Good study methods?

[Rapier]

In short, I've recently graduated into college yet I lack the discipline to study and assimilate content properly (I pretty much flunked through highschool because it bored me). Something tells me it is not as simple as reading a load of books throughly and rigorously each day, and that it could be much more productive if I had a method to work on. Any advise? I see that many people on the forums are quite intelectually capable.

I'm basically looking for effective ways to study.

[Leinex]

If you pay good attention in class and take careful notes every time, then that's less need for cramming whenever test or quiz times rolls around. When I feel disengaged from the material, I usually try to put it in more understandable or interesting terms.

[Phoenix Wright]

if you actually enjoy what you're doing, studying should be easy -- you like learning it and so you will.

therefore, my suggestions below are for two things,

(1) how you learn

(2) how to fake interest and do well in gen-ed-esque classes (meaning classes you have to take but are not interested in)

(1) learning how you learn will help you infinitely more than any other method possibly could. this knowledge comes to you with practice and upon reflection of oneself. if you went through 4 years of school 'bored' and were interested in nothing, i'd say that's a deeper problem than what it may seem at first (also flunked isn't the right word to use btw). anyway, if you can think back to what was interesting, what worked for you? what helped you retain the material? paying attention completely, or reading notes later and being a robot-notetaker? not showing up and teaching yourself, or mostly listening and taking "big picture" notes? (personally, i read the chapter/material before class so that i am not completely confused during class, which solidifies comprehension and plugs most holes.) figure out the best way to write the material down for yourself, and how best to use your class time. honestly, if going to class either hurts you (teacher is bad and confuses you more, etc. etc.) or is ineffective (you don't pay attention/paying attention to someone talk about material doesn't help), ask the professor for important dates so you know when to show up. you're wasting your time being there otherwise. (obvious, but don't tell them you won't be attending class, as that's kinda rude tbh.)

once you figure out what methods work, practice those methods. you'll get better over time. if you slack off, you will fail out of college. i know some people anywhere you go will disagree ("college is easy i did nothing blah blah blah blah"), but they're wrong. if you slack off, you will fail. $30k plus is on the line, don't waste your money. and hey, if it turns out you really didn't need to work so hard, then you're a few steps ahead of where you would have been! you now have an assortment of important skills for the rest of your life (time management, work ethic, retain information efficiently, etc.).

(2) faking it. before i get to the real advice, keep some things in mind. if it's a gen ed, there a host of other classes that will fulfill it, so you should drop your current class and take the one that sounds at least remotely interesting, if it's available. twice now, i've attempted to take phil. classes but they were so boring i left first day (i very much dislike learning phil., law, things like that in an academic setting). being able to drop certain classes is great.

for core classes (in this context, classes specific to your major), if you find yourself disinterested in 1 (if extremely disinterested) or 2+ classes (you define your limit), you're probably in the wrong major and should leave. go to something else or quit school. imo, a degree from a university isn't worth 4 years of academic misery. you can go to a trade school or find something else to do. don't feel like you need higher learning. (of course, if you want to do something technical, it can be difficult to do without a degree. but if you didn't like it in the first place, you should be looking for something else to do anyway.)

how to fake interest? well, take what you learned in (1) and pretend you feel the same way in type (2) classes! GEs are generally very easy, and so require a minimal amount of interest/work to begin with. if you fake it even a little bit, you'll probably at least pass. boring reading on ww2? during readings, read about other stuff that came around the same time! eg, whilst reading about hitler's rise to power, also read about how the atomic bombs worked and what led to the discovery that a bomb could exist! that way, you're still learning about the subject, but adding some flavor to it too. works for me, most of the time.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Phoenix Wright

[dondon151]

repitition is supposedly the best way to study. suppose you go to class in the morning. review the material in the evening. review the material within the next two days. review the material within the next week. and so on.

also try to think about some of the material when you're not doing or thinking about anything else.

