How to study more effectively every day?

<font color="#000000"> One of the first problems I </font><font color="#000000">was</font><font color="#000000"> faced with when I was starting to lea</font><font color="#000000">r</font><font color="#000000">n English </font><font color="#000000">was</font><font color="#000000"> that I just couldn't study long enough every day. I would force myself to study two hours in one sitting and wouldn't feel like doing it again for the next few days. Gradually I started to understand that I need</font><font color="#000000">ed</font><font color="#000000"> to learn how to learn before trying to learn anything</font><font color="#000000">.</font><font color="#000000"> So I searched </font><font color="#000000">the internet </font><font color="#000000">and found an </font><font color="#000000">excellent</font><font color="#000000"> course called “Learning How to learn” on </font><font color="#000000">www.coursera.com</font><font color="#000000">. Quite a few things in it </font><font color="#000000">were useful , in particular the </font><font color="#000000">Pomodoro technique. The idea is to set an alarm clock for 25 minutes and study in a concentrated way during this time,</font> and not let anything distract you. When the time is finished<font color="#ff0000">, </font>take a break for <font color="#000000">say </font>5 minutes and give yourself a small reward like a cup of tea or a biscuit, or some browsing on the internet. During the break your br<font color="#000000">ain </font><font color="#000000">is</font><font color="#000000"> ab</font>le to relax and recover from the concentrated studying, ready for a new session. Take a longer break after four sessions. Honestly speaking<font color="#ff0000">,</font> I didn't take it very seriously at first<font color="#000000">, </font><font color="#000000">although</font><font color="#000000"> I s</font>tarted to use it in a month or two. <font color="#000000">Straight away</font><font color="#000000"> I was able to study </font><font color="#000000">for</font><font color="#000000"> t</font>wo hours a day<font color="#ff0000">. </font><font color="#000000">Nevertheless</font><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#000000">definitely puts some strain o</font><font color="#000000">n </font><font color="#000000">your brain</font><font color="#000000">,</font><font color="#000000"> so one day-off a week would be </font><font color="#000000">highly</font><font color="#000000"> </font>recommended.

 Have you used this technique for learning a language? What is your experience with it? Maybe you know another way of increasing studying time? Please do share <font color="#000000">your experience</font><font color="#000000">!</font>