If previously only responsible students wondered how to do self-education, now, in the times of mass distance learning, this task is faced by every student. Everything matters – the goals you set, the time you study, and even the environment on your desk.
Why do you need self-education if you go to school anyway?
Self-education is not just about upgrading your skills and getting into a new profession. First of all, it is learning without a teacher who stands behind you and makes you do tasks.
It is fine if you do self-education or self-training in new skills and abilities. But it will also help in the usual preparation of homework, independent writing of coursework, or a diploma. By the way, remember that teachers often give outdated information about their subject.
This means that only self-education can get the necessary information and catch up with the necessary discoveries and information for future work. And if in the process of studying you realized that you would like to transfer to another specialty, only self-education will help to get the necessary knowledge to pass the exams.
So don’t hesitate to let different services such as McEssay do your homework and focus on self-education. No matter how you look at it, self-education will help in any field. The main thing that remains is to know where to start self-education.
Setting a goal and looking for motivation
How to engage in self-education, where to start? First, you need to understand why you need it. A rare person wants to do self-education for nothing. In order not to abandon self-development after the first steps, you must well understand why you do it and what it will give in the future.
Formulate a specific goal
“Pick up a subject” or “master a language” are very fuzzy goals, it’s hard to interpret them unambiguously. Another thing: “learn 10 rules,” “watch a foreign movie without subtitles,” “get an A for work.” At first, set very tiny goals that can be achieved in one or two sessions – so you won’t lose motivation in the beginning.
Set deadlines
You can watch the same movie in English without translation in three weeks, or you can watch it in a year. But in the second case, can you say that the work was successful? So a combination of a clear goal and a specific deadline is exactly what will spur you on in your self-study.
Come up with a reward
Even the smallest reward will boost your mood and cement the habit. After successful activities, you can drink delicious tea or go for a walk, and after reaching the goal – please yourself with a sit-down in a cafe or the purchase of some long-desired item.
Don’t quit after one skip
How often it seems that one unplanned day offsets back all progress! But nothing bad will happen from one skip. Just go back to your regular schedule the next day. Don’t berate yourself and work out twice as much (it can burn you out).
Your goals should be outside your comfort zone
A comfort zone is not an important or pleasant area for a person, as many people mistakenly think. It is a kind of “swamp” in which it is comfortable and familiar, and beyond which it is very scary to get out. There is no point in learning what you know and are good at. The goal of self-education is to push the boundaries and gain new knowledge.
Creating the necessary conditions
Now it is worth properly preparing your workplace because it is impossible to properly engage in self-education in unsuitable conditions.
Find a working environment
The place where you work out should be as comfortable as possible. If your goal is to learn to run a kilometer in three minutes, find your ideal stadium or route to practice. If you’re studying languages, choose a nice cafe or a quiet library. If you want to work out at home, you have to work on your surroundings.
Around the workplace, there should be nothing to distract you, and all the details should remind you of your studies. By the way, the ability to organize your study space will also come in handy in the future, if you work remotely.
Put things in order and get rid of unnecessary things
The desk should be free – hide unnecessary books and notebooks. Even the stationery should be put away in a pencil case. The fewer unnecessary items on the work surface, the less you’ll be distracted. The same goes for cords, phones, and a collection of coffee cups.
Décor plays an important role
Portraits of idols, complicated tables, and geographical maps are not the best options for wall decoration. You can hang simple diagrams and charts, which will quickly be remembered. Not a bad option would be motivational phrases or photos. The main thing is not to overdo the quantity, otherwise, instead of motivating, the decor will only distract.
Don’t get distracted by the process
It doesn’t matter where you start. There is no exact recipe for how to self-educate and in what order you must study a subject. Of course, it’s best to start with the basics so there’s no misunderstanding afterward. But in what order you go through the topics next – it does not matter at all. The main thing is not to stop and move forward.
Choose a variety of sources
Not only is it worthwhile to read different authors who may have different views. Information is much better absorbed with a variety of approaches. So, when learning a language, textbooks, dictionaries, fiction, movies, and watching English-language bloggers on YouTube can all help.
Try different approaches
Different people are better suited to different ways of memorizing information (be sure to read how storytelling techniques help, it is very interesting and useful). You can write outlines, draw diagrams, and simple charts. Lists, headings, clear text structure will be your helpers. The more visual illustrations will be near your notes, the better. Such techniques help not only to re-evaluate the information you write down but also to improve your visual memory.
Repeat what you have learned in time
This, of course, applies only to those who are engaged in improving their skills in theoretical subjects, not in creativity or sports. Effective self-education is impossible without going back to the information you’ve learned. Repeating passed material periodically (in the evening on the same day, in two days, and a week) will not allow you to forget the information you have learned.
How not to quit self-education in the middle of the road
How often it happens that a person with enthusiasm takes up the work, and then quits it in a couple of months at best! Even if there was nothing wrong with the motivation, and the goal has not yet been reached. There may be several reasons for this.
- Disinterest. How can you do self-education if you don’t see the point in it? It’s worth thinking about your motivation: whether you set the goal correctly and whether you need to achieve it.
- Disappointment in the results. You need to understand that after a week the results are unlikely to be overwhelming. Just do not give up – keep working, and in a month or two you will notice progress.
- There are a lot of difficulties. If you decide to plunge immediately into training, it will be too difficult. It is better to move gradually, in small steps. Then the work will be much easier.
- Too a boring process. In this case, it is worth working on the organization of training – perhaps you just haven’t found the right way for you.
If you already have a feeling that you are about to quit, try to change the type of activity. You need to find a way to learn information that is playful and interesting to you. Books, movies, themed computer games, drawing, teaching less experienced friends – try to connect getting new information with your hobbies.
Your main task is to make daily self-study a habit, even if you only sit down for 15 minutes a day. And, when the mood to study returns, you can gradually increase the time and intensity of classes. This is the only way you can accustom yourself to constantly learning new information, and not forget what you studied before.