[X-Naut]

This is my study routine:

1. Write your own lecture notes. If you miss anything during class, leave blanks and fill them in with book material or open source notes (provided the instructor puts them up).

2. Do all the homeworks and supplementary problems if you that's not enough.

3. Once you hear the examination date, start skimming notes every night a few days in advance, gradually slowing down to take more in. Skimming is especially important when you have multiple exams: you need to focus on the higher priority classes more.

4. Take exams, being nervous that you'll screw up. Check your answers if you have extra time.

also try to think about some of the material when you're not doing or thinking about anything else.

This too, I've contemplated on material I had trouble with during the waking hours in the morning and come to the solution.

[Chiki]

Different people have different methods. Studies have shown that studying 15 minutes at a time and taking breaks helps people to get better grades. Personally, I tend to procrastinate and finish up papers/study at the last minute, but I learn and write quickly. Do what works best for you.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Chiki

[Autumn]

I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to work. Though for me, I just find ways around it. For example, cramming techniques, test taking techniques, and just overall studying in only super efficient ways. For example, I go through past exams and analyze the patterns and just study the questions I think will come up on the test. I only study in the way I know works for me in particular.

It takes experimentation. Do what works for you, and really you're the only person who can solve this question.

[Naglfar94]

Hmm I remember when I did homework and such after school I would play music while I did the work and it helped push me on. The trick does not work for everyone but maybe try turning on some of your favorite tunes while you work that may give you that spark to move forward with your studies.

[Rapier]

if you went through 4 years of school 'bored' and were interested in nothing, i'd say that's a deeper problem than what it may seem at first (also flunked isn't the right word to use btw).

Actually, I was interested in a few subjects. I liked math before second grade, geography (sometimes it was hardly bearable, sometimes it was fun), history, philosophy and sociology (my teacher was bad, but I liked these subjects). I thought "flunk" meant "to somehow get through with low effort, mediocre grades and a lot of procrastination", or something like that, but it actually means to fail. Ironic. :V

My 'method' (that is, what I've always done when I'm interested in studying. I never thought about this) has been, so far, to:

1) Pay attention to class and write nothing, unless my teacher explicitely tells me to or if they write in the board. Most of the content is on the books I've loaned from the library, anyway, and I find dynamic class interactions far more productive than being a robot note-taker.

2) Find some time to reflect upon the subject presented on class, its concepts etc. Check what they mean on reliable sources, try to understand what they mean, and write them in a separate piece of paper or mentalize them with the meaning I perceive them to have, based on their original meaning. If I am in doubt about the meaning I 'made', I question my teachers.

3) Ask questions as if I were in a cross-examination. Try to find gaps where I have doubts on, and ask questions in order to fill them.

4) Think of how I can apply my knowledge on certain situations. I mostly run 'discussions' inside of my mind, where I take an opposite opinion and try to refute it with the knowledge that I have, all the while checking my own side's weaknesses. Doesn't work very well because my mind proccesses are usually confused and bogged. It feels like I'm playing a tabletop game with myself when I do it, so I try to find people who I can discuss and engage with. My most recent Serious Discussion posts tried to fulfill this.

I have no method for self-studying, ie. studying by myself with only a book as company. It is not much effective when I do so. #2 is a recent one which I only tried twice.

if you find yourself disinterested in 1 (if extremely disinterested) or 2+ classes (you define your limit), you're probably in the wrong major and should leave

I'm still on the start, my classes have been usually interesting (save one, which I'll never see again after this semester, and another, which I don't like much but it is just a mild dislike), so I can't say for sure whether this is the right course for me or not.

I confess that I faced a dilemma before entering college: In order of interest, I like (1) Psychology, (2) Philosophy, (3) Law. In order of utility (as in, the best one to get a job later on, the one that will return with the most income, the one whose labor area interests me the most), it is (1) Law, (2) Psychology, (3) Philosophy. Law is the one I like the least when grouped with these three (the codified rules sometimes bore me, especially because I'm from a country with a LOT of rules and norms and laws, most of them inside the Constitution itself, which is enormous), but I decided to pick it first, because I'll be able to find a better job with it and use the income to pay for my next Psychology and Philosophy courses. I also dislike the work area for psychology and philosophy, whereas I find the work areas of Law much more interesting.

