Youth Counselling

I hate the word ‘study’

I don’t want to study, precisely because my parents force me to study all the time. When I am watching a movie or a serial they switch off the T.V. and tell me to study. Even when I come home from school, they tell me to study. Now, even when I want to study I just cannot. I hate the word “study”! If I don’t study when they tell me to, they beat me or say something hurtful.
Ajay (15)

Dear Ajay,

I can see that you really hate that ‘s-word’ and feel very upset about the way your parents force you to study. It looks like they don’t trust that you will do so.

Take a moment and know yourself better: Do you feel mentally lazy to sit and learn? Do you find it boring, or perhaps difficult? So, do you escape learning by watching TV and movies?

Given the impact that not preparing for exams will have on your results and admissions to college and career courses, how about managing yourself better?

Set aside time for focused learning, every day — at least 2 hours. You can break the two hours into 1 hour each. Take a 5-10 minute break after every 25-30 minutes. You can spend 30 minutes on television as a reward. At the end of the week, reward yourself by watching a movie.

To learn better, create mind-maps; change questions and answers into a quiz; connect information in your textbook to real life situations. You will automatically move from boring study to interesting learning.

Nasreen Hashambhoy is a Counsellor, Life Coach and a Facilitator of training programmes for schools and corporates. Through a combination of coaching, counselling and facilitation techniques based on cognitive science and positive psychology, she helps clients achieve their true potential. She is the author of the series Values In Action published by Better Yourself Books.

Nasreen Hashambhoy

Nasreen Hashambhoy is a Counsellor, Life Coach and a Facilitator of training programmes for schools and corporates. Through a combination of coaching, counselling and facilitation techniques based on cognitive science and positive psychology, she helps clients achieve their true potential. She is the author of the series Values In Action published by Better Yourself Books.