My favorite time of the year is the month of October when everyone starts preparing for the holidays. The houses begin to smell like cinnamon and pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks, but the beginning of fall also means the beginning of the end for students. For me, coming back from fall break means that I have less than two months left at school and that I’ll be home for a long 4-5 week winter break. It becomes harder and harder to stay motivated the closer you become to the holiday season.
Here are some ideas on how to stay motivated when half of the semester is already over:
1. Set Daily & Weekly Goals
Inside my planner, there’s a section for me to include any goals that I have for myself that week. What I enjoy the most about this section is that I can plan out the really important things that I have to do during the week, for example, to study for an exam or meet with my academic advisor. Setting these goals also helps you keep organized and feel more put together and accomplished.
2. Don’t Study in your Room
Once the seasons begin to change, it becomes a lot colder and most of us don’t want to trudge all the way across campus to park ourselves in the library when we could be in our warm, cozy bed in the confines of our home. You are less likely to want to complete your homework if you are already warm and at home. And if you’re worried about being cold at the library, I’ve brought in a blanket before. People may judge you, but at the end of the day, they’ll be cold and you’ll be warm and studious.
Photo via Becca Tapert
3. Eat Healthily
Halloween is all about eating candy, Thanksgiving is about stuffing yourself full and Christmas is about combining the two into the course of two days straight. The healthier you eat before the holidays, the more rewarding it will be to eat those goodies during the holiday season. Also, a healthy diet leads to a healthy mind, which can help you stay focused when doing school work.
4. Don’t Procrastinate
As I mentioned earlier with not studying in your room, if you refer to these habits, odds are that you’re going to wait until the very last minute to do things, which will in turn stress you out even more. You don’t need this before the holiday season, and you especially don’t need it before finals. Try to stay ahead of schedule when it comes to your assignments.
5. Find Your Support System
Whenever I’m feeling down, or don’t feel as though I can do anything right anymore, I call my mom. She usually tells me not to give up and to keep trying because I’ll eventually get the end result that I desire. Find someone, or a group of people, that can do that for you. In times when you want to give up because you’re so close to the end, it is so reassuring to know that someone still believes in you.