Getting back from Holiday

Now that Easter is over, you might have thought about catching up on your studies and assignments which you have been piling up. But when you take a couple of days off, it's difficult to get your original routine back. When this happens, I always try to start with smaller tasks that are directly or not directly related to my studies. So, here is a list of tasks you can start with to catch up on your schoolwork over the break.

PS. I also use the methods that I mentioned in my previous post, Keeping the Motivation so if none of these sounds like they will work for you, you can check that article as well.

Watch YouTube Videos That are Related to the Course

I use this method a lot with topics that I'm not too familiar with. When you know nothing or feel like you know nothing about the topic, the idea of reading through the course materials can be overwhelming. But when you watch a simplified YouTube video (e.g. Crash Course), you're making yourself more familiar with the topic. By making yourself more familiar with the topic, reading more materials on that topic seems less daunting.

Sorting Out Files

After half a semester worth of lectures and workshops, you probably have some files that are just sitting in the download files or on your desktop. Sorting out these files will help your desktop space look nicer, and it also makes it easier for you to find digital study materials in the future. This way, once you get your full pace back, you won't have to spend as much time looking around your laptop to find the right document.

Save Blank Documents

This one works for any assignment that you have been procrastinating on. Just open a word document, a PowerPoint or any other file that you need for the assignment and save it on the desktop. You don't have to write anything on the document. The point of this is to trick yourself into thinking that you have started working on the assignment. Once you feel like you've started on the assignment, it's usually not too difficult to find the motivation to keep working on it. If you're still struggling to find the motivation, change the font colour to red, write a passive-aggressive comment to yourself or the assignment and just keep writing anything that's related to the topic of the assignment. The editing process may take longer but at least you have something.

Going back to the blank document, don't save the document on any folders until you really start working on the assignment. You want to have the document in a place where you are guarantee to see it every time you use your laptop so it can remind you to actually work on the assignment.

Upload 10 Documents to Course Hero

The process of making an account on Course Hero is very similar to making an account on any other social media platform. Also, if you upload 10 documents, you get 5 unlocks so doing this will help you gain more study materials for when you get your pace back. This can also tie in with cleaning up file space since when you're uploading documents to course hero, you need to make sure:

• The document doesn't include your name, student ID number or anything that indicates your identity

• All questions on any past papers have to be answered

• Ensure that it is a document that you have full rights to upload on Course Hero

If you want to use this method as a way to productively procrastinate, click here to sign up and upload your own study materials.

Meditation

Meditating only for a minute each day can help you re-set your thought process and help you get the motivation and stay focused on your study. Mindfulness meditation is a type of meditation that is often recommended and this is because this type of meditation focuses on being in the present. So during the meditation process, you want to try and focus your thoughts on:

1. How do you feel right now

2. Why do you feel that way/what is causing you to feel that way

3. If you need to change the situation, what can you do today to change your situation

Or you can just start the meditation by closing your eyes, focusing on your breathing and paying attention to the sounds around you. Doing this for even a minute can help with clearing out your thoughts. If you want to read more about mindfulness meditation, I have referenced 2 papers I found in the Sources section.

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Sources:

Coo, C., & Escartin, J. (2018). Less is More: The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Undergraduates' Academic Performance. Proceedings of INTED2018 conference, Valenica, Spain, March 2018 pp. 9057 - 9059 <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162562308.pdf>

Pepping, C. A., Walters, B., Davis, P. J., & O'Donovan A. (2016). Why do People Practice Mindfulness? An Investigations Into Reasons for Practicing Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness. vol 7, pp. 542-547 <https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12671-016-0490-3.pdf>

Imported Images:

YouTube logo image: <https://logo-share.blogspot.com/2013/01/logo-you-tube.html>

Blank Document image: <https://www.freepik.com/free-icon/blank-document_706895.htm>