Distractions

One last thing to keep in mind when you are studying is you want to limit the amount of things that could possibly distract you.  While some distractions may be good from time to time, you do not want something that is going to catch your attention every other minute. 

Make sure you put your cell phone on silent.  I am a person that doesn’t always do this to start and then when I get into actually studying I realize what a big distraction my cell phone is.  I am tempted to look at it to talk to people or check my email.  Even when it is on silent sitting out sometimes I am still tempted.  My phone has a light that blinks when I get something new so I may just look to see if the light starts blinking.  What I have learned helps prevents me from checking my cell phone is putting it away.  Out of sight out of mind.  By putting it away I am not tempted to constantly look at it because my phone is not in front of me as a constant reminder.  I use checkpoints in my studying to decide when I will check to see if there is anything new.

If you are a person that uses their computer while they study Facebook, Twitter, and any other type of social media can be a constant distraction.  If you can, turn off your Internet if you will not need it.  This is an easy way to prevent yourself from going on such sites.  If this is not enough to stop you from going on the sites because you are a person who will turn your Internet back on I learned of a program called SelfControl.  SelfControl makes it so that you can choose the websites that you want to block to keep from distracting yourself.  You are able to select the amount of time that you would like the sites to be blocked.  Once you have set SelfControl there is no way to undo it.  It does not matter if you turn of your computer; the program keeps working and will not allow you to go on the websites listed until the set time runs out.  I have found SelfControl to work the best for myself just because very often I will need to access ANGEL while I am studying.  I have also noticed that once I cannot access these websites I have no desire to.