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I completed my BS degree several years ago. I carried a full-time school load and worked full-time. I got 90% of my school work done on the weekends. During the week I was too tired from work to do much more than the absolute minimum required of me for school. Not having a wife and kids helped too--no distractions at home. Different people have different ways of coping. I am a morning person, so it's not difficult for me to get an extra hour in the day by getting up an hour early, but some people can't function like that. If you live in an "active" house, you may find it easier to set your alarm for an hour or two after everyone else is asleep, and get up and get some studying in (if your biological clock will let you). I find that four hours sleep is all I require for the short-term, so I could get up and get a little more work done and then get back to sleep. I sometimes do that when I have insomnia anyway--why toss and turn for an hour or two if I can get up and read for a while? First thing to do is a little self-analysis? Are you the kind of person who can get a little bit of work done in various bits and pieces of available time, or do you need a sizeable chunk of time to set aside? Are you better in morning, afternoon, evening, or late night? Do you need as distraction-free a place as possible, or can you put up with household noise while studying? I bought a nature sounds CD set a while back, and putting one of those on while wearing headphones helps me to concentrate. Another thought would be a white noise generator (or pink, brown, etc. type of noise) to help block out distracting noises. I've found that especially when learning something technical (programming language, data networking, etc.) the more different ways that I can approach the subject, the better. Reading is a passive activity and only activates certain parts of the brain. Writing is an active activity and activates different parts of the brain. I'll read a little bit of material, then re-write it in my own words to "burn" it into as many different neural pathways as possible. I also create mind-maps, limericks, stories, etc. to create as much mental diversity as possible for remembering the material. It helps. |
You bring up a few good points. I have noticed that since I had to break away from a task for a few weeks at a stretch (like my Haskell learning) coming back to it means spending a few more days revising what I had learned! I like your suggestion of writing things down to leverage other parts of your brain. I do some mind-mapping, but probably not enough.
About me, I live by myself, so if I don't want to be disturbed, I put the phone off, and I am in complete solitude. I do have a full time job, which does take up a (fixed) number of hours everyday.
Thanks for the advice.