Staying Focused

Bonjour, little bugs.

This is a mean one, mister Grinch. This is a post to whip you into shape, straighten you out, get you back on track. Slipping into the dense fog of educational apathy? Losing your motivation? Questioning your place in humanity?

Stop that.

You are stupendous, and you need to remember to center yourself sometimes. I'm here to help.

In Class

Sometimes it seems like everything is droning on and on and there are a lot more interesting things happening than whatever is going on in class. That doesn’t matter, though. You need to remember why you are at school at all. For them, you are there to absorb information to such an enormous degree that you can recall it all for an exam in which you compete against everyone around you. You aren’t there to mess around. If you don’t pay attention in class, you won’t learn it initially, therefore making it impossible to recall when the test comes. For your own good, you are also there to learn, enrich yourself with the material to the absolute fullest, and expand your knowledge in in infinite, beautiful, and ever-lasting way. Don't take that for granted.

To stay focused in class, ignore everyone but your instructor. No matter who it is, they’re not as important to you in that moment. You have plenty of free time throughout the day. Class time is not free, it is essential to you. They can wait. As far as you’re concerned, they don’t exist. Tell them that you can’t focus in class unless you give the teacher 100% of your attention. I am a frequent victim of this. I am chatty. I have a lot to say. I get distracted and strike up conversation and in the end it always poses as an obstacle for me. Of course I don't remember anything from the lecture--I was talking about Arrested Development half the time.

Don’t look at the clock at all. If you get preoccupied by how much time is left, you won’t be able to think about the material or give it 100% of your attention. You’re not in a rush.

While Studying

Since you’re on your own when you study, it’s easy to drift off. Don’t let that happen.

Turn your phone on airplane mode or off completely. There is no one more important than the work you are doing. They can wait. Seriously. Turn it off. You won’t miss anything important.

No music unless it’s classical or symphonic. Any music with vocals or percussion disrupt your cognitive function and you absorb only half the things you are trying to read. That’s half of your work time wasted. Put your iPod away. Don’t listen to anyone talk, either. No youtube; that’s even more distracting. Learn to work in silence, because that’s when you have complete and total devotion to your work. You will make less mistakes (seriously!) and retain everything you read.

Stay fed! Nibble on something. Have a beverage. Nourish yourself. Your health is just as important as your performance, and you can't perform if you're not hydrated and fed. You'll be more alert and significantly more pleased with having to work.

Keep a Planner

You think you don’t need a planner, right? You’re wrong. You do need a planner. Every student needs a planner. Even if you don’t have much going on right now, you will have a ridiculous amount of things going on in the future, and knowing how to keep a planner will save your life as you take more AP’s, and especially as you enter college.

First step is to buy one. When you are looking for one, make sure it has the following:

• A page with a full monthly calendar before every month
• You will use this page to mark when you have a test, paper due, or ROTC event.
• Transfer events from this calendar page to your daily section.
• A section for the week that gives every day plenty of lines
• This is where you will record your homework assignments that you have to do for that night.
• Always use empty boxes so that you can check off your assignments as you complete them while you do your homework.

You've got this! Yeah, you! Best of luck, cutie.

love, lex

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