I tend to learn in more of a to do list and unstructured type of way rather than setting aside blocks (which is very useful for a lot of people so if you haven't tried it you probably should!). Some of the things I find useful are:
-
closing any tabs/programs/apps etc that aren't useful for what I'm doing right now. Having open irrelevant tabs and programs is distracting and although it's easy to tell yourself "but I need it later!" how hard will it really be for you to reopen it then, rather than keeping it open now? I use Edge most of the time (I know - revoke my young person license or w/e) and that has a "set aside tabs" function but iirc you can do things on chrome like bookmarking all open tabs which is similar.
- Similarly,
if I'm going to do something non-productive I close my productive stuff this makes it easier to keep the distinction between when I'm trying to get stuff done and taking a break. Imo this has 2 main benefits: 1. I keep the associations and mindsets for productive and non-productive more clear and distinct 2. I don't accidentally slide from "doing stuff" to "oh.. I'll just check that 1 notification.... wait, why has it been 3 hours?"
- On this note, if there's no need for you to be connected to games or social media while you're studying then you can
temporarily turn notifications off- If I'm going to listen to music,
I find it best to listen to music I'm used to so it helps me sustain attention rather than distracting from it
- In my
how to stay productive post I talk about
the 5 minute rule which I think is very applicable to online learning. Something > nothing
- If you don't understand something, or something gets your interest,
ask and look up information. There's a wealth of stuff out there only a Google away + years of resources on AN and other sites. Even if you don't find what you're looking for, you're likely to find something else useful