With only two weeks of classes under our belts, the mid-semester symptoms are already stating to kick in – headaches at the thought of intensive readings, contemplations over sleeping in that extra hour instead of attending your lecture, and running out to eat each day of the week just because it’s easy. Yes, we know it well. But it still being January, and the semester having but merely begun, it is important to take steps towards motivating yourself to go that extra mile (or block). Why use all your foul-ups now when you know you’ll need them later? Here are some tips to staying focused, staying healthy, and staying on top of the game academically in the BU setting, while maintaining a social life, because, well let’s face it – that will probably be the main source of motivation to begin with.
- Keep busy – Empty days will only lead to laziness and bumming around. While days like that are necessary to keeping up with our crazy lives, and gaining back the sleep we lose on the weekends, it can be really helpful to have an organized and timely schedule. That way, penciling in homework sessions can be yet another task to achieve, instead of a project of procrastination. For example, saying you’ll do your homework on Monday night is ambiguous, and other things might end up overtaking it – but saying that you’ll do Psychology reading from 8-9:30 on Monday night is much more concrete, and is an easier appointment to stick to.
- Eat well – With a busy class or extracurricular schedule, it is easy to mess up eating patterns, and often we overeat or don’t eat at all depending on the varying schedule of our days. Make time for full meals, and you will be shocked at the difference it makes. Mealtime is also a perfect way to incorporate a meeting with a friend as a catch up, especially with the schedule conflicts that always arise in friendships once the semester is underway. Enjoy your food, and don’t feel the need to work through your meals – see it as a break to refuel, rethink, and refocus.
- Be smart – We all have weekends with simply unavoidable plans, and everyone has the fear of “missing out” on events that will be talked about for weeks to come. When this comes up, embrace it, and have fun: but if you know it will screw up your next three days of productivity, perhaps reconsider. We deserve nights off, but when it snowballs into weeks off, then the stress will only show up later in the form of failed tests and unattractive pimples.
- Leave time – Let’s face it: we all need a break. Don’t go into a marathon of work – a spree of motivation is always pleasant, but remember to give yourself a break. Go out with your friends. Get your nails done. Buy something new to spice up your wardrobe. Then, you will have no excuse for not having any fun during the semester: we all need these breaks as a reward system. Everybody loves to give themselves a gift every once and a while.