With the semester, for some of us, finally getting into full swing, and the weather still being less than ideal, it is easy for many of us to want to stay in bed and just doomscroll or fall into the endless void of watching YouTube videos, and not do our homework. I know this is a hole I have fallen into more times than I would like to or should admit. So how do we avoid what feels inevitable?
The solution to that question is a lot easier said than done. Unfortunately, it isn’t something that can be pushed to the side. The thing that has helped me personally the most since Phill said we are expecting 6 more weeks of winter is establishing a routine. This helps more than you think it does. A recent example of this is when that snowstorm hit a few weeks ago and Pitt, for the first time in 16 years, canceled in-person classes due to weather, disrupting so many routines. I heard from so many people that, after that week, so many of them couldn’t seem to get work done due to their routine being disrupted, myself included. Our brains are inclined to seek and follow patterns, so if you start to do work at the same time everyday, it will trick your brain, eventually, when that time comes, to go into work mode. So, my first advice is to pick a time that mostly works every day to start doing your work or to do something other than doomscrolling.
After you find your routine, do not expect to accomplish so much all at once. Set small, achievable goals. Set a plan for how you are going to write your paper or get your draft around, or say you are going to do work for one subject, before you take a break. Breaking your work down into smaller things makes your work seem less overwhelming. This planning of how you are going to accomplish this work can help you follow a list of how things need to be done. Planning can also help prevent you from experiencing burnout, which is so much easier to experience in these colder months, due to the lack of vitamins that we are getting from not being outside, and being stuck in the stuffy indoors. With that being said, with you being indoors so much, you want to make sure you are taking vitamins and eating as well as you can (completely understanding that dining halls do not always provide the best options), to try to make up for the lack of vitamins you get from the sun.
Working with other people can also help with motivation. Having a body double is something that is well known to help many people, myself included. Shoutout to my roommate who did this the other day to help me finish a paper! Get out of your dorm or out of bed and work with someone else, or if we have a second snowmageddon, FaceTime someone while you are doing work so you both can hold each other accountable. This also creates a reward system, as when you do work for an hour, you can then talk for a set amount of time. Hopefully, these tips can help with staying motivated while we deal with this second winter. Here’s to hoping spring comes sooner rather than later!