By Enya Daang There are some days when you get everything on your to-do list done and you feel unstoppable. Then there are days when you know you have countless number of things to do, but the motivation to get them done is just out of reach. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. With finals quickly approaching, this is a hole you don’t want to find yourself in. Luckily, I’ve come up with my top three lessons to shake yourself out of your end-of-semester slump!
Change Your Environment
An effective trick when you are having a hard time keeping your mind focused on a task is to change your location. This allows you to take a step back and see what work you’ve done and what is left to do as you settle back down. It’s basically a reset button for when you’ve become too comfortable in one setting. Personally, I move to a completely different room because it gives me a chance to stretch and walk around for a bit before getting back to work. Now, be careful. Try not to move to a place where you will most likely be hanging out with friends or be distracted by the noise! Remember, you are trying to be productive.
Find What Time You Are Most Productive
The beauty of college is that your schedule is incredibly more flexible than in high school. Coming into college, I naively thought I could make myself sit down and be productive for hours at a time, at any time of the day. I did manage to work for several hours at a time, but it was a struggle to keep focused and to retain the information that I was learning. The secret here is to figure out what time of the day you have the most energy and plan your day accordingly so you can maximize the amount work you get done. After several days of logging my energy levels throughout the day, I discovered that I am most productive during the late morning and early afternoon. With this in mind, I always put the work that requires the most thinking during those times. Try it out!
A Word on Scheduling
Planning out your day is one of the most important things you can do when you study. It is the running start you need right before diving into the work you had set out to do and, most of the time, it will keep you on track. However, scheduling can be a little tricky. When you make your schedule too detailed and structured, you are most likely going to miss a couple of tasks and take it as an excuse to give up on working all together.
A good way to avoid this is to find a balance between structure and flexibility that works best for you. There are some people who need to plan out the exact time and location while others just go with the flow. On most days, I give myself a general idea of what I want to accomplish in a certain amount of time, but leave enough room in the day to finish the work that I did not get done, if I have any.
Keep your head up, follow the top three lessons and study hard these next couple weeks! You’ve got this.
Enya is a technology intern at GiveTeens20®. Although her hobbies include photography and solving rubix cubes, her heart always belongs to math and sharpening her programming skills!
