When I first heard that I would be staying home for the foreseeable future, I was actually excited about all of the free time I would have to indulge in some Netflix, good books, and relaxing. This was my mentality for the entire first week of online classes, and I am now paying the price for it. While it’s true that I gained some more time in my schedule due to the lack of a commute, I quickly realized that I had fallen into a dangerous trap. I was no longer maintaining my normal routine, I was watching way too much TV, and I was half-heartedly doing my homework. Now, I have three tests this week and I am scrambling to study.
My ultimate pitfall was that I was treating this quarantine as a ‘staycation’ instead of school. For the last two weeks of winter break, I didn’t go anywhere with my family and I was spending an obscene amount of time watching TV. This is how I spend most of my breaks and time at home. However, the problem with being home for such an extended period of time right now is that I was initially treating it like a break. I’ve heard a bunch of tips about how to work at home that never seemed to work for me. However, I finally feel like I may have gotten back into the groove of school—so here’s my two cents.
I have seen many tips that suggest you get dressed as if you’re going to work each day. I do understand the benefits of maintaining a routine; however, the first thing I do when I get back to my apartment to study is put on sweatpants, so this tip just seemed a little pointless for my online classes. If you do normally wear jeans around the house, I guess this could be helpful, but I don’t think it is necessary.
Although, one tip that I did find helpful was to get out of my room and work at an actual table. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to do work on my bed because I never have been able to at school, but for some reason I thought it was a great idea to try it now. Let me tell you, it failed miserably. The thing that has helped me the most in this quarantine is getting out of my bedroom. Separating the place where I sleep and relax from the place where I do work was a game-changer for my studying.
Lastly, making a list of all of my upcoming assignments and tests and keeping a schedule has limited my procrastination. I think it’s important to have goals to accomplish each day in order to stay productive.
Maintaining some semblance of normalcy during these anxiety-inducing and unprecedented times will definitely increase your productivity. Try your best to stay motivated in order to make this time the best for you academically.
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