I know, the above logic sucks. But in short, I like Law's labor area more than the others (I hope I am using the correct expression), and I rather like its subjects (less than I like psychology and philosophy, sure, but they're still 'likeable'). The former point seemed stronger and more relevant than the latter. So, I chose to take a Law course.

Personally, I tend to procrastinate and finish up papers/study at the last minute, but I learn and write quickly.

I used to do things at last minute and learn quickly and efficiently before I lost interest in school (bad teaching, mostly boring classes, bad classmates, uninteresting environment. All the effort it took me was to question the teachers, read some chapters right before the exam, memorize everything and pass with decent grades), but my memorization and comprehension skills worsened with the years where I had no interest in school. Now I have a harder time to do things that I managed to do with ease a couple of years ago. Needless to say, it is frustrating.

Granted, now that I am taking my Law course, my interest has increased a lot. But my reasoning proccesses (and this has nothing to do with methods of reasoning) actually hinder me from learning as well as I should be, because it's slow and noisy. I intend to fix this by studying (I'm trying to organize space between my Law courses, philosophy, psychology and logic), practice ought to help me out of this, I suppose.

---

tl;dr

I still need help finding a good method for self-study. I have a few things sorted in my mind already: I should study at least 30 minutes a day (preferably more, like two hours, but I won't be accomplishing that just yet), take notes of the most relevant concepts, formulate my own meaning based on the understanding that I have about the concepts, and reflecting upon what I read. I'll try that.

[Phoenix Wright]

Actually, I was interested in a few subjects. I liked math before second grade, geography (sometimes it was hardly bearable, sometimes it was fun), history, philosophy and sociology (my teacher was bad, but I liked these subjects). I thought "flunk" meant "to somehow get through with low effort, mediocre grades and a lot of procrastination", or something like that, but it actually means to fail. Ironic. :V

that's not liking math lol :3 anyway, it was meant as more of a blanket statement--i was not trying to insinuate that you were that way.

My 'method' (that is, what I've always done when I'm interested in studying. I never thought about this) has been, so far, to:

1) Pay attention to class and write nothing, unless my teacher explicitely tells me to or if they write in the board. Most of the content is on the books I've loaned from the library, anyway, and I find dynamic class interactions far more productive than being a robot note-taker.

2) Find some time to reflect upon the subject presented on class, its concepts etc. Check what they mean on reliable sources, try to understand what they mean, and write them in a separate piece of paper or mentalize them with the meaning I perceive them to have, based on their original meaning. If I am in doubt about the meaning I 'made', I question my teachers.

3) Ask questions as if I were in a cross-examination. Try to find gaps where I have doubts on, and ask questions in order to fill them.

4) Think of how I can apply my knowledge on certain situations. I mostly run 'discussions' inside of my mind, where I take an opposite opinion and try to refute it with the knowledge that I have, all the while checking my own side's weaknesses. Doesn't work very well because my mind proccesses are usually confused and bogged. It feels like I'm playing a tabletop game with myself when I do it, so I try to find people who I can discuss and engage with. My most recent Serious Discussion posts tried to fulfill this.

I have no method for self-studying, ie. studying by myself with only a book as company. It is not much effective when I do so. #2 is a recent one which I only tried twice.

this is a pretty solid foundation, man. perhaps you should be spending more time reading what you need to, but if you're doing the above on a regular basis you are certainly doing a lot.

I'm still on the start, my classes have been usually interesting (save one, which I'll never see again after this semester, and another, which I don't like much but it is just a mild dislike), so I can't say for sure whether this is the right course for me or not.

that comment was not meant to be particular to you either, i apologize. i feel that people shouldn't waste their time completing classes they feel obligated to complete, for whatever reason. if you don't enjoy something in college, find something else to do. there's no point in wasting that much effort, time, and money, ya know?

