So what can you do to keep your focus and stay motivated? The following guidelines should help:
- Give your study the attention it deserves. If you were totally isolated, you'd study every last morsel of your subject until you were completely versed in it because nothing else would be there to distract you. Imagine being in a cell with no TV and nothing except, for example, ASVAB AFQT For Dummies. You'd certainly read it cover to cover—maybe many times! You'd know this book inside out because it's all you'd have to do. Having too much choice over what you pay attention to means you need to exert willpower now more than ever to stay motivated.
- Think about your goals. Consider why you're studying and what you're studying for, because presumably it connects to what you want your life to be. All kinds of things may distract you when you're not studying. But ask yourself whether you want your life to be about drinking coffee, playing computer games, watching TV, and chatting with friends. Do you have bigger fish to fry? Your life is about what you do with it, day in and day out.
- Feed and develop your mind. In today's culture of entertainment, everything is supposed to be fun and exciting. If you buy into this idea too much, then you stop benefiting from subtle stimuli because they don't immediately excite you. Your mind needs the rigor of study as well as the relaxation of entertainment. When you study well, you find it has its own pleasures and satisfactions above and beyond the good results it can bring into your life.