Bribery is good, actually
Imagine a monkey at the zoo. It’s laying about in the sun, swinging from ropes and snacking on food. All of those things are easy and enjoyable for the monkey. What if we, as the zookeeper, need the monkey to spend time on a certain platform so that we can observe it from a nearby window? What could we do to encourage it to spend time there? We could put the monkey’s favourite foods on that platform, put a comfy bed there or a great toy. Then it might go out of it’s way to be on that platform.
Though it might seem a little far-fetched, the way we choose to make decisions is not that far away from the monkey’s strategy. The monkey is swayed by different incentives: warmth, comfort, ease, hunger, thirst, fun, etc. When the monkey feels tired it will choose a place to lay down: in the dirt, on a hard platform, or in a soft bed. By placing the soft bed on our observation platform we can influence the monkey to choose to lay down there. Call it a bribe, if you will.
Our incentives are more complicated — the monkey cares very little about, say, it’s career prospects — but we have basic wants just like the monkey. In fact, our basic wants are often much more motivational than our abstract ones. It is much easier, for example, to peel oneself off the couch to go get a snack than it is to do the same for a textbook.
Many students want to study more, especially in their final years (or weeks) of school, and we can think about studying like the monkey’s observation platform. We can stack the incentives in favour of us making the choice to study more often.
It helps to use a variety of different incentives to help you study because as your mood changes some ideas will appeal to you more than others. Below is a list of incentives you could try!
The out and about treat: If you like to go somewhere to study (cafe, library, etc.) pick up a treat on the way. Bubble tea, coffee and sushi are some of my favourite choices. Pick up your snack on the way to the library so that you can start your study session happily sipping away. The siren song of a good snack is often enough to get me out the door.
Meet up with your friends: study alongside your friends at the library or invite them over to yours! This may be a little less productive if you chat a lot, but it’s better than nothing! You can video call your friends for study sessions too. (Try pomodoros to balance chatting and working, article coming soon!)
Treat per page/problem: A really little treat like an m&m or gummy bear makes a great reward for tiny increments of work. Each math problem solved, page read or paragraph written could earn you a treat. It takes a lot of control not to eat them all in one go, though! Bonus points if your treat is not a lolly — blueberries and dried cranberries also work well, but do what you have to do.
Minute for minute: Is there something you’d rather be doing? Watching TikTok or playing Minecraft? You could make a deal with yourself that every minute studied earns 1 minute of your fun activity. This works best if you study first and play afterwards, but you can split it up however you like. Maybe switch back and forth every 45 minutes.
Old-fashioned accountability: Tell someone that you’re going to study at the kitchen table (or another visible location) for a certain time and the social pressure of not keeping your word might force you to do it. Since this one is a negative incentive (fear of judgement rather than a positive yummy treat) it might feel too stifling if you use it too often.
The tutor check: You can tell you tutor what tasks you’ll accomplish by your next session and ask them to check that you did them. Again, the social pressure might be the extra motivation you need to get them done. Tutoring is a judgement-free zone so we won’t be mad if you don’t get everything finished, either.
It’s easy to think of your basic desires as things that get in the way of studying, but using them to motivate us can be a great tool. Take advantage of your strong desires for socializing, play, and treats by bribing yourself with these as the reward.
One last word of warning: do not withhold positive experiences from yourself when you don’t study as hard as you want to. Your health and happiness should always come first. If this strategy doesn’t work for you, you might need to meet your needs before attempting to study. Study goals are not a reason to isolate yourself socially or deprive your body of food or movement.
See also: The 5 minute method for getting started