I confess that I faced a dilemma before entering college: In order of interest, I like (1) Psychology, (2) Philosophy, (3) Law. In order of utility (as in, the best one to get a job later on, the one that will return with the most income, the one whose labor area interests me the most), it is (1) Law, (2) Psychology, (3) Philosophy. Law is the one I like the least when grouped with these three (the codified rules sometimes bore me, especially because I'm from a country with a LOT of rules and norms and laws, most of them inside the Constitution itself, which is enormous), but I decided to pick it first, because I'll be able to find a better job with it and use the income to pay for my next Psychology and Philosophy courses. I also dislike the work area for psychology and philosophy, whereas I find the work areas of Law much more interesting.

my general philosophy is to go to what makes you happy. i suppose there's a lot that could go wrong, but meh.

Granted, now that I am taking my Law course, my interest has increased a lot. But my reasoning proccesses (and this has nothing to do with methods of reasoning) actually hinder me from learning as well as I should be, because it's slow and noisy. I intend to fix this by studying (I'm trying to organize space between my Law courses, philosophy, psychology and logic), practice ought to help me out of this, I suppose.

it's all a process. don't put yourself down because you're not as efficient as you eventually will be.

[Rapier]

this is a pretty solid foundation, man. perhaps you should be spending more time reading what you need to, but if you're doing the above on a regular basis you are certainly doing a lot.

That's what I've always done, but self-studying is a recent thing. I usually only read academic books for 15-30 minutes (in that case, Sophie's World has been a great introductory book for Philosophy for me, because it is basically a long lecture inside a novel, making it less tiresome to read).

it's all a process. don't put yourself down because you're not as efficient as you eventually will be.

I've thought about this possibility. It is natural for me to feel confused because I did not work my mind much before, it is also natural to not understand certain subjects when I never had contact with them.

I think it's like playing a complex game. As a mundane and not very well thought example, I thought I'd never learn to play Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings II, but it came to me eventually as I've played these games. Our brain seems to adapt efficiently to whatever we're dealing with, sometimes very slowly, sometimes very quickly, as long as we repeat our activities for a long enough span (as dondon said, repetition is the key... and I agree with him).

I have a good idea about what I should be doing next, thanks for the tips, guys. Should I need more advise, I'll post again, but I find it unlikely.

[Lord Raven]

I tend to work in groups and structure the group study. Basically, I go "we're gonna spend time looking over this subject in the textbook/class notes" and then I look over class notes with a friend, we basically end up discussing the content. I was a physics major in undergrad so I also had a look at example problems in the book.

Using google also helps quite a bit to understand what's going on, since there are a few websites here and there which provide a better and more succinct explanation than your textbooks sometimes. It then takes a lot less time to absorb information. An example I can think of off the top of my head is Hyperphysics at Georgia Tech, which I used as a reference before I went into the textbook sometimes. I also used various notes scattered throughout many universities.

[Skynstein]

Basically, read the texts the teachers give you, underline what's important in them, make notes, read footnotes and look for something if it interests you.

I warn you though, Mises isn't very popular in public law schools. :P

Although college tends to be left-leaning, you can find liberal teachers here and there, but that depends on where you study. In my state (PR) the federal uni, which is where I studied, is more left-leaning, but the USP for example is more conservative I believe, and so on.

Most of my teachers were politically inclined, but this doesn't mean they were automatically supportive of the government if they were left-leaning. I've found them to be mostly independent, or at least, as independent as they can be.

I like studying law, but not so much working with it, because I'm not particularly good at speaking in public.

[Rapier]

I'm quite the opposite, I like to work with Law because I'm hooked in rethoric, argumentation and debating in general. I'm less than stellar on it, but that's something I've been working on, so let's see where I can get. However, I dislike studying the codes in general.

