by Ivet Koleva

Warmer days are coming to us. As the summer begins, we are desperate for some sunshine and time outside. However, when one semester ends, another begins, I know there are a ton of students out there who are planning to take a few courses in the spring and summer. As someone who’s been in those shoes, I know how difficult it can be to focus.

The past summer, when I took a whole load of courses, led me to research and test out some new studying habits. A semester later, these points also helped me in balancing an internship and studying at the same time. Hopefully, they will help you out as well. Whether you feel like your Winter semester didn’t go well and you’re looking for time-management tips, or you’re taking more courses – this simple checklist has something for everyone.

☑ Good morning: But are you actually starting your day off right?

Wake up at the same time every day: Our sleep schedule can be hard to control, but it’s very important. Personally, I’m more of a night owl, so I’m definitely not saying “wake up at 6am” with this tip. Instead, forget all the advice you hear of a time you should be waking up and focus on making a time to get up that you will feel rested – and then stick to it. It can be 7am, or it can be 9am. The choice is yours, as long as you don’t hit the snooze button when it’s time to get up. If you have to, put your alarm on the other side of your room so that you have to get up to turn it off: the movement will wake your body right up.

You also have to stick to this on all days of the week, even Saturday and Sunday – skip those weekend sleep ins (you’ll find that really not that worth it). You’ll find that you’ll slowly begin to feel refreshed, because your body is now on a schedule and getting the hours it needs to re energize and make sure it’s not sleepy during the day. You’ll have more time to be productive, with less stress, drowsiness and need for naps.

☑ Study time: are you truly studying?

Put pen to paper: Writing out notes by hand requires more of your attention. You’re more focused on both organization and memorization. Everyone wants their notes to be legible and organized so that they can go back to them later – this allows you to be carefully listening and paying attention. You are actively using more parts of your brain, there are more senses and motor neurons that you’re using rather than simply typing on the keyboard and allowing autocorrect to fix up your mistakes. I personally found a huge difference in recalling information on my exams on the class I took handwritten notes on, over the ones I relied on my computer and devices. Time to leave my computer to handle just the lecture videos, and retire my notes app for real paper instead.

Procrastinating? Try the 15-30 rule: Procrastination is our worst enemy, and it’s become even more of a villain now that everything’s online. There’s times when my brain has lost focus – especially when I’ve finished an assignment, and now have to do another one before work starts for the day. This is where this tip has saved me. Instead of going full dive into trying to focus in and then getting distracted by literally anything – I turn to the timer app on my phone.

Put a 30-minute timer to countdown, then turn off your phone and grab your assignment. There’s an interesting transformation that happens inside your mind, because now you have a goal – chip away at your assignment for 30 minutes – and then a reward – a 15-minute break to do whatever you want. When the 30 minutes end, make sure you take your break. This rule won’t work if you guilt trip yourself that you don’t deserve a break – you do, so give yourself one, and allow the thoughts to slowly begin to lighten up by themselves in your brain. Similarly, don’t allow yourself to take advantage of the 15 minutes, make sure you keep track of time – state to yourself that they’re something you earn after every 30 minute study session.

 After following this rule for a total of three times, the assignment became less daunting, and I observed how I slowly continued to increase the amount of time I was working on my paper rather than taking breaks – the ideas just kept flowing now that I got going! I went from working 30 minutes to 40, and eventually 50.

Find the right music: A playlist is great, but is it the right playlist for studying? We may think turning on our favourite song is the sure way to get us going, but it really isn’t. It’s a straight path to distraction. In fact, skip over any song with lyrics. Even if you have the words memorized your brain will still hyperfocus on them, instead of the lectures you’re supposed to be reading. Try instrumental music instead, it’s able to put you in a zone of focus. If you have a favourite movie or game soundtrack (or any specific instrument you like to listen to), then make a playlist with that. Personally, I always have my playlist with movie soundtracks ready to go for any study session.

☑ Break time: Focus on the “life” part

Seek the outdoors: Now that summer is on it’s way, this is even more important. You may have heard the term “fresh air does wonders” – it really does! A step outside for a walk or jog does work wonders. I used to ground myself to my desk for most of the day until I finished what I needed to do, but it truly isn’t the way to go about things. When you find yourself stuck on a paper or assignment, grab your headphones and take a walk. You’ll find that the weight of everything begins to lighten and, when you come back home, you’re ready to sit down and give another go at things.

Check up with loved ones: Whether it’s a phone call or facetime, taking the time to catch up with friends or family is important. Our lives shouldn’t have to be dedicated solely to work and school alone, we need some time to socialize and have a few laughs. Time with our loved ones is precious and makes for great memories. When you’re finding yourself stressed or at a dead end with your studies, it’s time to pull back and take 30 minutes for a phone call or facetime.

☑ Self-care: you deserve it

Know your limit, and when it’s time to truly stop:: You’ve been there. I’ve been there. When exam time comes, so do the ideas of stashing a bunch of sugary food or caffeine and staying up until the early hours of the morning.

I find it’s even more easy to lose yourself in a cramming session during summer, the daylight is longer and we can excuse ourselves staying up even later. If you’re finding late nights studying and overworking becoming common to you, it’s time to pull back.

Our brains are getting even more anxious, frustrated and confused with every session, especially if the deadline is approaching hard and fast. Sometimes, it’s not even relying on the information itself to solve a problem on a test but logic itself. Our ability to interpret a situation goes down when there’s less sleep, and you may find yourself making silly mistakes because of it. If you have to choose between that extra chapter and your sleep, my vote goes for the latter.

Plan it out: Instead of pushing our limits, it’s time to evaluate our weakness. Personally, this was one of the hardest things for me to do – if I know I’m getting the work done then why does it matter if I’m overworking?

Don’t find yourself in the same shoes I was in. Don’t mistake the popularized idea of “hustling” with overworking – they’re nowhere near being the same. Time management is one of the hardest things to practice, but if you can establish a schedule you’re happy with – where you don’t pile too much work, but get enough done for the day – then it’s worth it. Buy an agenda or just a simple notebook where you can jot down tasks. After you finish them, cross them out. Nothing is as satisfying as crossing things out on a paper, if check marks are more your thing then you can also mark off your tasks as well – whatever brings you that satisfaction of finally being able to say “I’m completely done with this task”

Got something wrong? Don’t let it get you down: Now that we’ve gone through these tips, it’s important to make note of one thing – it’s okay if you get it wrong. We can’t necessarily control the bad days, but we can control how we react to them. There’s going to be days where your time management is great, and days where things just happen and it all comes crumbling down.

Don’t set expectations for yourself to get everything right on this list, it’s okay if there’s days where you can’t bring yourself to finish, where you can’t handle much. At the end of the day, our body, mind and health are what’s most important over anything else, because what good is everything else if we compromise our health? There’s going to be days where you need to email your professor for help with a deadline, there’s going to be days where the lessons and lectures are just not sinking in. Take care of yourself on those days. Whether it’s a bad assignment, a bad grade, my university experience so far has taught me one thing – nothing is truly permanent and everything is always fixable in some way.

I hope you’re able to take some tips and thoughts away from this checklist. They may even help you figure out other new study habits you didn’t know you needed. I wish you all of the best as we continue our semesters and studies, go get those grades and marks you’re after!

Good luck!