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Study Hacks & Learning Techniques

The Smartest Study Differently
HACK MY STUDY is a free resource dedicated to teaching the
most effective study strategies and techniques. More tutorials:
hackmystudy.com
By Leo Fuchigami

Copyright HACK MY STUDY 2010 CC BY-NC [ No commercial reproduction ]

How To Stop Procrastinating & Increase

Motivation
Is your willpower not enough to overcome procrastination? Use these powerful
techniques to become a productivity master.

Table of Contents
1. Use Social Reinforcement .......................................................................................................... 3
2. Reverse Convenience Factors .................................................................................................. 3
3. Define Your Ideal Self ................................................................................................................... 4
4. Simplify & Clarify Goals ............................................................................................................... 6
Learn More ............................................................................................................................................. 7

Copyright HACK MY STUDY 2010 CC BY-NC [ No commercial reproduction ]

1. Use Social Reinforcement

Social Contracts
Make yourself accountable to someone other than yourself, by betting them you will
accomplish a certain goal. There should be both a prize and a reward, but it should not
exceed $20. The value of the bet is not as important as how much you respect the
other person. Make sure its someone you look up to (class rival, parent, best friend,
etc.) so youre motivated not to disappoint him/her.
Example: You bet you will get 90% or more on the math mid-term. If you win, your
friend has to buy you lunch. If you lose, you have to buy him lunch. In exchange, your
friend makes the same bet for his science mid-term. An awesome side-effect of this
agreement is that it can help you make new friends and become closer with your
existing friends!

Study Partners
A good study partner will:

push you to study when youre feeling lazy

make studying more enjoyable

help you process information when youre stuck

help you better understand ideas and concepts by discussing them orally

provide a different perspective

share notes and tips

These are invaluable advantages that cannot be replicated by effort or technology.

However, a bad study partner can have an equally negative effect, so make sure to be
selective about who you study with.

2. Reverse Convenience Factors

Its difficult to ignore Facebook or YouTube when its just a click away. The key to
avoiding these things is to introduce barriers to these distractions before you start
studying. You can do this by:

blocking distracting websites

turning off the wi-fi/internet on your computer

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turning your smartphone off, on silent or disabling the wi-fi (i.e. putting it on
airplane mode)

leave your electronic devices in another room

By taking these steps before you start, you signal to yourself that youre serious about
studying and introduce layers of inconvenience to distraction.

3. Define Your Ideal Self

Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the
person you became will meet the person you could have become. -Anonymous
Its difficult to be motivated when you dont understand how the task is important.
Thats why its important to connect every small task to a larger goal in life. The best
way to do this is to start define a life goal and work backwards. Take 5 minutes to a
complete the task below.

My Ideal Self Statements

In the future, I will(choose 1 or more relevant statements, or make your own)

graduate from [ university ]

obtain a [education degree /certification in ]

graduate with a [ GPA ]

learn how to speak [ language ]

obtain a job in [ title/position/company ]

earn an annual salary of [ $ ]

travel to [ countries ]

save [ $ ] by [ age ]

do [ activity ]

master [ skill ]

be recognized for my [ ability/characteristic ]

change the world by [ achievement ]

conquer my fear of [ thing ]

In order to do this, I will need to(choose 1 or more relevant statements, or make your
own)

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study [course]

obtain [%] in [course]

be in the top [%] of the [school/state/district/province/country]

obtain work experience at [company/type of company]

obtain a job as a [position]

Let these goals sink in deeply and start asking questions about how all of your current
academic activities are connected to these goals.

How many years will it take?

What will you have to sacrifice?

What challenges will you have to face?

Whos help do you need?

Who can you ask to help guide you in achieving these goals?

How much money will it take?

What will it mean to fail?

By answering these questions early on and connecting your short-term goals to your
life-goals, you can identify whats truly important and apply a purpose and direction to
your current work and tasks.

Example

In the future, I want to earn an annual salary of $80,000 USD.

o In order to do this, I will need to obtain a job at a Fortune 500 company

In order to do this, I will need to

graduate from university with a Business and Computer

Science degree
o In order to do this, I will need to

graduate from high school with a 90%/4.0

GPA

obtain leadership experience by volunteering,

playing team sports and organizing school
events

get work experience at a startup, small or medium sized

business as a junior developer

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6
o In order to do this, I will need to obtain work
experience by working part-time

build an application or web service

o In order to do this, I will need to

learn how to build applications in my spare

time

spend an average of 15 hours a week studying

programming or programming

As you can see, in this way, you can work backwards from a simple goal and create a
clear picture of how everything you do is connected to achieving that goal.

4. Simplify & Clarify Goals

Most people make the mistake of defining tasks that are too ambiguous or too
complex.
Take, for example, the seemingly simple task of cleaning your room.
Scenario A

Scenario B

Clean your room

1.
2.
3.
4.

Put your clothes away

Clean your desk
Vacuum the floor
Clean the bed sheets

Its quite obvious that Clean your room is actually a combination of smaller tasks. By
breaking breaking down goals into simple and clear tasks, you achieve several things:

you get the psychological benefit of finishing many tasks in Scenario A, you
only officially complete 1 task, but in Scenario B, you complete 4

you build momentum once youve finished mini-task 1, youll be more

motivated to continue to mini-task 2

you have a much better idea of how long it takes its easier to estimate how
long something takes when the task is smaller

Copyright HACK MY STUDY 2010 CC BY-NC [ No commercial reproduction ]

its harder to cheat in Scenario A, you might get tired halfway through and
decide youve done enough. In Scenario B, its obvious that theres still work to
be done.

This is the power of simple, clear tasks versus complex, ambiguous goals. When
setting goals for yourself, spend a minute to break them down into smaller, more
manageable steps. This process will have the added benefit of giving you a much
better idea of the goal and all the work it entails.

Learn More
For more free tutorials, visit hackmystudy.com.
Topics include:
How to speed read
How to memorize more effectively
How to manage your time
How to beat procrastination
How to take notes in class
How to memorize textbooks
And more!
New tutorials published every week.

Copyright HACK MY STUDY 2010 CC BY-NC [ No commercial reproduction ]