Mises is just another theorician among many others, I don't take particular figures as gods and other figures as demons. I'm beginning to think I can find something useful even in Marx, whose ideology I abomine. I like Mises more because I agree with his fundaments, but that's it. He might be wrong, for all I care. If I am searching for knowledge, I shouldn't pretend to know the absolute truth about everything.

From the recent strikes and riots on USP against that new law which will privatize some sections that were held by the State ("lei de terceirização", as we call it), I don't think they're conservative at all, but that's not something I want to discuss. =P

I think all teachers are ideologically inclined somewhere, and that it is impossible for a teacher to not endorse their beliefs in class. I have an atheist philosophy teacher who cites Galileo and religious intolerancy whenever he has the chance. I find it toxic when a teacher deliberately cuts down content to focus on teaching only what he believes to be true, as I've heard they do toward Mises and Hayek (who should be famous for getting a Nobel Prize, if anything, just as Keynes did) and other liberals.

The funniest part is that the brazilian right-wing is vocal against ideological doctrination in class... yet one of these same people were teaching in a public school class that our dictatorial period wasn't a dictatorship at all, and that they reacted against "communists that wanted to control the country through a coup d'etat", therefore being perfectly justifiable in doing this, on his logic. People like this makes me facepalm.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Rapier

[Prims]

motivation, willpower and reading comprehension are all like muscles in that they'll improve if you force yourself to flex them enough. even if you're godawful you can at least get less godawful if you're trying.

in theory you should write down everything you hear in class since either a) you memorize it in the process of doing so b) worst case scenario you have something to look at later. in practice this is difficult if you're slow at writing (like me) but if you're a fast typist (also like me) then having a laptop and just typing what you hear non-stop is a god damn lifesaver. notes in a text file are also easier to move around so you can sort them and draw attention to what's important easier

online notecard makers eg. http://www.flashcardmachine.com/ are the best for memorizing for tests since they don't require IRL resources and are convenient if you're already on the computer.

of course you'd still want physical copies of information you're studying too since you're not always gonna have computer access

if you're lazy and miss an assignment then always get in contact with the professor to see if you can make it up. always try to make up grades if possible.

for the record i'm garbage tier bad at school and probably worse at it than 90% of the forum because #ADHDSquad but these help me not fail entirely!!!!

Edited April 19, 2015 by Prims

[Rapier]

A question, how to find motivation and how do I keep myself motivated?

Motivation is a big issue for me. I either start sprinting only to stop a few meters away from the start and stop for weeks, or I walk like a turtle and eventually give up. I can't find the 'energy' to keep up with long, continuous and difficult chores (but I hate short, easy chores. It is not that I don't like pressure and doing hard stuff, on the contrary, I like competition and pressure, I just want the energy for it).

If I could do something about it, I would improve a lot in long term.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Rapier

[Makaze]

Do everything he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0

Edited April 30, 2015 by Makaze

[Castalia]

The funniest part is that the brazilian right-wing is vocal against ideological doctrination in class... yet one of these same people were teaching in a public school class that our dictatorial period wasn't a dictatorship at all, and that they reacted against "communists that wanted to control the country through a coup d'etat", therefore being perfectly justifiable in doing this, on his logic. People like this makes me facepalm.

I used to think like you too, that this communist coup d'etat was a bad excuse for the military to take over the power, but recently I discovered a process called Subversion that Soviet Union used to do. It's interesting, and they don't teach this kind of thing in school. So I will put here a youtube link (

) if you maybe wants to know more about it. The guy in the interview is an ex-KGB, and he talks about the work he did in SU and the subversion process. If you want to cut and go to the really useful part of the video go to 54:00 (Part 3), when he explains the process. One thing: I don't like this guy, and he is full of prejuices, but his explanation of the subject is good.

