Living in a technologically advanced society, we almost feel unconnected with the world when we digitally turn ourselves off. High school and college students’ dependence on technology has increased alarmingly over the years. Although technology shouldn’t be such a hindrance to our school and work career, we feel these types of emotions every time we decide to unplug. It’s important to create boundaries in order to stay on top of things that need to be focused on.
1. Pace Yourself
The worst thing someone can do while preparing work for submission is to rush on the assignment or burn themselves out. Personally, I like to plan my work in advance and get it all done at the same time, but I know I need to work on pacing myself to make sure I’m not completing an overwhelming workload. By planning work tasks within reasonable time frames, scheduling breaks, eating healthy foods and paying attention to how you feel while you are working, you can maximize productivity and efficiency not only for yourself but for the work being complete.
2. Set Aside Time to Work
Although pacing yourself is important, another key objective is to spend more time focused on your work and to eliminate any external distractions. Creating a time each day or on certain days of the week to get work done is important such as committing to schedules like, “I intend to study from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.” The idea is to give yourself time limits to accomplish your goals for the week, and stick to it to make sure work is completed on time. A way for these allotted times to be productive is to put all electronic devices on “Do Not Disturb” and fully immerse yourself in the work that needs to be done.
3. Reward Yourself
This is one of the most effective ways to create a positive feeling towards the word “work.” Whenever I complete a really hard assignment or finish a week’s worth of material, I reward myself for pacing the work that was needed to be completed within a reasonable time frame. Such rewards for myself include carry-out from my favorite restaurants, organizing a night out with my closest friends or receiving spa treatments such as manicures and pedicures.
4. Prioritize Your Work
Although physically prioritizing work and taking time out during the week to get it completed sounds easy, the hardest part for submitting work on time is removing tempting distractions, creating to-do lists, and identifying what’s actually important. My favorite part of Sundays is creating lists for the week’s worth of work and categorizing them by what’s most important to least. Not only do I commit myself to putting more work into what’s important, but I also refrain from completing the “easier” assignments first just because they’ll take less effort.
Keeping workloads under control is not only vital for physical and mental health, but it also creates a healthier relationship with technology. As technology creates more difficulty in completing important tasks, we can regain control of workloads through pacing ourselves, setting aside time to get work done, rewarding ourselves and prioritizing our work before distractions.