While I like to believe that all students find themselves in a slump sometime during a given semester, I do find it probable that it could just be a “me” thing. Unless, that is, that you too have had to have a very long debate with yourself about the importance of attending a certain class? Or perhaps spent an entire day watching shows or movies on Netflix until the final hour before a deadline?  While the slump may not pertain to you as deeply as it does for me, these helpful tips will help you become an overall better student in general.
1. Don’t forget why you started.
Reflecting on the reasons of why you decided to enter college may help you reestablish the importance of completing your degree. Making a list of these reasons and posting them somewhere you can read them when you need a little encouragement will help remind you of how important it is to you to finish, your academic endeavor!
2. Live your dream for a day.
While it may be awkward to ask a professional to observe them for a day, job shadowing will help you envision yourself working in your future profession. This allows you to completely reap a few rewards as a student because many professionals love to help out misguided undergraduates and this is primetime to ask for some professional guidance! Â Added bonuses? It will allow you to see if you would actually like the careers you were thinking about entering, help foster connections within a given field, and you could even line up a great internship!
3. Take a brisk thirty minute walk.
I’m not saying exercising is for everyone, although it should be noted that every body should exercise daily to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but picking a scenic or calm place to walk around will enable you to let your mind roam freely as you concentrate on your breathing and feel the movements of your body. At first, you may not like it, but it will help establish a connection between your thoughts and your body. Also, exercise can help you feel energized and ready to conquer that test/paper/assignment!
4. Make a to-do list.
Ah, the dreaded to-do list. While it may seem trivial since you remember everything you need to do, and when they are due, a weekly list of your assignments and commitments will visually represent all of the items you need to accomplish. By ordering the list into daily sections, you may feel less overwhelmed and as you finish an item, the feeling of crossing something off your list will remind you that everything listed is definitely accomplishable!
5. Volunteer – it helps you when you help others.
Finding a cause or an organization that really aligns to your passions or aspirations and working with them to accomplish these goals can cause you to feel a wave of motivation. Watching the impact your actions can make in a positive manner highlights your ability to actually postiviely help others, so why not help yourself and find the motivation from within? Taking your hobbies and applying them to better our community – such as using your love of physical fitness to volunteer with a retirement home’s improvement of physical education, or the love of playing an instruments by teaching a workshop with as an after-school program – will not only help those participants, but it will make you feel great!
6. Do something you love every day.
While it may be silly to think about, we often allow our commitments in life to create our schedule. As a student, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, or even as part of a mundane lifestyle, so include something you love to do into your everyday life. Even if it starts as setting apart 5 minutes a day to sing a song to yourself, sketch/paint an event that happened in the day, or search for a knock-knock joke, finding ways to make yourself accountable for your own happiness will make you feel in control. Â
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