I recently conducted a seminar in a school, and in Q & A time afterwards, a student asked me whether or not it was alright to study until 2 am in the morning.
I was initially horrified that someone could regularly stay up that late to study. I decided to ask the rest of the students present the general times they would go to sleep.
Many stated that they would go to sleep anywhere between 12 midnight and 2 am in the morning.
I was very surprised to see the amount of people who shared these sleeping habits.
So, as a result, I thought I would dedicate this article to discussing study habits and sleep.
Out of all the 98+ UAI students I interviewed, only one ever stayed up until 2 am to study. This person specifically noted that it was the night before an exam.
Additionally, not one of the students I interviewed admitted to doing an ‘all nighter.’
Generally, 98+ UAI students went to bed at 10:30 – 11:00 pm, and then woke up at 7 am.
When I told the students this, many were surprised, and a number wanted to know how 98+ UAI students were able to fit in all the work and still go to bed so early.
The key lies in time management and the efficiency of their study.
98+ UAI students would study for approximately 2-3 hours a day. Often they would come home and immediately begin studying (2 hours) and then study after dinner (1 hour). This way, often they were finished by 9 – 9:30pm, and then could relax for an hour.
While they did not study for a long time – they achieved a lot within this time, because they effectively managed to reduce procrastination.
How?
Two aspects of the way they organized their time and study helped them achieve this.
Firstly, by limiting their time they prevented Parkinson’s Law from operating. This law, one that I often go on about, states that work expands to fill available time. By limiting their time to 2-3 hours and setting themselves a 9:30 deadline to complete study, 98+ students minimized the expansion of work, and therefore reduced procrastination.
Students who give themselves until 2 am to study fall into the trap of Parkinson’s Law. By giving themselves so much time, their work expands to will this time, causing study to take much, much longer, due to procrastination.
Secondly, 98+ students made their leisure time from 9 – 11pm contingent upon the completion of their work. This means that they would only relax if they completed their study. This gave 98+ students a strong incentive to work hard and efficiently in the 2-3 hours they allocated to study.
So, what can you do? Set yourself a study plan, minimize your time, and make your leisure time contingent upon the completion of your study!
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