Summer break does not last a long time.
There. I said it. It’s the truth that most students never want to face. We’re in denial of this fact all the way up until school starts again. Though we all have good intentions for the summer (write a book, clean a room, go on an adventure, spend more time with mom etc.), there’s just not enough time to do everything that we want to do.
We students also have something else going against our summer goals. Years worth of school and homework have taught us how to be master procrastinators. So when we get a chance to do one of those things that we said we were going to do, even though we really want to do it, a lot of times we never start, and wind up binge watching an entire series on Netflix instead.
Whatever your goals are, here’s what I’ve found helpful for checking things off my to do list:
1. Make the To Do list
There are some people who need lists in their lives in order to function like a normal human being. I am not one of those people. My lists aren’t organized whatsoever. There’s no order to the items and I use whatever writing utensil is in front of me at the moment. I scribble down whatever I’m thinking of and move on. The point of the list is just so you don’t forget the ideas. You don’t need to plan out every last detail. Having things down somewhere is especially important when it comes to tasks that have specific dates and times.
2. Figure out what gets Priority Status
Priority Status is whatever you need it to be. It can be the thing you’ll do before everything else, the thing you’re going to do every day, the thing you have to keep doing because other people are counting on you. But you need to know what’s most important to you in order to make sure, at the very least, that one thing is happening.
3. Getting started is the hard part
Once I start working on something, I can go at it forever. But a lot of times I find that the motivation to start just isn’t there. One of the things I do to get myself into something is to set a limit. For example, if I need to write and I’m not particularly in the mood, I’ll set a phone alarm for 30 minutes from that time. If I tell myself that I only need to work for that amount of time, I’m less likely to be overwhelmed and more likely to start. The same idea works with breaking up a big task into a smaller one. Other things I do include changing my physical setting and reading something motivational.
4. Pair icky things with fun things
Story tim e! My room starts out each school year airy and clean. As my stress level increases throughout the school year, the room gets worse and worse, until the paper tornado has covered every available surface, the water bottle farm begins breeding on its own, and the towels have made a house under my bed. Every summer, I have to deal with that mess. Usually, it takes a full month. But this time I started listening to the radio every time I decided to work on my room, something I really enjoy, but never get a chance to do. It got to a point where I actually looked forward to cleaning my room. I was done in about a week. Moral of the story: fun add-ons make boring or daunting tasks a lot less annoying.
5. Use your procrastination skills
If you find that whatever you’re doing is getting annoying and you’re getting the urge to procrastinate, don’t force yourself to keep doing it. Procrastinate by switching to whatever task on your To Do list is currently holding your interest. I call this productive procrastination- it’s not what you set out to do, but it’s still something that you want to or need to get done. Sounds silly, but it always works for me.
6. Remember, it’s summer!
Summer is about being spontaneous. It’s great to have goals and things you want to do, but getting consumed by checking items off your To Do list defeats the purpose. Relax, let yourself try new things as they come to you, enjoy, etc. Hopefully, this list will help you have the summer you want to have, rather than the one Netflix wants you to have.