Actually, I would dare to say that is impossible to tell History without some kind of ideological indoctrination, because there's a lot of point of views, so there is no "real truth", so in the end all becomes ideology. And when comes to History you need to search things that they don't teach in school, because what they teach in school is what certain groups (the same groups that control the media too) wants you to think. Actually, the knowledge that they teach us in school is not really useful or real, it's instrumentalized. Like Lyotard said, knowledge in post-modern society is a trade material, you don't study to know, you study to pass in college, and you study in college to get a job. In this process, the knowledge is an instrument, something you use, but you have no real knowledge. People think that have access to knowledge, but even today we are all ignorant, and we are still kept in the dark. If what they teach in school or college were the truth or useful things, instead of trying to keep the population distracted, the groups that control the world wouldn't be controlling it. But even todays intellectuals are distracted by stupid things. And the ones that are really trying to change society and show the truth are not a treat, because the media can just ridicule their ideas so the mass would think that they are stupid, or intolerant, or even monsters. Well... Everybody knows that there's something wrong with today society, but we don't know how to find it (because a lot of things are hiding in "politically incorrect", which is a form of ideological indoctrination) and we blame generically "the system". Now, think with me, why do you think we can't find the problem? Because the truth is hidden, and we are already indoctrinated, and have to fight ourselves e our beliefs to find truth.

And about the topic, I think that a good method is to read the text, and then, in one piece of sheet (just ONE), summarized all the ideas in topics using short phrases. This way you can see all the main points of the text in only one piece of sheet. After that you can look at the main ideas summarized and ask questions in your head about examples and details. At least for me, the less you write or highlight the better, because you will have to rely more in your head and this way you remember easily. We are too dependent of annotations. The ancient greeks, that could remember the Iliad by head, would laugh at us.

Motivation is a difficult issue. Can you give an example of a "long, continuous and difficult chore"?

Edited April 30, 2015 by Castalia

[Rapier]

@Makaze

Is there a subtitled version of this video? It can be subtitled in english.

@Castalia

It would be impossible to apply a communist coup d'etat in Brazil with such few numbers (judging by the size of the communist groups that fought against the military dictatorship later). The country is huge, the population was against communism (only intelectuals spoke well about it, and political militants), the military was more than prepared to react against a coup d'etat. They would've failed miserably.

Yes, I've heard about Bezmenov and the proccess where you alienate people with your ideology. I actually can see this happening in school books and classes. Some school books picture capitalism as an awful thing, and socialism as a fair system where everyone is happy. A teacher in a friend's school called a bunch of 13-14 year old children to 'discuss' about the failure of capitalism. Such indoctrination is disgusting.

I've noticed that education has become an instrumentalization of knowledge. I remember a video with Sir Ken Robinson where he says our education methodology is the same as the industrial revolution's, that we're educated to fulfill the demands of the market. Honestly, I've learned more looking on the internet and outside school, than in school. The basic stuff is important, but second grade was a huge waste of time.

Motivation is a difficult issue. Can you give an example of a "long, continuous and difficult chore"?

Well, maybe not -difficult-, but long and continuous examples are easier to think about. Going to the gym is one of them. It took only one month for me to lose the motivation I had. Reading is another example (that qualifies as difficult), I've loaned five books of my interest from my college's library, read the first pages, and now they sit on my desk catching dust.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Rapier

[Castalia]

@Makaze

Is there a subtitled version of this video? It can be subtitled in english.

@Castalia

It would be impossible to apply a communist coup d'etat in Brazil with such few numbers (judging by the size of the communist groups that fought against the military dictatorship later). The country is huge, the population was against communism (only intelectuals spoke well about it, and political militants), the military was more than prepared to react against a coup d'etat. They would've failed miserably.

Yes, I've heard about Bezmenov and the proccess where you alienate people with your ideology. I actually can see this happening in school books and classes. Some school books picture capitalism as an awful thing, and socialism as a fair system where everyone is happy. A teacher in a friend's school called a bunch of 13-14 year old children to 'discuss' about the failure of capitalism. Such indoctrination is disgusting.

