SWS Tips: How to Learn Smarter, Not Harder

How To Learn Smarter, not harder

The length of time you spend on learning is not crucial for the effectiveness of your studying. Also, learning hard doesn’t ensure that you will learn something. Being wise about how you learn is the key. We are going to give you some scientifically proven tips on how to learn smarter and more productive.

As a young athlete who aims towards better athletic results, you probably don’t have much time to spend on learning. That is ok because the amount of time you spend learning is not a determining factor. Sport World School online programs and learning materials are focused and more directed. You follow the material straight from the platform and on your own time, and you should make the most out of that. Online schooling doesn’t take a lot of time from your daily schedule, but that short amount is just enough if you are committed to studying materials.

In this article, we will share with you some useful tips on how to learn smarter. These tips are scientifically proven, and they usually give the best results.

Schedule Time for Learning

With online school, you get to make your own schedule. You are not obliged to “go” to the school early in the morning and stay there for a specific time. Our students can log-in to the platform and learn whenever they want. But don’t fall into a trap. Sometimes too much freedom pushes you into procrastination. Here’s your solution.

Create a schedule for online school every day and stick to that schedule. Pick at least two hours per day for learning. It is up to you whether it’s going to be at the same time each day, or if you will have different daily schedules. Similar to your training, it’s essential to develop a habit of studying every day.

Eliminate Distractions

Before you start learning, make sure that you eliminate anything that can distract you. Turn off notifications from your social media and put your smartphone to silent. Even better, leave your phone in a different room, and focus only on learning.

Smartphones steal your focus. For example, if you are learning and you get a notification, it will distract you for a moment, but you will need at least eight minutes to refocus the attention on what you were doing in the first place. Put the phone away. The same goes for your browser on the computer. Do not open social networks or anything else other than the platform, because it will just draw away your attention.

Short Study Sessions

Nobody likes long study sessions, they are dreadful and useless. Learning in short study sessions is much better. Focus on one subject for 30 minutes, then make a five to 10 minutes break and continue. You can carry on with the same subject, or you can move onto the next one if you finished with the first one.

With short study sessions, you are forced to learn your lessons in chapters, which makes it easier to remember. To conclude, it is much better to study one subject for half an hour every day, then to take several hours-long study sessions in a single day.

Take Breaks During Studying

In case those 30-minutes long study sessions don’t work for you, and you need to learn at least 45 minutes to one hour or more – it’s still ok. Just make sure that you take breaks during your studies. Brain gets clustered if you don’t rest. So, make a pause – listen to your favorite song, or stretch a leg, and then go back to learning. Your brain will be refreshed and will easier remember the material that you are about to study.

Don’t Just Go Over Your Notes, Retell the Lesson

It’s always good to take notes, but just going over your notes won’t be enough for you to remember what you are learning. Instead, tell a story about what you have learned to your mom, dad, or friends before the practice sessions. When you learn, act like you will have to re-tell that lesson to someone, rather than like you have to learn it because it will be in a quiz or test. This is a small but powerful mind trick that can help you a lot.

Don’t Study at Night

Even though sometimes you have to learn during the night, don’t make it your habit. Sleep is important for your health. Your brain needs to rest, the same as your body. Forcing it to “work” during the night is not good. Here’s another good reason why online schooling is better. At Sport World School, you can create your own schedule for studying based on your other responsibilities. You have to master your own time a little bit, but the good part is that you’ll never have to learn at night.

Learn Smart

As you can see, it’s much better to learn smart than to learn hard. We hope that you will find these tips helpful. Try them and feel free to tell us which one works the best for you.