Summary Why Studying is so Boring (and How to Enjoy it) - YouTube (Youtube) www.youtube.com
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Speaker 0 We ran a poll on our Youtube community and not surprisingly, the majority of us agree, studying is boring.
Speaker 1 But I've spent over 10 years building my learning skills now teaching them program study quests, and I never thought I'd say this, but suddenly as kind of fun. So I wanna share 3 lessons for my personal journey that it made studying not just bare, but actually enjoy a if studying is boring to you, you're not hitting a learning sweet spot, the way that you're studying doesn't engage your brain to enjoy learning Robert Bi describes this concept called desired difficulties, where there's an optimal level of effort we need to ex (and a sweet spot in order to both enjoy and learn from study if it's too easy, we'll get bored. But if it's too challenging, get frustrated in also bored. Think that like playing a video game. Let's use (and.
Speaker 1 At you get better and you win matches, you gonna rank up and queue against more competitive players. But what if you were only allowed to play against come to plea loops, you know, like first time players. The first few pub stops you know, might feel pretty satisfying, but eventually, you're gonna get really bored and then stop playing. On the other end, if you're thrown matches against the best pros in the world. You're gonna get steam rolled over and over.
Speaker 1 No matter how much effort you put in. They're just too good. And, yeah, you'll probably also get bored and stop playing best our brain enjoys a challenge, but not futility. If it feels pointless to try both trying too hard or not trying at all, it is really hard to enjoy what we're doing. But if we hit that challenge sweet spot, which Bj found to be just a little bit outside of our comfort zone.
Speaker 1 It's addictive to our brain. And yes, this is partly why we can play video games for 5 great hours without feeling bored. But there's a very important nuance to desire difficulties that I wanna talk about. Just because we hit that sweet spot, doesn't necessarily mean it's better for learning. Great because studying and learning are not the same thing.
Speaker 1 Studying is like the physical actions
Speaker 0 and the study techniques that
Speaker 1 we use. Learning is what we get out of using those. So it's more than just about making it more effort. We need to hit that sweet spot for the right type of effort. For example, I can make practicing flashcards more challenging by dimming the lights in the or putting a movie on in the background.
Speaker 1 Like, sure, that's more challenging because not gonna help me get more out of doing flashcards. So the question I ask myself when I'm bored isn't just how can I chew challenge myself more? But how can I challenge myself, think about (and I'm learning more? Reviewing the same flashcards cards 10 time, but even 20 more times for my exam, more challenging sure and in hindsight regret. It's something I used to do a lot in medical school with, like, funky and rem notes.
Speaker 1 But challenging myself that way with doing more reps. Doesn't make me think about the information any differently. I'm not learning anything new (and Review that flash card again. Therefore, I'm not challenging my brain to think. I'm gonna get bored.
Speaker 1 What if instead, you laid out 5 flashcards on your table and then you challenge yourself to find what are the similarities and differences between these different concepts or how can I describe what this flash card is saying using (and analogy? Turn it into a game. And now you're engaging your brain to think differently. So next if you're the type of student that can't focus on a subject, then you don't see why it matters. I'm sure you've probably thought while studying why am I learning this because this information is useless and I'm never gonna use it.
Speaker 1 If you have to ask yourself that question, then you need to make it matter and make it more relevant. I'm not gonna lie in medical school, there were a lot of classes that use I felt this way about, Particularly like biochemistry and ob. But I found allergy medicine really interesting and fun learn about. And I'm positive now. It's because I personally Suffer from terrible allergies.
Speaker 1 I have food allergies. I can't eat peanuts, cashews and butter nuts. I can't drink alcohol without turning into a tomato, you know, being outside all year (and makes my eyes and my nose cry, I (and pets because dog and cat dan. Even my own sweat, break my entire body out in hive. And because allergies impact me on such a deep and emotional level, learning about how that works was like learning about myself, It was like I was solving my own problem.
Speaker 1 So that got me thinking. If I can figure out a way to understand how the thing I'm studying is used to... Solve real world problems. Would that make it more interesting and the answer was absolutely yes. Like say physics class learning about frequency (and pitch and all you see are the equation, It's a pretty elusive concept to grasp (and it's hard to see how that's useful.
Speaker 1 But what if instead you learned it in the context of how a piano works or how Guitar produces music. Now all of a sudden, understanding sound waves and frequencies and pitch becomes super interesting because it's irrelevant to how it's being used in the real world. So my point is if what your learning, seems boring irrelevant, then make it relevant. As chat, how is this concept being used in the real world? Watch documentary about or watch some Youtube videos about it.
Speaker 1 Read up on case studies. If you can understand why a concept matters to solve our own problems or how it use the solvent other people's problems, especially the people that we admire look up to, like other creators or influencers or celebrities and stuff. It immediately becomes much more interesting 10+ enjoyable. Finally, studying might be boring because you view it as a chore. Not a lot of people get a dopamine rush from taking out the trash or cleaning the toilet.
Speaker 1 Those are things that we we have to do, not necessarily the things that we want to do but you can change your perspective and stop viewing studying like a chore. And the reason this works is because of how our brain interprets perceived control. When we feel like we have no control, we get stressed out, hopeless in the Mel motivation. But if we can reframe our mindset to look at things, real (and of gratitude, we can actually enjoy it. Because the only thing that we (and control is our mindset.
Speaker 1 It's like if you're baking a cake for your friend's birthday, and you think ugh I have to make this stupid cake because they want it, it's gonna be such a drag. That statement in itself comes from a place of having no perceived control. If you think instead, I (and make this cake because I know to make them happy and I like doing nice things from my friends. Then it becomes something you actually enjoy. You've regained control because you want to do it for your own fulfillment.
Speaker 1 And so think about this in terms of studying. If you know you're gonna spend 20 hours studying for next week's exam, like that's for sure gonna happen, how do you wanna approach it you can either be stressed out (and feel like you have to study, like it's a chore or you can accept it, relax, and enjoy the process. The choice yours. You're gonna study 20 hours either the way. Do you want it to be stressful or do you want to be joyful?
Speaker 1 Now if you'll notice the thing that each of these 3 lessons haven't? Common is how they're focused on what's happening in her brain versus what's happening on our computers or on her notes. And that's because enjoying learning has nothing to do with the actual study techniques or the fan apps we use. It's all about the way we train our brain to think about information to make it matter to us on an emotional and relevant level and to see it from a class half full versus half empty point of view. These are all topics and mindset that Mike and I dive really deep into (and study quests.
Speaker 1 Our learning skills program to help you all build systems to learn smarter and infectious faster than less time. So if that interests you definitely check it out, enrollment will be opening up again soon or it might already be open depending on when you're watching this video. In any case, I hope these lessons were helpful for you. If you wanna know how I tricked my brain to be addicted and love studying. You're also gonna wanna check out this video right over here.