I've noticed that education has become an instrumentalization of knowledge. I remember a video with Sir Ken Robinson where he says our education methodology is the same as the industrial revolution's, that we're educated to fulfill the demands of the market. Honestly, I've learned more looking on the internet and outside school, than in school. The basic stuff is important, but second grade was a huge waste of time.

Well, maybe not -difficult-, but long and continuous examples are easier to think about. Going to the gym is one of them. It took only one month for me to lose the motivation I had. Reading is another example (that qualifies as difficult), I've loaned five books of my interest from my college's library, read the first pages, and now they sit on my desk catching dust.

I don’t think it would be impossible. It was improbable, but not impossible. The population is only leaded in revolutions, the real masterminds are just a few man, and they just adapt the revolution in a context that pleases the population, hiding their real intentions. Using Russian Revolution as an example. It was an alien movement, and most of its leaders were international jews. The russians didn’t even known what they were doing with their own country. And before the revolution it was not like they said it was in History class, they teach us that Russia was similar to a feudal regime and the population would starve. This is wrong. Imperial Russia was very prosperous. If you want to learn more about it: http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/v14n1p-4_Weber.html

Concentration is something you can condition. If I spend a lot of time without reading, I can’t concentrate when I pick a book to read. This happened many times, but now I know a way to condition my concentration. First, don’t choose too many books at time, like you mentioned 5. If you didn’t read for a long time, choose something short and funny. Like a good novel with 200 pages. And then, you sit to read and stipule a period of time that you be reading, like 1 hour. In this time, you put your cellphone away from you and concentrate only in this task. In the beginning your mind will float somewhere in the middle of the paragraph, you will read a phrase then forget what you just have read, and the time will pass slowly. But I assure, do this 1 hour a day and within a week you will see the difference in your concentration.

About the gym, you do not need to go every day. I go 4 days a week and it works just fine. You can even go 3 times a week depending on your training. And you can work out just 30 minutes of intense training with heavy lifting and less repetitions to gain muscles. A good way to maintain constancy is choosing an hour in the day and go in this time. For example, if 17pm is gym time, treat it like an appointment and go always this time of the day. Routines are good. Normally when I miss a day in the week, I get lazy the other day, but don’t let this get you. And try don’t see gym as an obligation. Actually, if you don’t like the kinds of exercises that you do in the gym, choose another physical activity. You need to find something that you like. My friend, for example, does kickboxing instead of going to gym, and my brother likes to run.

PS: I really like your Jojo parody avatar XD

Edited May 1, 2015 by Castalia

[Rapier]

The thing is, the brazilian population was against communism, whereas russians were in favor of communism. You can't make the mob agree with something that they don't like. As a Metal Gear Rising Boss Theme says, "I know what I've been told; but the wishes of the people can't be controlled". So even if the communists somehow had enough manpower to take Brazil by force, their government wouldn't last long. All totalitarian governments whose leaders were elected democratically had a lot of popular support, they need it to maintain themselves in power. It wasn't the case with the brazilian communists.

And I spoke primarily about motivation. How I never finish what I've started because I lose interest very easily, even if I start with a lot of interest. I just can't find the energy to finish the journeys that I start. Actually, motivation is an issue with me, it's very easy for me to lose motivation, even for things that I like. For example, sometimes I feel like playing a game or reading a novel or watching anime, but when I have the opportunity, I think, "Meh...". I want to find ways to keep motivation and have the energy for it.

My theory is that doing stuff makes you more motivated. Supposing that I feel demotivated to study the psychology book a friend of mine sent me, if I read about psychology or if I read part of it, I'll feel motivated again to continue. I'll try this.

Also, thanks. JoJo quickly became one of my favorite animes ever, so here I thought about making a quick set in Photoshop. =P

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rapier

[Makaze]

@Makaze

Is there a subtitled version of this video? It can be subtitled in english.

Use the Closed Caption (CC) button.