It’s hard to be productive during the second half of the semester. Going on break and then being expected to get right back into the swing of things can feel like the most difficult thing in the world at times.
Even when everything feels hopeless, there are ways to become re-motivated to do work. This past week I experimented with different ways to make myself more productive.
Here were the top five things that worked for me:
1. Study in a different environment
When sitting in my room all day, it’s tempting to lay in bed and scroll through TikTok all day. If I don’t leave my room, chances are the day will waste away and I won’t get anything done.
Instead of trying to get work done in my room, I went to different locations to try and make myself motivated to get stuff done.
This method worked really well for me. I went to Highland Coffees, and maybe it was the caffeine, but I got a significant portion of my work done without feeling the need to scroll aimlessly on my phone.
2. Go for a walk
After a certain amount of time (around five minutes) studying, it gets boring. I lose focus on what I’m doing and don’t digest the information like I could when I first started.
To help curb this problem, I took a quick brain break by going on a walk. This way I wasn’t drawn to my phone or laptop.
The break from trying to cram information made me engage more with the information when I went back to it.
3. Plan how long to do work for and schedule breaks
This one was a bit trickier because it’s hard to gauge how long some of my assignments would take. However, with a general plan for how long the intervals I would work for, I felt like I was working towards something.
Having a goal that is easily reachable makes doing work seem less tedious. Having the breaks added in allows for your brain to process the information in smaller doses.
This method might not work all the time though. At times, I wasn’t focused on what I was doing because I was too busy looking forward to the next break.
4. Get up the first time the alarm goes off
Getting up in the mornings, especially when you have an 8:30 a.m. class, feels like the most difficult thing in the world. The snooze button seems like such a great option at 7:30 in the morning.
The urge to skip classes is so strong most days. But I understand that going to my classes is still important because there is still half a semester to go. By ripping off the band-aid and getting up on the first alarm, I can start my days on time.
Even though this method felt awful at first, on the days when I just got up without lazing around for another thirty minutes or so I felt significantly more productive.
5. Be positive
It’s easy to be hard on oneself when you don’t get everything done that you needed to get done.
However, humans are not machines and doing work for several hours straight is not healthy. It’s important to take care of your mental health by taking breaks.
While it may be daunting to have a bunch of things to do and no motivation to do them, it’s okay if you need to push it off until later.
Don’t procrastinate everything until right before it’s due. It’s still important to turn things in before the deadlines and give yourself time to work. But, by looking ahead and finding a way to motivate yourself to complete the assignment on time, the workload becomes manageable.
