You’ve just survived the horrors of midterm season, which means your burned out, sleep deprived self is ready to finally sleep in and do nothing all day but catch up with friends and Netflix. It’s Reading Week– you deserve a break! It’s a time to stop stressing about school work and just relax. But it’s also a perfect time to get ahead of some of the schoolwork you have coming up and make your life a little bit easier in the weeks to come. Yet how do you actually stay motivated to do work when you have a whole week to finally do nothing?
Here are some tips on how to stay motivated and productive over winter break:
1. Take a shower.
Seems simple, I know. Almost too simple. But I find showering is pretty much the only place I can’t procrastinate: as great as it is to just stand there and enjoy the hot water, you’re pretty much forced to clean up and take care of yourself. Your mind is left free to wander, and this quick burst of refreshment is crucial for motivation. Take the time to think about your plans for the day and week. Then, this is the most important part – think about when during that time, you’ll have time to do some studying or reading, and then actually do it. Pro tip: get something done right after your shower. I find that’s the easiest and most motivated time to get work done.
2. Spread your work out.
The great thing about Reading Week is that you have the entirety of break to get work done. It isn’t like exam season when you’re busy cramming and your exam is in three days. Take advantage of that and spread your work out! You don’t have to have a day when you do nothing but study; instead, spread work out over the days you’re free. Study a chapter a day. Take one day to write up a proposal for your paper and do everything else throughout the rest of the week. That day, studying won’t take up the majority of your day and you can spend the rest of the day doing fun things.
3. Change your environment.
It can be hard to get work done if you’re at home, with your distracting family, bed, and food nearby. So, change where you’re studying. Try a public library or café. If you’re doing work at your bed, move to the couch. If you’re working at your desk, try the kitchen table. Changing your environment can be as simple as moving from downstairs to upstairs, or just changing the way your supplies are all laid out. A new setting forces your brain to reset and recalibrate, which increases motivation to be productive. Pro tip: try this out whenever you’re feeling unmotivated during exam season or when university is in full swing, I find this helps me a lot when I’m in a slump in the middle of the school year.
4. Plan ahead.
So, you’ve found motivation, you have everything ready, you’re ready to be productive – but then you sit down and start thinking, what should I do first? Should I start on my essay? Should I do those problem sets? Maybe I should just have a snack. Plan what you’re going to do, where you’re going to do it and when you’re going to do this. Then, write your plan down! Fun fact: you’re more likely to get work done if you write it down. For example, write in your planner or phone that you will set out two hours on Monday to work on the first 3 paragraphs of your essay, then work on problem sets 1-6 for 1 hour at your kitchen table on Tuesday. That’s going to decrease the time you spend thinking (and procrastinating) on what to do, so you can actually get work done.
5. Create a productive procrastination list.
If you’ve tried tips 1-4 and still know you’re going to procrastinate on your work during winter break, create a productive procrastination list on your phone or a piece of paper. Write out things that are still helpful to do, but not directly related to your schoolwork. For instance: get around to checking on the emails that have been sitting in your inbox for forever, make plans to catch up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, clean your room. That way, if you’re going to waste time before starting your schoolwork, you’re doing it in a way that is still beneficial to you and not just wasting time on social media.
Good luck to everyone trying to get schoolwork done over the break. Hopefully, these tips help – and if not, at least you read and tried them. It’s okay if you can’t get everything you wanted done. You deserve a little break after exams, after all. Have a productive and relaxing break!