No doubt, games are very addictive. The more you play, the more you will want to play. If you’re a student, games might get in the way of doing important school tasks. Before you realize it, hours meant to be spent studying and doing homework might be wasted on games. Sometimes, you might even skip classes.
Not that games are bad exactly, but control is critical. By playing games in moderation and studying adequately, you’ll be guaranteed good grades without exactly eliminating your playtime. In this piece, you learn how to balance a game-study schedule.
Automate and Delegate Tasks
Your priorities are studying and gaming. So, why don’t you delegate less trivial tasks? You can resort to online essay buying as the way to complete your essays, papers, and other writing assignments. A writing help charges low prices and gets your papers done before the deadline.
Alternatively, your automation method might be using quality writing tools for essays. With Ulysses, you can craft quality essays effortlessly. Grammarly helps you detect grammar mistakes in the paper, while Hemingway Editor makes it more readable.
By delegating, you’ve saved hours otherwise used on doing assignments yourself, manual editing, and proofreading. Hence, you get a lot of time between gaming and studying.
But how do you spend the time?
Plan Ahead of Time
Many students roll over their holiday gaming habit into the semester. Not until exams are knocking would they realize they have much to study. They end up learning little and getting bad grades.
To avert this, plan ahead of time. Before the semester begins, evaluate what academic work is expected of you. Then, plan. Planning gets your mind prepared for the upcoming study-intensive schedule.
It lets you identify your weak points, what needs your attention, and to what extent. Plus, you get prepared to delegate assignments and other tasks that could hamper your studying.
A nice hack is studying on weekdays and playing games on weekends. So, once it’s Monday, you abandon your game console for the rest of the week. And once the weekend arrives, you reward yourself and take a break from the hectic weekday schedule.
Tools like Google calendar or Todoist can help keep track of time.
Have a Study Room Different from Your Playground
Maybe you’ve been studying for 2 hours. But with games irresistible, you plan to play a 30-minute quickie. But you end up playing for five hours!
Why don’t you separate your workspace from the gaming area to curtail your urge? It could be a library or study group where you can’t play games independently.
Otherwise, set up a workspace in your house – perhaps a separate study room. With no gaming console or TV around, you can study undisturbed feeling the urge to take a break and play.
Use Games for Studying
If you’re craving a quick game but also want to get some reading done, you can do both at once by adding a gaming element to your reading. Ask me how?
Play games while you study. You can set up your reading and devise gaming as a reward. The number of pages or topics read will determine how many games you’ll play. So, for every 3 hours of reading, you can spare an hour to enjoy games.
That could create a sequence of; study – play a level – study – play a level – study….
Meanwhile, you must get the best from studying when using this method. Are the reading hours enough to cover the whole topic? If not, you may have to reduce the time set for gaming.
Understand That Some Games Are More Addictive
All games are addictive. But some are so habit-forming that it’s best to do away with them. Understandably, your favorite games could be hard to abandon. But here, discipline is paramount.
Addictive games don’t want you to stop gaming. It requires several levels, pitfalls, and lots of rewards to win. Before you complete a level, you might’ve spent too much time gaming. Which adversely affects your study.
And for some reason, grades influence your academic future. What would matter in 5 years – your immersive games or courses you could have aced? So, do well to stay away from too addictive games.
Find Time to Play Games Wisely
Think smart when you want to fit games and other activities in a day.
- Spend time on games instead of social media or online shopping. You can even play games on social media. Games like Fortnite let you play solo or with friends in a lobby while chatting through the microphone.
- Do chores or exercises while gaming. Valid examples include doing the laundry or walking the dog while playing World of Warcraft.
- Use spare time efficiently. For example, when you’re waiting in line or waiting for your turn, you can use the time to practice gaming skills.
Stop Gaming at The Right Time
Setting an enviable game-study schedule doesn’t mean you will stop at the right time. Games have a knack for enforcing themselves on you. Set up techniques to make you stop when starting a planned gaming session. Here are a few proven ways
- Set Up A Notice: Place the alarm outside the room. Once it goes off, you’d have to stand up and turn it off.
- Get an accountability partner. You can give your game password to your parents. They control your gaming access or lack thereof.
Otherwise, tell a roommate – not a game lover like you – who can stop you once gaming time is over.
You may want to limit your gaming time or quit gaming completely. To limit your gaming time, set a maximum time to play each day. You may also set a limit on certain games. Or curb the time you spend on gaming by doing other activities like meeting friends or doing chores. To completely quit gaming, you must replace it with another hobby or activity.
Piece of advice from reddit: “What works for one person may not work for another. But if you really want to balance gaming and studying, then practice self-discipline. Set a timer for study time and stick to it. When your timer goes off, stop gaming and start studying.”
Develop a Suitable Study Habit
You may need to identify your study strategies to study better. Implementing a suitable studying method ensures you learn easily and faster. And have enough time to play games and engage in other tasks.
To identify what studying mode works best for you, ask yourself the following questions.
- What’s your best way to learn? Is it by memorizing, reading aloud, reading visuals, or hearing
- What time do you get bored of reading? It lets you know the optimal time to take a break.
- In what condition or time do you assimilate best? It could be in the evening, within a crowd, or alone.
Sometimes, what you eat also affects your studying. One answer from Quora suggests avoiding sugary foods. These foods get you sleepy and bored of reading. By eating carbs, you triple your efficiency and get to learn better and faster. Fast learning ensures you can spare some minutes for games.
The following carb diet pyramid could help.
Pay attention to your lifestyle and study habits. Often, bad habits can prevent you from studying effectively, especially during times when you have to be in school or college most of the day. For example, a very common bad habit that players develop is staying up too late and not having enough sleep. This is especially harmful during times when you need to be generally alert and focused so you can optimize the amount of free time you have to play.
Is Gaming Bad?
You might have heard numerous pieces of advice from parents and relatives about how gaming is the enemy of studying. However, that’s not true.
Once you don’t overplay games, it becomes more advantageous than detrimental. Several video gaming studies have shown that gaming helps people battle depression and anxiety. It also provides gamers with much-needed relaxation after a busy schedule.
As students, it’s important to find a balance between gaming and studying. Once you do, you become unstoppable. While you study well and get good grades, you have spare time to enjoy your favorite games.