Whether we pray for ourselves or for others, the prayer must be from the heart. The problems of others should become our problems.
You have to prepare for prayer.
Read a bit of the Gospel or the Gerontiko (stories and sayings of pious men and women) and then pray.
It requires an attempt to take the mind to the divine space.
Study is like a gift which God gives us to direct us to greater spirituality.
With study the soul is warmed.
Elder Paisios the Athonite.