Today’s idea is a short one, but quite a powerful one. It’s time management with a twist: we’re learning the skill of streamlining and prioritising, we’re letting go of old habits and we’re making space in our routines.
We’re freeing our frazzled, exhausted and overwhelmed minds.
It’s Time to Prioritise
We talk a lot on the Exam Study Expert podcast about things to DO, ways to help you study smarter.
But here’s the thing: if you just keeping ADDING tasks to your overall system, it doesn’t work. Your time is limited. You can only do so much.
We need to make choices, we need to learn how to prioritise. But how do you know you’re choosing to subtract the right tasks from your list? The right parts of your study strategies?
Well, let’s look at 3 examples of this to illustrate how you can get started:
By William Wadsworth, the Cambridge University trained cognitive psychologist and specialist in how to study smarter, not harder. He leads the world’s largest research study on use of effective learning strategies, is regular exam prep expert for The Times, and hosts the Exam Study Expert podcast, with 1 million downloads to date.
Additional research. graphics, and article review by Dr Kerri-Anne Edinburgh
Problem 1: Too Much Wellbeing?
The first relates to wellbeing and self-care advice.
I’ve met students in the past who’ve taken their self-care very seriously – they’ve added in meditation, they’ve added in exercise, they’ve added in journalling. Maybe they’re even adding in regular time to connect with friends, as we explored recently in a conversation with Dr Kimberly Horn on the benefits of human connection. We can all benefit from being a little more connected, even when we are super busy as I know many of you are.
They’re checking all the boxes they’ve been told to check, they’re doing All The Things! And they feel totally exhausted and overwhelmed.
I might take a look at my coaching clients’ google calendars and feel exhausted myself – it’s a complete hustle to make it all happen. These students – and perhaps you too – need to learn the skill of prioritisation.
Solution 1: Reducing The Strain on Your Calendar
For some people, the path to better wellbeing is through addition. You benefit hugely from starting to incorporate one or more of those habits.
But when life is crammed so full it’s bursting out at the seams, we need to take a beat and figure out what we can dial back, even if it’s just for a season.
I’m not saying to drop all the wellbeing habits. But even for those you do, you might benefit from temporarily reigning them back a little. For example, do a 15 minute workout in the morning rather than 90 minutes.
Where Else Is Your Calendar Bursting At The Seams?
But we also look to the other areas of our lives to find places we can make space by letting go of excess activities.
For my younger students, maybe this is your extra-curriculars. There is no shame in quitting or pausing for a season at least some of your sport, music, theatre etc. I absolutely love that stuff too and was a very serious choral a capella and theatre guy growing up.
But when the academic demands ramp up and you’re schedule is so tight you can’t breathe, something needs to give.
For my listeners who are a little further on in their journey, taking your board exams or professional certifications as part of your career, there are other places you could look. Is it possible to dial back your work commitments for a season, maybe dropping a day a week, or even taking an extended study leave completely?
Could you get a little more help around the house or with your family if you have responsibilities at home? Again, not necessarily forever, but for a season? This may not be how you’d want to live long-term, but this may be the smart choice for now.
The “Easy Button” – Making Smart Choices
When things get busy for us, my wife and I talk about the “easy button”. When faced with a choice in an intense season of life, we may choose to press our easy button: we simplify everyday life.
That’s not necessarily what we feel is the best thing long-term: it may cost a little more in the short term. It may mean we eat a little more simply to save on meal prep time, it may mean certain projects and fun activities get put on hold. But sometimes it’s the right call to press that easy button for now, and resume normal service on the other side.
Problem 2: Too Many Study Strategies?
The second thing I wanted to talk about is what happens when you learn about a newer, more effective way of studying.
Maybe you’re an experienced scholar, and you’re used to studying one way for a long time. Then you discover a new study method, perhaps through the Exam Study Expert podcast.
A trap we can all fall into is ADDING the new way to our study system, rather than using it to REPLACE the old way.
