How to study English with discipline?

 

Hello everyone,

I believe that following a consistent study schedule can help you stay calm, productive, and focused, while minimizing distractions. In this post, I’ll share how I have planned and managed my English studies and how I’m tracking my progress to achieve my goals. It is working for me, and I think it can work for you.

So, if you feel lost in your studies and you want to be more productive, come with me because all these tips are helping me a lot!  If I were you, I would put it into in practice today. :)

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A structured Weekly Schedule

You definitely need a schedule to study effectively. Firstly, you need to define a limit on study hours. For example, I have defined studying from 7 to 8 hours per day, but feel free to define your time. As I said in other posts, I have been studying English every day from Monday to Sunday, but again, you can choose your days. I would like to highlight that I have other activities, sometimes I can’t study for 7 hours because I need to go to the supermarket, or I need to give my dogs shower, to clean my house, Etc,c'est la vie!

However, I try to study at least 2 hours (generally, reading, listening and typing, or writing sentences) when I am plate is full with other activities.

Break down your week into daily tasks. Include specific time slots for: Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Vocabulary review, mock tests.

Below there is my model of study schedule (fig 1), as you can see I have breaks for lunch, and activities such as working out, washing dishes, vacuuming. My Sundays afternoon are more free, I can choose what I want to study or simply NOT study :P, everyone needs some time off. You can make your schedule based on my model.

	Monday (example)	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
08:00	reading
08:30	reading
09:00	reading
09:30	reading
10:00	reading
10:30	writing
11:00	writing
11:30	writing
12:00	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
12:30	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
13:00	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes
13:30	listening
14:00	listening
14:30	listening
15:00	listening
15:30	listening
16:00	snap	snap	snap	snap	snap	snap
16:30	snap	snap	snap	snap	snap	snap
17:00	pronounce
17:30	pronounce
18:00	Training	Training	Training	Training	Training	Training
18:30	Training	Training	Training	Training	Training	Training
19:00	Bath	Bath	Bath	Bath	Bath	Bath
19:30	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes
20:00	Speaking
20:30	speaking

Fig. 1 My model of studying schedule

The Role of Time Tracking in my Studies

In my view when I started controlling my study time my days became more productive and prevented my burnout, and this happened for many reasons. 

Controlling your study hours, you're better able to allocate time to tasks, making sure you're neither overloading yourself nor underperforming. This awareness of progress is satisfactory at the end of the day. Monitoring your time lets you see how much effort you've put in, giving a sense of accomplishment and motivation to continue without overworking.

Another reason is work-life balance, it ensures you make time for breaks to other activities, remember, study smarter, not harder. Moreover, You can see how much time was your break, and it is essential to know if you need more or less rest. Furthermore, time tracking helps with focus on Priorities, this prioritizes tasks more efficiently, keeping your efforts focused on what's most important.

From personal experience, without controlling time I was never sure if I studied enough, and I got tired quickly. Additionally, what I like the most in this way of studying is that if you have some unforeseen event, you know how much time you need to make up for it. Below you can observe my model of controlling time (fig. 2).

Day	Skill	Description	Start	Finish	Study time
22/09/24	listening	type	9:30	12:30	3h
“	speaking	IELTS	13:30	15:00	1:30m
“	reading	news	15:30	17:00	1:30
“	writing	task 1 IELTS	19:30	20:30	1h
				Total of the day=	7h

Fig 2 model of controlling time

How to remain Focused and Avoid Distractions

In my view sometimes to remain focused studying at home can be challenging if you don’t have rules. This is because there are many things at home to take away your concentration such as TV, cell phone, noises, dogs (if you have one), temptations (have a snack at an unusual time), etc.

So you need to set your rules and follow your study schedule. Rules like: no social media, phone on silent, putting your dogs on a routine, the same as yours. Moreover, you need to have clearly defined your materials and what you will do for each study topic (reading, speaking, writing, listening…). By following this pathway, you will remain focused and avoid distractions.

 

To conclude, I hope that I have encouraged you to improve or to start following your study routine with more discipline and focus. I am sure you will notice many benefits from consistent study habits. If you have other tips, I would like to know. :)