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!

Happy Easter to those who celebrate from us at The Almost Lawyers!

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