How to cultivate lasting study habits.

You may be taken aback by what you are going to learn from this post. It is not what you would normally hear from conventional wisdom, nevertheless it is nothing but the truth. The first thing you need to do before you can get anywhere near the cultivation of lasting habits is to have patience. 

The impatience that gives birth to the desire to achieve significant milestones in short periods of time is what mostly leads to the breakdown of many study systems. If you want to cultivate lasting study habits, then you need to take it real easy and slow. 

Sure it sucks that you are so far behind in studies and you may so badly want to cover that voluminous amount of study material in some few months, or at most, a year. That is perfectly understandable but going along that way will see you beginning the journey with high-spirited enthusiasm only to come to a sudden stop when your willpower, (the fuel for the journey) quickly runs out. You don't want that. Slow down. Lose that burning desire of getting much done in so little a time, and get comfortable with pursuing your goal little by little. Remember, the real goal here is the cultivation of lasting study habits. This is a long-term game. Real and lasting habits take long to form so have patience, relax, you have a long way to go. 

Having come to terms with the fact that you are playing the long-term game, you need next to set the time duration for your study session. Begin with a very small length of time that you know you will have no problem sticking to (say 30 minutes). You can increase the duration of your study session when you become convinced that you have successfully created the habit. Determine also exactly when you are going to sit your butt down to study (say 6pm). 

Now that you have your study time set, you need to lay down some ground rules:

• As soon as it is 6:00 pm, set a timer to 30 minutes and sit down to study your material. 
• During your period of study, focus on the material, interact with the text, and follow through the material. Patiently work through all the necessary exercises. 
• Stop studying immediately when your timer goes off. You are not allowed to spend any more time studying each day than your study session permits you to. This is to help train your discipline in following your own rules. 
• Shut off all distractions and focus intensely on the material you are studying. As much as possible, use the same spot or position. This will help condition your mind to the habit and make it stick more easily. 

Never be in a hurry. Force yourself to take it slow. Anyone can do it if they actually want to. Trust me, it will pay off in the long run.