WOAH, WE'RE (almost) HALFWAY THERE!! I, personally, am living on caffeine and free oatmeal from my job. So I'm thinking about how to prep for the rest of the semester so I can finish whole, even strong! Rather than shambling through the homestretch like a zombie made of dirty laundry and unfinished assignments, I want to march home for the holidays a proud survivor of the Finals Apocalypse. Sure, a little worse for the wear but essentially alright. Here's my strategy for facing up to the second half of the semester without fear.
1. Make a Detailed, Specific Game Plan
I'd love to write this cute little listicle and feel totally done and ready to move on boldly, but beyond some abstract goal setting, I need to comb through my syllabi and make sure I know every deadline, every exam and every paper I have coming up right now. If you're a really functional person, you've probably already done this and won't be tripping over classwork at the last minute, and good for you. But people like me? Gotta dig through all my papers and get back in touch with my course requirements.
2. Clean My Room, FOR REAL
Related to my last point, I have to find all the syllabi under my mountains of desk trash and clothing heaps. Seriously, how can I study when I'm trapped in stacks of old magazines and makeup I haven't put away? The answer is, I can't. Even if I did all of my studying in the library (I don't), coming home to a cozy, safe, non-disastrous room is important to me. So just clean. Come one. Please.
3. Do More Readings
I'm not going to lie to you all, I've gotten a lot better about (at least) looking at my readings for the week. For a while I was just a complete no-reading fool, wasting my time in class trying to deduce what the reading may have been from everyone else's class contributions. I'm better now, but I want to be an even more serious, studious human. I could take notes! Highlight! At the very least finish the reading instead of getting as far as I have time for and then skimming the end. Class is so much easier when I know what the hell is going on.
4. Do Work Early
I know I'm lying to myself here. I am a violent, chronic procrastinator and not one iota of my being believes I can be any different. But hey, what good is a goal list if they're doable? I won't ever improve without aspiring so... I guess I'll put this here and just pray.
5. Make Time For Fun Stuff
What is this doing on a list about getting my life together?!?! Well, when I don't do anything fun for weeks at a time, I tend to just melt into a sad Netflix binge of self pity wherein I am neither productive nor really enjoying myself. It's so lose-lose, it's embarrassing. It's time to choose valuable, conscious leisure time over aimless time-wasting masquerading as fun. I am really busy and I know college students generally are, but letting yourself go to a museum, see a movie, have a fun meal or even just take a nice walk outside your study-hole are crucial ways to make life less rough. I have to give myself the gift of a good time to avoid ending up in an amorphous blob of getting nothing done.
I wish you all the best of luck on this journey; may you make it through the rest of the semester with your mind, body and dignity intact.
