The Easter Holidays: A Procrastinator's Guide
Easter Holidays: A Procrastinator’s
guide
Students across the country anticipate the Easter break more
than any other; Christmas is a distant memory, summer seems years away and the
workload has never been heavier. Chances are, you’ve spent the first week(s) of
Easter catching up with your friends from home, enjoying the luxury of home
cooking or generally having a break – and so you should. However, when the last
week or two rolls around, the upcoming summer exams start making themselves
known. So, from one procrastinator to another, here are my tips for getting
back into studying!
1) Stop
Putting it Off:
This seems like common sense, but
everyone (including myself) is guilty of it. “I’ll do it first thing tomorrow” “After
this episode of [insert Netflix show here]” are all too familiar phrases during
breaks from uni. This is fine until one day, your train back to uni is at 11am,
and you’ve done nothing over the break! Not only will this mean you’re doing
everything last minute and your work’s quality will suffer, but you’ll be
stressed and who wants that? So as soon as you’re done reading this blog post,
then get on with that essay, write up those notes, listen to that lecture or
whatever else it is that you’re putting off. Just do it now and you can go back
to Riverdale as soon as it’s done, with much less stress – trust me it feels
great!
2) Make
a To Do list:
My friends and family know me as a chronic
list maker. If I have something to get done then it will be on my list and if
it’s not on the list then it’s not getting done. All through my GCSEs and A levels
I was unorganised and sloppy about everything and this was reflected in my
stress levels. But since employing a to-do list system, I haven’t missed a
deadline, not finished an essay or forgotten to do anything. Start off simple,
put all your upcoming tasks in order of importance/chronological if they’re tasks
with deadlines; then just start working your way through them. Reward yourself
when each task gets ticked off to keep motivated and use the list to remember things,
so you don’t have to – put in enough detail so that you’re not scrambling around
for pieces of paper when you should be getting on with things.
3) Reward
Yourself:
As I mentioned briefly above, once you’ve
got something done treat yourself! Go out with your friends, watch another episode
of that TV show, take the dog out or whatever you want! You’ve got to maintain
a balance between work and relaxation, or you’ll burn out and get much less
done. Don’t be working from 6am – 9pm every day of the last week; instead spend
the morning with your family, then work for a few hours in the afternoon and
have the evening to yourself, or to do anything that is an absolute must. Just
because exams are coming, and you may have less time than you want doesn’t mean
your health should suffer – make sure you’re looking after yourself.
4) Work
Smarter Not Harder:
Ah, the good old classics. As much as this
phrase makes me cringe, I can’t ignore the truth that it holds. Don’t multi-task:
stick to one thing at a time, and you’ll plough through your work much more
efficiently as well as retaining it better. Put away the phone: You’re not going
to produce your best work when you’re scrolling through Twitter or Instagram
when you should be writing about Torts. If you need the internet to do your
work, put a temporary block on websites that can cause you distractions – my personal
favourite is ‘StayFocusd’ for Google Chrome, or SelfControl for Mac.
5) Reach
Out When You Need Help:
Learn to recognise when you can’t do it
alone anymore. If you have family with legal knowledge (or knowledge of your
field if you’re studying for a non-law degree); or know your tutors will still
be contactable via email during the break, then use them! Get them to help you
with the bits you might be struggling with, you never know how valuable their
advice would be! If none of them are available, then your course-mates will
inevitably know how to help – even if it’s just linking you to the right online
textbook! Don’t be afraid to ask because I can guarantee you won’t be the only
one in your position.
6) Stay
on Topic:
Something I find super helpful when trying
to get back into work after a short break, is reading something that isn’t on
the reading list, but is still related to law. This time round I have got stuck
into The Secret Barrister – Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken (Look out
for a review of this coming very soon). Although my aspirations don’t lie within
Criminal Justice, this book is still a huge eye opener to the goings on behind
the scenes of the Criminal Justice System that I would recommend to all Law and
Non-Law students. Other good law books are of course available such as Letters
to a Law Student or Defending the Guilty (as mentioned in a previous post) –
but Stories of the Law is what has re-inspired me this Easter!
If you have any other tips that help you
get back into studying after a break, then leave them in the comments and I’m
sure they’ll be greatly appreciated!
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