The term is more than halfway over: the weather is getting colder, the excitement of Fresher’s week is long past us, and the assignments are starting to pile up. At this point in term, it can be hard to keep up that motivation. Luckily, we’ve got some tips to help you be more productive as we near the end of term!
1. Use a Planner
Here at HCX we can’t live without our planners! If you’re struggling to stay productive, we highly recommend investing in one. They’re so useful for keeping track of when your assignments are due, and you can write down exactly when you want to accomplish each task. It can be so stressful to just think about all of the things you have to do between now an the end of term, but once you write everything in your planner you’ll know when exactly you’ll have time to accomplish everything you need to, and you won’t have to worry so much!
2. Break Down Big Assignments
This is so important for staying productive as your assignment list begins to grow. It can be incredibly daunting to see you have to write a 3,000-word essay by next week. However, if you break down each step into manageable chunks—outline the essay one day, start a draft the next, finish it the next, and edit it the following day—it all seems much more doable. Likewise, if you have to finish a large reading assignment, try to figure out a reasonable number of pages to read each night. That way, you won’t be scrambling to read a hundred-page document the night before seminar, and you won’t be overwhelmed by the amount of reading any one night.
3. Plan Ahead
In order to break down your assignments, you have to plan ahead. Try putting all of your due dates in your planner at the beginning of term and as they draw nearer, start thinking about each step you’ll have to take to finish them. In order to properly break down the work of a big assignment, you can’t wait until the night before to start it. A couple of weeks before something is due might seem like really early to start thinking about an assignment, but think how much less stressed you’ll feel if you can get it all planned out in advance and finish it before the night before its due.
4. Motivate Yourself With Little Rewards
Once you’ve planned out all of your tasks, you do actually need to complete them, which can be the hardest part. Stay motivated by giving yourself little rewards. Give yourself a piece of chocolate for each section of the reading you complete, or let yourself take a walk after you’ve written 500 words. If you know something good is coming at the end of your assignment, you’ll feel that much more motivated to finish it!
5. Take a Break When You Need One
Finally, sometimes no matter how much you want to finish something, you get stuck on a section you just can’t seem to get past. When this happens, don’t be afraid to take a break. Sometimes, all you need to do to figure out that difficult problem set is to take a walk away from it. If you’re too exhausted to keep reading, go to bed—your body won’t thank you if you keep yourself up just to keep re-reading the same sentence without comprehending it. And if you’ve planned ahead, you can afford to take a break from an assignment for the day and come back to it tomorrow without sacrificing your mark.
It can be difficult to keep ourselves motivated as the term drags on, but these tips should help you stay productive. Good luck!