The internet. We see it as this demonic presence that we must stay away from if we want to focus. We see it as this infinite space of distraction and demotivation – as somewhere that will pull your attention away from where it should be and make you waste hours watching videos of cats or finding out what base of pizza you are. And yes, it can be all of these things – but it can also the complete opposite if used correctly. Believe it or not, the internet can be used to help motivate you to do and work actually keep you focussed. You can tailor the internet so that if you do end up looking at your phone, in the middle of a task, what you see online will push you to go back to your work.
Part of being able to do this is knowing where to look on the internet and tailoring your personal streams and feeds to be filled with certain types of material. This will range from niche websites and social networks to major social platforms, such as youtube and tumblr. Everywhere you look on the net, you can tailor it to motivate you and keep you focused on your work. I’m going to tell you how.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a great source to help motivate you. On one hand, it can be distracting, filled with videos and gifs that will pull you away from focussing on your work – but when used correctly it can do the exact opposite. The trick is to follow blogs within the Tumblr sub-community of studyblr. It’s a great community that I discovered back during A-levels and it has definitely played a large role in motivating me to work hard and trying to achieve the best that I can. The community is one filled with students who strive for the best – people share study tips, their notes etc – and you’ll notice a large amount of pride in the presentation and visuals of people’s notes and work. This in itself is part of what makes the community what it is and also what helps to motivate. It shows the dedication, pride and time that people put into their work, and it makes you think if they’re doing it why can’t I. By following these types of blogs, it means that when, in your moment of weakness, you go on your phone and click on Tumblr, instead of being distracted, you’ll be met with a feed of studying and work, motivating you to put your phone away and get on with whatever you are doing.
Youtube
Likewise, youtube can work in a similar way. There is a whole community of studytube out there of people you create videos about their studying, revision, techniques and tips. Beyond this, though, youtube is so vast that you can find content creators specific to the course you study. I, myself, have found a few really great law youtube, such as lilylikecom, that help to keep me motivated and wanting to do well. Just as with Tumblr, when you go on your phone to watch youtube and get distracted, you will be met with a list of study or work-related videos – as such, you will either be motivated to put the phone down or, if you watch a video, will more than likely feel uber motivated post-video, and thus get on with your work.
I’m in danger of sounding repetitive now, but Instagram is essentially the same thing as Tumblr. The studygram community is a great place to share your workspaces and notes, whilst helping you to feel motivated and get work done. You will find tons of amazing accounts where people share the most amazingly crafted notes, bullet journals, goals and so much more, including handy printables and sheets to aid your learning. Beyond this, it also opens a multitude of doors to meet and talk to like-minded people. This helps by not only motivating you but also aiding your understanding and knowledge of certain subjects and topics (if you can find someone studying the same course as you, this is. But with Instagram having so many active users you are bound to find people studying the same subject as yourself.) And likewise, as above, whenever you find your finger tips wondering, ready to press Instagram and waste valuable minutes browsing at cats and coffees, you will instead be met with stationary, printables and aesthetically pleasing notes – reminding you, of course, that you should, in fact, be working.
So as you can see there are a multitude of ways to stop yourself procrastinating through a range of social medias that are likely to distract you. What’s more, though, is that by using these methods and finding these niches, they will expose and introduce you to whole new studying / educational communities, where you will find like-minded and focused people. Not only does this give you the chance to connect with others like yourself, but beyond just stopping procrastination, it will help to provide you with a level of motivation and drive you may have not had before – because on one hand, these communities motivate you due to the aesthetic and guilt, but they also motivate you because the people posting as your competition, and if they’re doing the work, you should be too.
I hope these tips help you to overcome any distraction issues you may be having and hopefully turn that procrastination into no-crastination.
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