Sophie Eminson helps us to stay focused over Christmas!
Christmas is a time of fun, family and presents. It can be exciting, cold and most of all, distracting. What most students forget over the Christmas break is impending coursework deadlines and exams, which we need to remember to keep our grades high so we can party our way through refreshers and not worry about re-sits. However, this does not mean that the festive fun has to be put on pause, it just means that some nights will include more hot chocolate and revision than sparkly limited edition vodka and dancing until 3.00am.
Here are my top 5 tips for enjoying Christmas yet staying focused:
- Do not take your entire university room home with you. Take the clothes and other necessities in your room and leave posters, leftover alcohol and fancy dress clothes. Doing so will ensure that you do not relax too much at home; by only taking your clothes and revision, you will be more motivated to get the work done quicker so you have more time to enjoy university when you get back and less distracted.
- Remember: your friends from home probably have the same amount of impending work as you do. Set up a study day with them, where you can catch up while going over your work in a chilled out environment. Then you can reward yourselves with a night out once you have completed a set amount of work.
- Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day are for RELAXING! These are your key four days over Christmas when you are entitled to relax. See it this way; your parents have the day off, so you do too. When they are working, you should be attempting to work for at least an hour a day.
- Do not indulge too much in alcohol (except on New Years). Many students forget by going to university that Christmas is a family holiday and that they will not find their drunken antics as hilarious as your new best friends who enjoyed helping you steal that traffic cone. By taking a few weeks off from heavy drinking, you will refresh your brain and allow yourself to focus.
- Go shopping! Christmas is a great time to shop for presents for family and friends, and the January sales offer lots of retail therapy at low prices. Shopping, or indulging in your own personal leisure activity will allow your brain time to forget about the work you have been doing and come back to it refreshed and ready to go again.
Sophie Eminson
