The arrival of spring unfortunately tends to bring an increase in class workload. The weather in Charlottesville will get warmer (hopefully), and when it does, it will be even more difficult to have the motivation to make progress on schoolwork. Frisbee on the lawn, garden parties, and playing sand volleyball are all wonderful things, but at some point, that research paper needs to get done. Rather, those three research papers need to get done along, with the finals that should probably be studied for. How can we power through the end of the semester stretch while still having time to have fun and sleep? Here are some tips on how to be more productive when you crush those assignments.
1) Figure out which paper, project, or exam has the earliest due date and tackle that one first. If your schedule is packed tightly, try to estimate how much time and effort each assignment will require and plan accordingly. Writing down each of your important due dates in one place helps!
2) Set aside blocks in your schedule to get work done. Thinking that you’ll “get it done eventually” rather than devoting a specific time to work on a task puts you in a mindset of procrastination.
3) Determine how you study best. Do you typically get more work done in the library or at home? At a desk or in a comfortable chair? In a noisy area or without noise? Alone or with other people? Put all of your answers together and you’ll get your ideal study environment!
4) If you go somewhere other than your dorm, house, or apartment to work, leave your headphones at home. Unless you know for sure that you can be productive with music, ditch the headphones so the temptation to watch videos disappears.
5) Restrain yourself as much as you possibly can from social media and other distracting sites like Buzzfeed. We all know that one Buzzfeed article inevitably turns into half an hour of clicking link after link. If self-control is not your forte, you can try using apps like StayFocsd on Google Chrome, which allows you to restrict the amount of time you can spend on any particular site.
Happy studying, fellow wahoos!