This sounds like a fairly basic point to make when I put it like that, but time and time again, this has been one of the key conversations I have with new coaching clients. In some cases, they come to me already aware of some of the smarter options, maybe they’ve been tuning into our podcast for some time. But generally, they’re feeling overwhelmed because they’re still trying to do a bit of everything. Maybe they grew up making notes or doing a lot of re-reading, and they’re still trying to do those things in addition to the new things. They know what’s right to do, but my job as a coach is to help them build the confidence to let go of the less helpful things.
Solution 2: Having The Confidence to Let Go of Old Methods
So how to build that confidence to invest your time only in the newer, more effective study strategies that you’ve discovered? It’s a bit like getting rid of a comforting old blanket. Yes, it can be hard for many students – but the sooner you move on, the more streamlined you’ll find your time.
Look out for this struggle playing out in your own study sessions – and if it is, please come and talk to me, and we can do some study coaching and I can help you through.
The sense of peace that you’re on the best path is often a key thing that comes out of an early couple of coaching sessions together – people often come to me for the strategies, the practical tactical stuff to optimise your approach to learning and memorisation, optimise your routine, and so on.
And I’ll certainly give you the best tools in your situation to do all that, but that reassurance that you’re doing the right things, the confidence to focus on what matters and put down the rest, and the peace that comes from that? That’s always one of my favourite things to see in my students. I’d love to help you with that too, if you’re struggling to let go of your old comfortable (but less effective) study habits.
Problem 3: Too Many Study Tasks?
Third and finally, there’s a point I want to make that’s quite closely related to the last one, but now thinking less about HOW you’re studying and more about WHAT you’re studying.
Sometimes, students come to me feeling overwhelmed because they’ve got so many choices on resources to study from. They don’t know which to prioritise.
There’s a revision guide, a textbook or several, notes they got from peers; sets of Brainscape or Anki cards they inherited from someone; maybe their own materials they used in the past; there are webinars or course videos to review, past papers to work from. And for some of my older students, there’s academic material to review too: journals, recent papers, review articles, official guidelines from your field’s governing body and so forth.
Solution 3: Make a Stand and Set Limits on Your Study Tasks
You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.
As a rule of thumb, I think many of us start to feel overwhelmed if we’re trying to do more than 3 core tasks each week. Imagine what that might look like, choosing just three tasks.
So that might be progressing flashcard making and testing, maybe a bit of past paper practice, maybe one of your resources to review.
And yes, if you’re working with multiple subjects or exams in parallel, you might have 2-3 things per subject.
But try and avoid trying to progress 5, 6, 7 … 10 different things in parallel for a given subject or exam each week, because your brain will spin trying to juggle all those different tracks. And as a result, you won’t feel you’re making meaningful progress anywhere.
Like a magnifying glass focusing the rays of the sun onto a piece of paper, you want to be focusing that energy so strongly the paper ignites. I suggest avoiding spreading yourself too thin and rather focusing your energies in just a few key well-chosen areas, and so igniting your progress.
Simpler is Better: Getting Help and Avoiding Overwhelm
And the simpler your plan feels, the less the brain spins, the less we feel overwhelmed and the calmer we are.
Again, this kind of decision-making is often a key area I help my coaching clients with.
If you’re a regular listener to the Exam Study Expert podcast, or visitor to this blog, and you’re facing a big exam or set of exams (whether it’s at school, uni or part of your career), and if you’re not already one of my coaching clients – what are you waiting for?
The first step in getting some help is an exploratory chat to get to know each other, talk through how you’re getting on, and explore how I might be able to help and what a good plan could look like for you.
While it’s never too late to make a difference, the best time to start work on simplifying and streamlining your life is always now.
The sooner we can optimise your approach to studying and self-care, and make you 10%, 20%, 50% more effective in each week of your learning, then the longer you have to benefit from those gains. And ultimately the more successful you’ll be.
It’s Time to Make a Difference in Your Life
This next exam matters to you, it’s why you’re here looking for advice, so I really do hope you find the confidence to take the next step and simplify: today.
I warmly encourage you to go away today implement the advice you’ve found here: take a hard look at your study strategies and tasks, at your self-care routine and extracurriculars. And choose something in each area to subtract.
Let’s prioritise and free up your time and your brain.
Wishing you every success, as always, in your studies.
