How I made studying feel less painful (and even kinda fun)

I used to dread sitting down to study. It felt like torture, and I’d just procrastinate forever. Not gonna lie, I spent an hour scrolling before I even opened my notes. But I started doing a couple of things that completely changed the way I study and completely wiped out my procrastination too.

Studying, in a nutshell, is just painful. You sit down with your books, open your phone to check the time, and the next thing you know, you're scrolling till dinner. And honestly, it’s not even about being “lazy”. It’s about your brain craving the easy dopamine hit instead of the boring textbook grind. Once I figured that out, I stopped blaming myself and started hacking the system. Little changes, like setting micro-goals or even tricking myself with a fake ‘5-minute study session,’ suddenly made studying less of a war and more of a game.

So, here are some study hacks that make studying feel like a game instead of pain. One of the first things I tried was the “just five minutes rule.” I’d literally tell myself, “Fine, don’t study for an hour. Just open the book and work for five minutes.” And nine times out of ten, once I started, I didn’t stop at five. That tiny push was enough to break the resistance. It’s like when you don’t want to go to the gym but once you’re there, you might as well do the workout (kinda).

Another thing that helped was making studying feel less like punishment. I’d set up a little, comfy “study place" water bottle ready, a good snack nearby, some music (lo-fi, not rap or anything). Basically, I made it something I didn’t hate. And here’s the best part: once you start building momentum, procrastination doesn’t even stand a chance. The hardest part is starting. After that, your brain actually gets locked in. And when you finally finish, the dopamine hit is ten times better than any Instagram scroll. At the end of the day, procrastination isn’t about being weak or lazy, but it’s about how you set up the game for your brain. These hacks aren’t magic, but they shift the way you approach studying it stops being a mountain you dread climbing and becomes a bunch of small, doable steps. Once you start momentum builds. One page turns into five, one pomodoro turns into an entire session.

So, if you’ve been stuck in that cycle of scrolling, stressing, and self-blaming, try making the study process lighter and more strategic. You just need to make studying doable. And when you see progress, it’s addictive in the best way. Trust me, the dopamine hits hard. Harder than an Instagram scroll. 👉 If you want to stack even more hacks, I wrote about 10 Study Habits from Top Students (and How You Can Copy Them)

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