Keeping The Productivity Up

By Uloop Archives on April 14, 2016

image via fimodo.com

With the end of the spring semester coming up, it’s beginning to become crunch time. With final tests, essays, and other end-of-the-semester assignments, it’s hard to stay completely focused when you really just want to focus on summer and what you can do over the break.

Staying motivated to finish the end of the semester on a strong note is important and vital to maintaining a good GPA and being able to fully enjoy the summer without worrying about a failed class that happened. Staying productive isn’t hard when you have the right attitude, motivation, and some extra productivity apps or helpers that can push you in the right direction to getting the A.

1. The proper attitude

The first key to surviving the end of the semester and all the work that is thrown at you is to have the proper attitude. Being easily distracted by going to the pool (as long as the weather stays nice), planning for summer vacation, or even looking forward to graduation, is a surefire way to get behind in your studies and start missing assignments and lowering your class averages.

However, staying positive and on top of your work isn’t that hard. By being aware of all due dates that are looming and planning to do homework in a timely manner, the end of the semester will be as stress free as possible and allow you to have a fun time as well.

image via flickr

2. Motivation

Staying motivated goes hand-in-hand with having the proper positive attitude. As most motivational speakers like to say, the first step is the hardest. Gaining the motivation to just start and hit the books can seem harder but once you get going, it’s easy to follow through. Making time to just go to the library and find the perfect study spot can set the mood to accomplish a lot and commit to doing work for a few hours.

Also, having study dates with friends can help you all stay motivated to set time on your schedule to work and study and lets you see your friends at the same time. Once you get in the habit of setting time aside, it becomes habit and the amount of motivation needed to do it lessens over time.

3. Productivity apps

Well, maybe you tried to stay positive and motivated but after the first few times, couldn’t quite focus completely on the tasks you needed to accomplish. That’s okay! Sometimes we all need some help to get our work done. An application that could prove helpful, and also frustrating, is something like SelfControl or StayFocused. These two applications can block websites that can be distracting, like Facebook, for certain periods of time so you can focus on school-related websites or just typing on your computer in Word. Limiting things that you know are distracting can be the kick in the butt you need to get your work started.

Evernote is a great tool for those who like to take notes on your computer during classes. It allows you to create notes for different classes and you can pin different things and articles to note sets to create comprehensive lecture notes. Syncing to your computer’s Evernote application allows for ease of access between multiple devices and lets you have your notes on all your devices. Evernote keeps your notes organized and easily readable which just encourages an easier study environment.

 

Studying and getting work done, especially near the end of a semester, definitely can be a struggle that many students face. Being able to balance your few remaining weeks and staying motivated and positive can be hard when all you really want to do is hang out at the pool or secure vacation plans for the upcoming summer.

However, staying positive, remaining motivated when times get tough, and using some applications can be a big help in getting the grades you want (or need!) for the end of the semester.

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