Studying Tips

My Overall Tips in Learning

Stay in Focus & Avoid Distractions

For me to stay focused while studying, I naturally only have related things within my vicinity. I sit on my computer, play my Study Lo-Fi playlist, open up Wezterm (terminal) and Nvim (editor), open my browser on the resources and documentation I’m studying, have everything else closed, and start up Pomofocus.io (pomodoro timer). I avoid having YouTube, Discord, or anything else within my view as having these up within my peripheral vision can distract my attention whenever I feel any ‘discomfort’ during the study. By ‘discomfort’ I mean times when I feel I don’t want to study anymore and want to do something else ‘more enjoyable or sweet’ (my brain tells me). I enjoy studying, but when I’m honed in on a problem or material that I’m struggling with and finding not as enjoyable, this ‘discomfort’ starts to creep in leading me to find something ‘more enjoyable or sweet’ like distractions… No! I instead look at how much has passed (or wait till a pomodoro timer is up), get up from my chair, take a needed short break, and walk around the house before I sit down and continue my focus again.

Essentially, focusing can be hard, and getting distracted can be easy. And too many distractions can lead to less studying. To properly focus one should set up their environment and habits for success, making it difficult to be distracted in the first place. I don’t do much social media, YouTube, or video games. Instead, I get distracted by wanting to learn something else, hence I believe it’s very helpful to set the time, the environment, and focus for the duration in advance so one can adhere to these and efficiently be productive. How that works for you is ultimately what you will need to figure out as you go through your journey, the earlier the better.

Consistency and Schedule

Having a set schedule is important as well to avoid procrastination, I hear myself at times, “I will start in 30 mins” or “I can push it back for an hour and just study an hour longer later… maybe”. All of these add up and over a week, a month, or a year, a lot of hours that could’ve been spent learning could ultimately be instead spent on avoiding learning. I think setting a schedule whether it be 2–3 hours a day, Monday to Friday, mornings or evenings, or a mix of these help tremendously in the long run. We are not sprinting from the start to finish, it is a marathon, a long endeavor, and thus having a schedule ready helps us get into learning the material.

“Now that I’ve started, how will I stick to it?” That is called staying consistent. By having a set schedule to work through the material, I’ve been able to consistently make progress and log in my desired hours for the week. Together with the help of Pomofocus.io, a pomodoro timer app, I can consistently adhere to clocking in focused hours to learn the materials. Getting short breaks in between pomodoro timers gives me the needed rest to continue another focused 25-30 minutes. I think knowing that on the previous day, I went and spent good hours studying (with focus) helps me take accountability for my own time and this urge me to easily start my next scheduled learning again. Now I do understand this might not have the same effect on others as it does on me, but give it a try and find out.

Avoid Burnout

Studying close to full time each day is a TON of hours for most people, and it is for me as well. However, this is not a necessary amount nor is required to go through the material. I decided that these hours was my goal each day, as this is both my passion and the only significant responsibility I currently have in my life at this moment. Thus my goal is to get ~30+ hours of study in a week. My recommendation however is to decide how many hours you can set aside to focus on studying. As I believe it is important to have a study time set aside in which you will avoid distractions, and give all of your focus. And certainly, different people have different habits and hours they can focus on a given task. It is up to the person to gauge and decide what they can handle and how they will make the most out of it.

What that entailed for me was to portion my study time so I can achieve ~30+ hours in a week usually Monday to Friday and have the weekends as a complete break separate from studying. If I ever felt the urge to go study (which I often do when I’m away), I instead read articles and watch YouTube videos of game development. This way I can separate myself from reading study materials and give my brain a needed rest.

Maybe you have a job during the weekdays, and only have more time during the weekend, that is fine. You can portion some of your study time into the weekend. The key takeaway here: Set time aside to completely be away and take a break so that your physical and mental can make some recovery.

Keep Healthy Habits

I’d like to add this last, as it is incredibly important for a person to stay healthy on this journey. We as aspiring software engineers spend most of our time sitting at our computer, learning, coding, and eventually for our work. This is not healthy for a human being. Thus it is crucial not only for our well-being but also for learning. Get good quality sleep for our brain and body to recover from activities yesterday. Don’t forget to eat our meals to replenish our energy for upcoming activities throughout the day. And exercise so our health and body stay strong as we go through this journey. Sitting for hours and hours coding deteriorates our bones, our posture, and overall our body. So make sure to sit up straight with good posture, stand up when you take breaks, get some exercises in as a routine, and always stay hydrated!