I'm doing great with studying every day, but I often don't think my study is as effective as it could be, and I often feel like I'm fitting it in my schedule out of obligation and I do it almost begrudgingly at times. This is not because I don't want to study. It's rather because by the time I get around to studying, it is later in the evening and I am tired or I have other things I'd like to be doing.
I have also taken to doing a bit of my study by listening to scriptures or Church magazines as I drive to and from work or while I do things around the house. This is a good way to fit it into a busy schedule, and I think some of that is probably fine. But if this is all I'm doing, I fear it's not as effective as it could be. For one thing, I often get a bit distracted from what I'm listening to; for another, not everything I want to study is available in mp3 format. And in addition, I think I need to be doing more writing as part of my study (see below).
So I'm thinking outloud a bit at the moment... here are some of my objectives with scripture study; maybe if I write them all down I can think through them better and come up with a good way of doing this.
1. Study in the morning. Study in the morning--before I get busy with other things--will help (I think) avoid this sense of obligation a bit. In the morning, there is little else competing for my attention (except sleep). And if I study in the morning, it will free up my evenings for other stuff. The problem is that morning study requires getting up early, and that has never been my strength. I tend to rationalize sleeping until the last possible moment because either a) I was up late, b) I'm recovering from a campout or work project or some other thing that caused me to be up for much of the night, or c) I was up for a while in the night with Caroline. Those issues combine with d) I really should be getting closer to eight hours of sleep (even seven would be nice). I'm not entirely sure how to handle those issues because I really do think sleep is important. I tend to think I need to just discipline myself to getting up at a set time no matter what. Once I make excuses now and then, the whole system falls apart. It becomes really easy to find reasons not to get up just yet. Plus, if I wake up late, then I stay up late the next night fitting in scripture study, which makes it hard to get up early the next morning, and so on. So I think I just need to set a time and stick to it. But that's hard to do--easy to say when you're already out of bed, hard to practice when your head is comfortable on a soft pillow...
2. Begin writing what I study. Several people in our ward keep scripture study journals, and we've talked about them many times. There is great value in writing down what you study--in thinking through and processing the material, and in recording it for future reference or to share with others. As a writer, this is something I can understand. But including writing in my scripture study time means I can't do all my study by listening to mp3s--I have to have time where I can sit and ponder and write. And it means I can't read as much as I would like. I have a good list of things I'd like to read as part of my scripture study, and I often have this sense that there is more I should be reading, and it's hard to discipline myself to stop reading and start writing.
3. Exercise while I study. This is something I have tried in the past year and it has worked pretty well at times. Regular exercise is a weakness of mine, and I have thought if i could walk on the treadmill while I read, that would help me accomplish two challenging goals at once. But this complicates the writing goal, and it means that most--if not all--of my study needs to be done at home, not while driving in the car. But it works well with the morning study goal, and it works well with listening to mp3s as part of my study. In the past when I have done this, I have tried to walk for 30 minutes while I read various things. Oh--the other thing this means is it is hard to study big books or write notes in margins or follow lots of cross references while I walk. Walking while studying works great with reading Church magazines or handbooks or something from one of the smaller scripture books--Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price. The bible can work, but it's a bit heavy to hold while walking. My minimum goal would be to exercise at least three times a week.
4. Study for an hour a day. When I received my current assignment at Church, part of my instruction was that I really should be studying for at least 60 minutes a day. That has been a challenge. My previous goal was 30 minutes, but I would often only get 15--if it was late and I was tired. I've done fairly well at increasing my time to 60 minutes a day. In the last year or so, I would say I have probably hit that mark at least half the time--maybe two-thirds. But it has continued to be a challenge, especially when I don't get around to studying until 9 or 9:30 p.m.
5. Study a variety of things. Here are some of the things I would like to do during my study. I don't need to do all of these every day, but I'd like to get to each of them pretty regularly.
- Book of Mormon: Our stake president has asked us to read this once a year. I would like to to read at least a chapter or two several times a week. This could be something I listen to while I walk on the treadmill.
- Other scripture: I find I know the Book of Mormon really well, but I'm not as familiar with the other scriptures. I would like to know them all as well as I know the Book of Mormon. In the last six or eight months I've been studying the Doctrine and Covenants with a study guide as the core of my scripture study (usually 20-30 minutes) and it has been really helpful. I'd like to continue this sort of practice. Because the scripture guide is big and this study often involves marking things, this is difficult to do on the treadmill.
- Church handbooks: I need to better understand Church policy and guidelines
- Church magazines: I've never been good at reading these, but when I do read them, I find good value there. In the last four or five months, I've been listening to the Ensign and the New Era as mp3s--that has worked really well, and I have enjoyed it. This month's New Era has about 80 minutes of listening material. The Ensign should have around 130 minutes of material each month (though about 20 minutes of that can be Church news, which I find less uplifting and scripture-study worthy).
- Lesson plans: I frequently have opportunities to teach a class at Church or to conduct some training in a meeting or to share a message with a group. Preparing for these opportunities seems like a good use of scripture study time--though the schedule for these opportunities tend to be a bit erratic, so it's hard to schedule 15 minutes a day on this. In the past I have sometimes spent my whole scripture time preparing a lesson, and other times I've spent a few minutes here and there. Somehow my strategy needs to include enough flexibility to accommodate this.
- Other: Occasionally other Church materials--talks, pamphlets, etc.--come up as things I need to study.
- Book of Mormon: 15 minutes, daily, listen to mp3s (or read the book, if focus is a problem) while walking every day but Sunday
- Church magazines: 15 minutes, M/W/F, listen to mp3s (or read hard copy, if focus is a problem) while walking; that should give me enough minutes to get through both the Ensign and the New Era each month
- Church Handbook: 15 minutes, T/Th/Sa/Su, read while walking (except Sunday)
- Other scriptures: 15 minutes, daily (can be replaced by lesson plan time if needed)
- Flex time/lesson plans/other: 15 minutes, daily
K, now I have a plan. Let's see if I can do it.
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