Effects of Bad Study Habits on College Students

Bad study habits have a lot of effects on college students. And we are not just talking about grades itself. But also in other areas of your life. If you still neglect your studies and don’t have a nice routine, we encourage you to level up your game. Otherwise, it can significantly affect your well-being. If you want to learn more about this topic, we recommend reading the rest of this post.   

Lack of Self-Confidence  

When you don’t study at all or don’t embrace your lessons, you’d naturally get mediocre grades. And when that happens, it can affect your self-confidence. You’d feel that you are not good enough or that you are not smart enough.    

Let’s be clear here. There are students who have learning disabilities, and they have real challenges in terms of studying and understanding lessons. However, if you are not one of them, it’s easier to create better grades. You just need to be disciplined and have more focus.   

Poor Time Management Skills   

When you don’t include studying as part of your routine, you tend to have poor time management skills. You are not able to gauge how much time you need to allocate for a subject.   

Now, if you have a study habit, you can generally evaluate your knowledge per topic. From there, you can practice how you manage your time. For example, should you allot three hours for economics? Or is an hour already enough? If yes, what are the other activities that you could squeeze in for the day?   

Easily Lose Focus   

Another effect of not establishing a good study habit is that you quickly lose focus. You see, when you study, you generally have one goal, and that’s to understand the lesson. And by doing that, you try to avoid distractions like your phone or movies. That skill is essential not just for college students but also when you go to work.   

Ask yourself, how are you supposed to finish a report without real focus? Maybe you can, but the quality will be less superior.   

Lack of Self Control   

Related to not having focus, bad study habits could also result in not having enough self-control. It is true that there are a lot of temptations that will force you not to read your notes or lessons.  But if you are determined to learn your lessons and are clear with your objectives, you will exert effort to control yourself. That’s not easy, but it will certainly pay off in the long run.  

Missing Out Special Occasions    

For others, you might have a misconception that studying regularly is the reason you would miss fun events and occasions. But that is far from the truth. When we say good study habits, it does not mean you have to stay late every night. Reading your notes regularly and for a short span of time is way better than putting an all-nighter before an exam. Having said that, you can now have time for dinner with friends or attend parties because you won’t have to worry if you’d pass your test or not.   

The question now is, how can you change your behavior towards studying? Let’s discuss a few techniques that could help you.   

Have a Dedicated Space for Studying   

It is crucial that you create a space where you can condition yourself to study. You can even place printed quotes on the wall so you would be more motivated to learn.  Now, this could be a challenge for college students living in dormitories. After all, the space could be limited, and your roommate might not be that cooperative. In that case, the library will always be your safest bet. Plus, you get to have many resources such as books where it could even help you as you study.   

Surround Yourself with Studious People   

Believe it or not, the people you surround yourself with influence your way of thinking and behavior. So if your circle is not fond of studying and would rather go to parties every time, then you would probably go in that same direction. However, if you are with people who value school, then you will be lured to focus more on studies. This is not to say that you should not have fun while in college. The trick here is to always create balance. And when you know how to do that, you can have the best of both worlds.