Finals are just around the corner. Now is the time for the big push. Pull the semester together, take practice tests, sleep well, eat right, exercise, and get ready for “battle” (fighting as hard as you can to do well on your exams.)
But everyone around you is watching sports, shopping, eating, or sleeping off the food comas from the delicious meals. How to motivate?
- Take a walk. Exercise stimulates your brain.
- Drink lots of water.
- Make a list of everything you have to do between now and your last final. Schedule the time you need to study, complete papers, etc. And, allocate about 3 times as much time for each task as you think it will take. Then chunk projects down into component parts.
- Pick one work project on today’s schedule and complete it. Cross it off the list. Don’t think about the 12 things you have to do today. Start with one thing. Complete that and move on to the next item.
- If you cannot focus on another project right away, take another short walk, or a short nap. Then, pick up the next project.
- Find a comfortable place to read, without distractions. Avoid multi-tasking. Set social media “office hour” —only checking once a day or once every other day.
- Lose the FOMO. Everything you might miss out on in the next couple of weeks is nothing compared to what you might miss out on later if the results of your distractions are a lower GPA.
- Keep handy the phrase, “Great! Let’s plan that in January” as a reply to anyone who asks you to do anything before finals.
- Plan something fun to celebrate when finals are over. It’s only a couple of weeks away.
Sara J. Berman 