It’s a wonder how we sat through high school and went to class 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It still amazes me as a senior in college. Now, I’ve tapped out by Thursday night. In fact, I get nervous when Thursday morning rolls around, because I know I have so much to do still, but I know when I’ve maxed out, and all I will want to do until Sunday night is watch movies and pretend all of my problems don’t exist. I could get away with that at the beginning of the semester, even just a week ago, but I know that time is dwindling to get things done, and unless I want to go from nervous wreck to panic mode, I need to be productive over the weekends (or at the very least, these last Fridays). With only a couple of them left to spare, here are some tips on how to be productive on the weekend.
1. Set your alarm
Sleep is your biggest enemy on the weekend. When you think you have time to sleep in, know that you don’t. Even sleeping in until 10am can hurt your day. Plus, the days are shorter now, and you can bet that once the sun goes down around 5pm you will trick yourself into thinking that you’ve already put in a hard days work and that you can be done for the day. Set an alarm for 8am; snooze until 9am if you need to. Give yourself a little time to wake up—make a cup of coffee, eat some breakfast—but don’t drag this out (half an hour tops). Don’t give yourself time to be lazy and change your mind about doing anything that day.
2. Have your study space set up the night before
Reserve a space on your counter the night before, or wherever it is you can sit up straight and study effectively. Set up your laptop and line up your planner, pens and notebooks so that you are ready to go right away in the morning. The hardest part is getting started, and by doing this you’re already half way there. Preferably, you should set up where your roommates or others won’t distract you.
3. Time yourself
Make a list of everything that you want to accomplish that day. Prioritize them and write them in order of what you want to get done first. Then, estimate how long each task will take and write it down next to each. I would recommend for longer lists only doing this one at a time so you don’t feel overwhelmed, as this could potentially defeat the purpose. Be generous with the time you allot yourself so you don’t set yourself up for failure. Time yourself and try to get the task done before the clock runs out (I am currently doing this as I am writing this blog, and I can tell you it is working). You will feel even better if you finish early.
4. Go to Murphey when it gets dark
Once it gets dark out, you should pack up and go somewhere with stimulating light. Murphey Library is a good place to go, because it could be the dead of night and you wouldn’t be able to tell (if you sit away from a window, at least). The light is bright and the view of other students studying should give you another boost of motivation. Not only this, but you should probably change study environments by this point anyway. Usually if I stay in the same spot for too long I get what I like to call “Same Spot Zombie Syndrome.”
5. Don’t stop until you’ve completed everything on you’re list
This is a lot easier said than done, but you will thank yourself later. Think of a specific time in your life when you’ve had to do things you didn’t want to do for a long period of time; think of a time when you’ve been the most bored or exhausted you’ve ever been but you couldn’t do anything about it (not including now). Think of a time that was worse than what you are going though now and let that be you’re motivation to push through the things on your list.
Just think, in less than 2 weeks (12 days or less in fact) you will be home, possibly celebrating the Holidays, and for better or for worse, this semester will be over, along with all the papers, exams and presentations that come with it. And that should be motivation enough; the end is in sight, and the sooner you get things done the sooner it will all be over.