How do you stay productive and motivated during the semester break?

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out with this, this is something many, many students will want to know!

Some tips that helped me stay on top of things when I was at uni include...

1.

Set clear, small goals - would you like to revise particular topics, go over a particular lecture, or get to a certain section on your latest assignment by the time term starts again? Make sure your study goals are specific, achievable and time-bound, and reward yourself for completing these milestones.

2.

Make yourself a digital schedule - I used my Google calendar to set myself 1-2 study goals per day (e.g. revise social psychology lecture & draft report results section), then swipe right to tick them off when they were done. It really helped me to plan out what I wanted to do and stay focussed on it.

3.

Avoid procrastination - if you need to get something done, perhaps leave your mobile in a separate room for an hour or two so you can tune into your work.

4.

Little and often - the Pomodoro technique involves studying in short bursts of eg half an hour, then having a short break to refresh your head. This might help you stay productive and prevent drain and burnout.

5.

Take time to recharge - have at least 1-2 days during the inter semester break which are for you, to do something to relax, rest and recharge - take a walk, go swimming, see friends, go to the cinema or on a shopping trip.

I really hope this helps, best of luck!

Holly
University of Bath

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

16

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi @Lucyjane05
I try to plan for upcoming assignments during the holidays by working out when each coursework is due and making sure i've got enough time to prepare for it, and then I work on university work for a few hours each couple of days, to meet my deadlines but also allowing time to relax. It is really important to take time off over the holidays to relax and switch off from studying, so i find planning things to do with friends and family on these days help to ensure you don't accidently fall into studying during breaks. Also having events and activities to look forward to helps with motivation to do university work so you can enjoy these activities.
Hope this helps!
-Jasmine (Lancaster Student Ambassador)

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hey, I just always give myself first couple of days for a full information detox, and then I always try to make a plan for coming break, and follow the plan every day. I believe it develops consistency and self-discipline, which helps me a lot in not falling out from the study process 🙂 Good luck!

Reply 4

Brainless12

4

Same I’ve always given myself a break then started on my assignments. I’ll give myself a day to come up with a draft so that it’s not weighing me down

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi!
I think balance is key with this (which is easier said than done). Planning your time is the biggest help with balance, set yourself time to work on your assignments/revise content. Consider how you work best, do you dedicate whole days to studying? or like me do you work best with a few hours set aside daily? My second tip is to make sure you plan time to rest and time doing fun activities you can look forward to. Spend time with family and friends, plan activities you enjoy such as going to the cinema or going for drinks.

Hope this helps! Faye 🙂

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi Lucy,

I think that there could be several different strategies that people can use:

1) Make a plan of what you want to achieve.
2) Split this list down into day-to-day activities so that it makes the tasks easier to complete.
3) Give your self breaks - it is really important to take breaks and completely switch off, this is great for your mental health.

I hope this helps,

Matt
Wrexham Uni Reps

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hey there,

Siobhan here, a 3rd year at UCLAN. This is a great question and one that many will be asking around this time too with the Christmas holidays coming up!! I personally like to have a balance of both work and resting. If I know I have an assignment coming up when I go back to uni, then I like to be prepared for it. This is so I can avoid being burnt out when I go back or overwhelmed with the shift of going back to studying after resting. I would definitely recommend taking time to yourself though and enjoying your time off, especially if you already feel burnt out. Listen to your body and rest if you need it 🙂 If you do plan on doing work over the holidays then here are some tips that I found useful over the years:

•

Have designated times for study! See what might be doing over the break and work around that it plan days or times in the day when you can designate studying time to.

•

On top of the first point, keep a diary either on your phone or on paper so that you can see the days that you will have off and when you can make time to study! I like to visually keep track of when I will have social things going on and plan my study before them so I will have enough energy to stud. I always like to study beforehand too so that my social days are like a reward. With my diary, I also like to put the deadlines of my assignments on so that I can keep track of everything and plan accordingly.

•

Keep a to do list. I find that keeping a to do list is really helpful to keep motivated as you can tick tasks off and see visual proof of your hard work! I tend to put the hardest/longest tasks at the top so that I can see they are a priority and can work on them first.

•

On top of that, make sure you break your projects into smaller parts. With the diary and to do list, you can do write down what part of an assignment you're going to do that day so that you don't get overwhelmed or go into any loopholes.

•

Remember to have those days of rest!!! Do stuff to help you unwind such as watching a movie, going out, hobbies etc.

Hope this helps and please let me know if I can do anything else to help 🙂

Siobhan (student ambassador for UCLAN )

Reply 8

gjd800

20

Unless I had assessments to be writing, I pretty much did **** all during vacation periods, and I now recommend to most of my students that they make a point of doing the same.

Honestly taking enough breaks during the holidays really helped me to stay motivated! If you push yourself too much to constantly study, you'd burn yourself out, and that's not something you really want to do with exams and then another semester afterwards. It's important to study, but also give yourself a reasonable break - its the holidays after all :smile:

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi @Lucyjane05 ,

I really like this question so I wanted to answer this too! This is what I do to make sure that I am still productive and motivated during my break!

1.

I think that this is different over different holidays, but over Christmas I like to make sure that I have plenty of time off over Christmas and New Year. I like to try and get lots of work done in the run up to Christmas, but make sure that I still have plenty of time off to enjoy Christmas and spend time with my family as I find that this motivates me and makes me more likely to do my work after Christmas.

1.

I think that a plan is the key to ensuring that you get all of your work done over Christmas. I like to plan the weeks that I have up and write lists of all of the work that I have to do so that I know that I will be able to get all of it done. I also like to colour this so that different modules are different colours as this helps me to distinguish each task.

1.

I think that getting out of the house to do work is really helpful for me. You can sometimes use the Uni libraries in your home town, even if it isn't your uni so have a look into this as this is sometimes quite helpful for staying motivated for getting work done.

1.

Keeping a routine also helps me. I like to make sure I am not sleeping in too late as this makes me feel a lot less productive and if I get up early I can get work done and then still have time to do fun things after.

I hope some of this helps!

Lucy -SHU student ambassador 🙂

Original post by Lucyjane05

The semester break can sometimes make it hard to stay on top of university work. How do you stay productive during the holidays? Do you plan ahead for upcoming assignments or take time to recharge? Any tips for maintaining motivation during this time?

Hi there,

So much great advice here!

Personally, I think it is important to have that balance. If you have tasks that need attention before the next semester begins, make a note of them. However, don't try to complete absolutely everything, as you will likely overwhelm yourself and get nothing done!

For this break, I have a few academic tasks I would like to aim to either complete or carve a chunk out of. I also have some personal tasks/goals, so I will factor those in too. Considering my relaxation and celebrating time as well - I'll be busy!

Even though it can feel like a lot of pressure to be productive during longer breaks, don't worry yourself about it. Do what you can, and take this time to relax and feel refreshed to tackle the next semester!

Isabella
Fourth-Year Geography with a Year Abroad Student 🙂

(edited 1 month ago)

How do you stay productive and motivated during the semester break?

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