Overcoming distractions
I will start by telling an incident from the life of Victor Hugo. He had promised his publisher a new book in twelve months. But in the next twelve months, instead of starting the work on this book, Hugo was hanging out with friends and involved in other time-wasting activities. The desperate publisher gave him a deadline that he should complete the book in less than six months. So Hugo devised a plan to overcome the act of procrastination. He asked one of his assistants to collect all his clothes and lock them up in another room. Hugo was left with only a large shawl to wear. The trick is when you have nothing to wear, you can't go out. Hugo completed the book in five months. It is his most famous work, the hunchback of Notre dame.
Two or three weeks back, I asked you how you are progressing with your studies. Some of you had replied that you struggle to continue at a steady pace. You are going very slowly or find it difficult to concentrate. Few have openly admitted that they find it very difficult even to start. All of us face such difficulties in one way or the other. If you find it challenging to start doing one thing, sit in front of your study table and read for two minutes, I mean one page of your textbook; repeat this later with all your texts. Just for two minutes. Do this for one week and observe whether you have any improvement or not (This is known as the two-minute rule)
If you struggle to cover the topics according to your timetable (You must have a schedule), look for the things distracting you. In most cases, it will be either a smartphone or TV. I know that during this pandemic, you are heavily dependent on the smartphone for your study purposes. If you want to minimize the time you spend on a smartphone, there are many solutions. You can keep it at a place in the study room, which is not easily accessible. You can keep the phone in another room or a locker after class time. Delete social media apps like Facebook and Instagram from your phone. You can log in whenever you want using the browser. It takes a little more time to log into your account through the browser than by using the app; after watching the TV unplug it and leave so that you must reconnect it next time when you want to watch. Your parents or siblings may have to reconnect it when they want to watch. Explain to them why you did so.
I hope you will practice these methods to improve your studies.
Wishing you success
Krishna Das