Alternative Tips to Staying Sane During Assignment Fever

There are many upsides to pursuing a university course like mine that’s assessed entirely through coursework, namely the fact that you never find yourself getting sucked into the January/Summer exam panic. It does mean instead, though, that when assignment deadlines do finally come around, they’re not exactly the nicest things in the world.

Of course, the first bunch of this year’s deadlines are now fast approaching, so work-mode has very much been initiated. This obviously means different things for different people; we all have our own working methods. Whereas some like to hibernate away in the reclusive work pods of Hartley Library, I find my brain better suited to locking myself in my room and chaining myself to my desk for the foreseeable future. Okay, it’s really not that dramatic; there are no actual restraints to speak of, it’s more about remaining focused mentally.

So without much further ado, here’s a little breakdown of the things I personally do to keep sane during these slightly heavier working days.

Dance Breaks

From even as far back as GCSE level, the concept of taking frequent breaks whilst working is drilled into our brains. You obviously don’t want to burn yourself out, and we all know when we’ve reached that stage where nothing productive is actually really happening. The trick is in noticing this as soon as possible and then… dancing.

Stop laughing. It’s actually incredible helpful. I mean, this is probably a little bit harder if you’re in a crowded library (in which case, I’d recommend sneaking off to a quiet corridor or toilet cubicle), but the theory behind it is solid.

When we take breaks, we so often find ourselves getting incredibly distracted, what with the internet existing and all. So a 5 minute Facebook stalk suddenly becomes a half-hour cat-video-fuelled odyssey through the weirdest reaches of YouTube, and then your whole working persona is shattered.
Dance breaks, however, are far more structured, provide you with plenty of great exercise and, most importantly, they wake your brain up considerably. Pick one or two particularly funky tracks (extra funky if you’re the sort that listens to music whilst working), maybe something you can sing-along to if you’re in a particularly empty spot, stand up from your work space, and just go to town.

Just let yourself go and enjoy the music, letting all your fears and worries about revision and essay writing completely slip away. All you care about in that moment is the rhythm of whatever you’re listening to.

Five minutes later, lo and behold, you’re cured. Suddenly you can return to your desk with your brain reset, fully prepped to get back to work.

There is no shame in boogieing away your essay stress.

Talk To Yourself

This one’s definitely a whole lot weirder if you’re in a crowded public space, but I’ve found over the years that having brief conversations with yourself about certain topics can actually help cement in your mind exactly what you want to say. This works particularly well with more abstract concepts and theories; having to explain out loud exactly what it is you’re trying to say is a great way to help you articulate it more clearly.

Obviously you could go and find another human being to talk to, but this could well lead to further distraction. A conversation might erupt. Suddenly you’re not talking about gender politics in Die Hard anymore - you’re discussing dinner plans, or your unexplainable hatred of that guy in The Apprentice. Or worse…you’re on Facebook, and the cat videos are back and once again your entire work focus crumbles.

Better to be safe than sorry. Those cat videos are mental poison.

Cloning not 100% necessary. 

Bring Your Deadline Forward A Few Days

Okay, this one is very easily the trickiest to do properly, and requires a lot of mental self-manipulation but if it works, you’ll never miss a deadline again.

I’ve found since first year that almost every single one of my assignments is due on a Tuesday afternoon and I’ve always been one for fail-safes in almost everything I do. If I need to get a bus or a train somewhere, I always get the one scheduled to arrive before the one I absolutely have to get. If I need to set aside some money to pay a certain bill, I’ll always set aside a little bit extra, just to be safe. And the same works for deadlines: if I have a deadline on a Tuesday, mentally my deadline is actually Sunday. Thus, no matter what happens, I have an extra two days packed in just in case something goes horrifically wrong. Like those cat videos taking over again.

This is a particularly hard one to pull off, because a lot of people (students in particular) need the stress of impending doom to actually get up and do something. To force yourself to do something early requires quite a bit of self-control, and so, if you don’t feel like you can manage such things, here’s a simple, although not exactly 100% foolproof solution: lie to yourself early on.

When you first get those deadline dates and you’re putting them in your calendar, bring them forward a few days. If your lecturer says it’s due on Thursday, put it in your calendar for Tuesday. This way, every time you check to see when your essay is due, you’ll always be thinking a few days ahead. As much as you might trust your own brain, fail-safes are always a good idea, just in case.

These are just a few of my own methods for keeping on top of things during these harsh working months. Feel free to give some of them a go but do remember, we all work differently and so we all have our own ways of remaining sane. Some of your methods might even be better than mine!

I do recommend that you try a dance break though, even just once.

Ben