therefore, it is essential to realise that being a top student requires not just time management but also energy management and your attention to studies.
Next time you make time to study ( time management), make sure you are in top physical form ( energy management) and are aware of keeping your focus ( attention management).
Do these three things, and you will see a leap in your ability to understand and remember.
Ninad Sharma