2. Get out of your cave

One of the biggest queues for a bad habit is your environment.

That's why smokers keep smoking when they're around friends, even if they want to quit.

Or why recovering heroin addicts revert to their old ways after leaving rehab because they're in the same environment at home which triggers their cravings, reactions, and rewards (dopamine). 

So if you find yourself constantly taking 'breaks' from studying to play video games, watch YouTube, or take a nap, you need to design your environment for success. 

This means leaving your room that you associate with relaxing and heading to a place designed for productivity.

Going to the library, or even a study room is the best way to train your brain. 

When you go to that place, you're in work mode, not relaxation mode.

This strategy coupled with a silenced phone is incredibly powerful. 

4. Don't study with 'those' friends 

Yeah, I know your frat brothers are cool when you're shotgunning tallboys and picking up chicks, but they're definitely not great study buddies. 

Here's the deal: 

You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

If you want to be a bad *ss and get sh*t done, you need to hang out with other bad *sses too. 

When you study with people who aren't serious, it quickly becomes a social hour rather than a study session.

You know it's true, we've all been there. 

If you want to be more productive in college, either study by yourself or join a study group that actually gets sh*t done. 

5. Study in the morning 

He who can master his morning will master his life. 

Look, I'm not a morning person. Waking up early sucks.

You're tired. You're groggy and grumpy. You want nothing more than to go back to bed.

I get it, I've been there. 

In fact, nothing pissed me off more than when my mom sprayed me with water in the morning to wake me up for school.

It usually ended with me jumping out of bed, grabbing the bottle, and spraying her back out of anger. 

But she got what she wanted, because I was up, out of bed, and now I might as well go to school… 

Looking back, she had a point.

The importance of waking up early to get sh*t done cannot be overstated.

Those who rise early tend to be the most productive. It gives you the edge you need to kick life's *ss and accomplish your goals. 

I'm sure you'd love to wake up early and be more productive - whether by reading, studying, working out, or meditating - it seems impossible. 

We know - that's why we created EarlyBird.

Our mission is empowering people like you - people who want to wake up early and get sh*t done but hate feeling tired in the morning.

More on that later. 

If you wake up to study - assuming you make use of the 3 secrets to waking up early (more on that below) - you'll be in your most productive state. You'll enter 'zen mode' where you are crazy productive. 

That's why studying in the morning is awesome - you can get it out of the way first thing before you tackle the rest of your day.

For more information on this topic and 7 actionable strategies to help you get started, this post will teach you how to study in the morning without getting tired. 

Being productive is easier said than done.

In an effort to make your life easier (and help you get sh*t done) - here are six ways to be more productive in college:  

1. Make a schedule 

I cannot tell you how powerful a weekly schedule can be for your productivity. 

To-do lists are where tasks go but never get done - a schedule, on the other hand, is how productive people accomplish their tasks. 

A schedule is more than a to-do list because it's also a game plan.

Not only do you know what you're doing, but you also know when you're doing it.

"Schedules suck because I can't do anything fun" is one of the common objections I hear about scheduling.

But the funny thing is that it couldn't be further from the truth. 

You see, a schedule allows you to do EVERYTHING you want to do.

It's awesome. You can think about your top 2-3 goals, and make a game plan to accomplish them. 

For example, let's say you want to run a mile in under 7 minutes, read a chapter a day for your history class, and play video games with your friends. 

You can schedule a time for running, studying, and video games.

You know when you're doing what, so there are no more questions. 

We're emotional creatures, and without a plan of attack, it's easy to get shiny object syndrome and change your mind all day long about what you should be doing. 

"Oh, I'll do that later, right now I want to watch YouTube". 

But that's not logical, and logic is what moves us forward.

If you can front-load your logical decision making at the beginning of the week around what you know you should be doing, it takes the emotion out of the question. 

With a schedule, you know exactly what you should be doing, and exactly when you should be doing those things. 

And if you only accomplish half of what you planned, you're still doing a whole heck of a lot better than before. 

This video is a big help:

2. Read before bed 

Yes, reading before bed is productive, but there's a bit more to it than that.

Going to bed early is one of the best ways to wake up early, well-rested and ready to tackle the day. 

But it's hard to do that in college, or in any circumstance for that matter, because of your phone.

Phones are addicting, and if you're on your phone in bed, it's hard to fall asleep. My college roommate used to stay up all night on his phone and sleep in through his classes. 

Not only is it hard to put your phone down, but the light from your phone or computer screen keeps you up, even after you put it down, and can impact your sleep quality as well. 

Instead, I read before bed.

Not only am I learning, but books are SUPER boring compared to your phone.

They'll put you to sleep quickly, trust me. I've made it a habit to read one page before bed. 

That way the habit is easy to do - reading one page isn't hard, but of course I'll end up reading more than a page.

The idea is to make the habit as easy as possible. 

I also make my bed every morning (we'll make an article about that later) because it sets me up for a productive day.

After I finish making my bed, I leave my book on my pillow so it's waiting for me when I climb into bed at night. 

This way, it's easy to read a page (and more) before bed. Start reading at a decent hour, and you'll fall asleep before you know it. 

3. Track your time 

Hold yourself accountable - it's easy to say you 'studied for seven hours yesterday', even if six of those hours were spent talking or checking social media. 

Use a program like Clockify to track your time for free.

Using the time tracking strategy in tandem with scheduling your week will yield insane results. 

5. Make a habit tracker

Again, there's way more information about habit tracking in Atomic Habits (read it and it'll change your life) but the bottom line is habit tracking will make you way more productive. 

Building up a habit takes time (think back to the feedback loop) and you want to do everything in your power to speed up that process. 

So if you want to wake up at 6 AM to study for two hours before your classes start, you can track your habit.

Every time you successfully wake up at 8 AM to study, you can make a tick mark in your habit tracker. 

This way, you'll see your progress building up, rather than keeping it all in your head.

This strategy makes habit-forming far easier, especially when you make the habit easy. 

I keep track of my reading habit every night - after I finish reading at least one page of my book, I mark it down in my journal before going to bed.

It's nice to see how far you've gone and helps the habit feel more rewarding. 

This is the last time I'm going to plug the book (no, it's not an affiliate link) but if you want to form powerful habits that propel you to excellence, read Atomic Habits by James Clear.