As the semester winds down and we approach winter break, it’s easy to let routines and assignments slip. The weather changes, there are fewer hours of sunlight and it feels better to stay in and take a nap rather than venture out to class. While this may seem rewarding at the moment, it can have harsh effects on your grades and mental stamina.
Lately, I’ve found myself needing to take extra steps to stay invested in school, while I count down the days until break. If you’re in the same boat, stay tuned for some tips to stay motivated as the fall semester dwindles.
Budget Your Time
Managing a lot of tasks each day can be difficult, and it’s easy to forget something. I’ve found that making an itemized list of the day’s tasks as a checklist helps me to accomplish the most I can each day.
I start the night before, going into my “Notes” app and using the checklist option. I mark each task with a specific time in the day, and budget time for rest as well. Even if I don’t hit every task at the exact time I have planned out, it is still satisfying to mark them off. If you don’t like the loose structure of the “Notes” app, I’ve found that the “Todoist” app is a great alternative. It is a clean-cut to-do list app, where you can add dates and times to tasks.
Do at Least One Important Task Every Day
Despite having a list, some days are harder than others to take care of everything you need to. On these days, I try to make it a point to do what is the most important.
Even though there may be a myriad of important tasks on a single day, there’s usually one that’s the most important. Focus your “free” time on these difficult days around getting this task done early so that you can decompress and hopefully work up some stamina to complete a smaller, less significant task later.
Prioritize and Strategize
Going along with my last point, prioritization is key. Life has a lot of facets, and schoolwork is just one of those. Sometimes household chores have to come first or taking care of dinner. This is all okay as long as you strategize and maneuver your time to accommodate all of these things.
Personally, I like to use the “Reminders” app alongside the aforementioned “Notes” and “Todoist” apps. With the “Reminders” app, I can have reminder notifications sent to my phone at various times throughout the day to nudge me toward whatever tasks I need to complete. You’d be surprised by the difference it makes! Setting reminders for even the most mundane tasks can help you stay on top of things.
Reward Yourself
I’ve spoken a lot about doing things, but what about what comes after? There can be no productivity without rest, relaxation, and above all else, a reward system! I like to use rewards as incentives to complete tasks. For example, sometimes I tell myself that I can grab an extra coffee from Starbucks if I finish a particular assignment for school.
I have heard this doesn’t work for everyone, as they’re tempted to just skip right to the reward. I’m one of those people who is naturally inclined to do this, but I’ve worked to break that habit! If you push through the first few times and work to reward yourself after tasks, it becomes easier and more satisfying each time. Try allowing yourself to take a thirty-minute YouTube break after knocking out some homework or reading, and then get back to it once those thirty minutes are up. If you can do that the first time, you can do it again!
Be Thankful for the Good, and What Is to Come
Regardless of whether or not you decide to take the advice I’ve laid out, it’s mentally refreshing to take time to be thankful. Being thankful for all the good in my life, even just for a minute or two in the morning, can help me feel revitalized for the rest of the day. I try to keep this in mind especially leading up to winter break, as it helps ground me until I can finally go home and see my family!
However, I understand that not everyone is excited about break, and not everyone can go back home. It can bring up complicated feelings for some. If that’s true for you, it may help to be thankful for what you love about your life at school, and to be thankful for the mental break you’ll get this winter.
I hope some of the things I’ve suggested here can help you as the semester winds down. Remember, work does not need to be 24/7, and balance can help improve the quality of everything you do!