With teaching in all its forms taking a break for a few weeks, it’s now very much up to us students to keep things on track, which can be, surprisingly enough, actually pretty difficult. When you’re left to your own devices without much structure, staying productive can prove to be a bit of a challenge. With January exams and deadlines floating around in the ether, now’s a relatively important time for work.
So, in order to keep things relevant and procrastinate from my own University work for an hour or so more, here are a few ideas for how to remain productive when people keep thrusting mince pies and sparkly trees in your face.
Give Yourself a Break
It may seem a bit strange having the first tip be basically 'don’t work' but there is method behind such madness, I assure you!
Here my reasoning is that it’s called a Christmas ‘break’ or ‘holiday’ for a reason. It’s been a long and solid semester, so taking some time off to rest and recharge is insanely important. In fact, it’s one of the most important things you can do.
Staying in the productive mindset is obviously still essential (we’ll get on to that a bit later), but so too is approaching things with a fresh mental state and an eagerness to work. If you’re shunning any sense of relaxation and staring in misery as all of your friends and family dance around the Christmas tree, whilst you desperately attempt to get that next essay done, you’re going to be distracted. I’m not saying do nothing, but definitely plan plenty of down-time in between the work. You’re allowed a break. Use it.
Work plan: the Relaxation Edition
Keep Tasks Manageable
I’ve mentioned before how I find lists very useful in general, and here’s where they come into play again. Following on from what I mentioned above, make sure you plan out your tasks for the day, and make sure they’re manageable. You want to have enough time to relax, but also to keep that productive mindset going; you want to feel like you’re achieving something every day. If you fail to do everything you set out to do for that day, it can be incredibly disheartening, whereas staring down at a to-do list with every item crossed through is very much the opposite.
Make sure that the tasks you give yourself are achievable. There’s no point waking up in the morning and saying you’re going to write an entire dissertation; unless you’re the academic equivalent of Superman, realistically that’s never going to happen. Be reasonable, and understanding of yourself.
Organise Everything Before You Leave
Obviously for those staying in Southampton over the holidays, this won’t be too much of a problem, but for those jetting off somewhere different, this is another important one. There’s nothing worse than getting home, attempting to start an essay but finding that you don’t have the right book, or that you don’t quite understand the question. You’re suddenly stopped in your tracks and you can’t possibly move any further.
Make sure you plan ahead and take out the relevant books from the library before you leave. There’s even extended loan periods over the holidays so you won’t need to live in fear of having to dash back at any point to return them!
Also, don’t forget that Christmas extends to lecturers as well as students: believe it or not they are human beings too. Therefore, do ensure that you ask them any relevant questions before they’re due to leave their office or you may well find yourself lost without a reply for several weeks.
Of course, everybody has their own methods, so if these don’t quite work for you I fully understand, but hopefully they’ll be of some use.
It’s been an incredible first semester, filled with much productivity and merriment; here’s hoping the next is just as awesome.
Merry Christmas from Ben’s housemates on behalf of Ben because Ben is holding the camera
Otherwise, all that is left to say from me is have a very Merry Christmas, and I’ll speak to you all again in the New Year. Here’s hoping it’s a good one!
Ben
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