Getting back into a study routine is no one’s favorite. How can textbooks, exams, and assignments be of any priority, when you can spend an additional hour at the coffee shop with your friends? Well, there are some things you can do to make the shift from “hot girl summer” to “academic weapon mode” a whole lot smoother.
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Key Takeaways:
- Setting realistic goals based on your priorities can help you manage your time and energy more effectively, avoiding burnout and allowing for flexibility in your academic routine.
- Creating a detailed homework to-do list and integrating AI study tools into your routine can help break down overwhelming tasks into manageable steps.
- When feeling unmotivated or hopeless, small changes like setting achievable goals, changing your study environment, and rewarding yourself can make a big difference.
Well, we all know that simply focusing doesn’t help. But what else can be said about this topic? It seems that after 10+ years of high school and some time in college you should already know how to finish homework quickly, but for some reason the deadlines start burning once again…and it’s too late to do something other than cry for a bit and pull an all-nighter. That is why it’s always smart to start early and add a small step or two to your study routine to make it last at least until winter. So, here’s what you can do.
Decide What Being Productive Means to You
Not to sound cheesy, but first and foremost you should be clear about what you mean when saying you want to be productive. For some people, the plan is to excel in everything, get at least A’s on assignments, finish classwork before it is given out, and then go to a few extracurriculars. But we all know that a schedule like this can quickly lead to burnout. So, the former step should always be figuring out your priorities, because when you clearly know what you are aiming for, it is much easier to distribute your resources like time and energy.
Maybe one week you want to be the epitome of a girlboss and finish a big group project, as well as prepare for a test, and the next one doing homework for a single class will suffice. For all the perfectionist girlies – no one is judging your “underperformance” if you miss a thing, so take it easy; for all the procrastinator girlies – push yourself a bit more and you will be so-so thankful in the future when you can take a rest free of guilt-tripping over unfinished essays.
With that being said, you have to be aware of your surroundings, so to say, to know what strategies to execute.
Create a Homework To Do List
Really? What’s the next advice – do your homework?
Although it seems relatively on the surface, most students for some reason don’t know how to properly take notes of any work outside the classroom. After a day packed with classes, don’t just throw everything you have to do onto a page and call it a day. That’s a quick path to feeling overwhelmed, which is the exact opposite of what we’re going for here.
Start by breaking down your tasks. Instead of writing “study for math test,” think about what that actually involves. Maybe it’s “review chapters 4-6,” “practice equations,” and “memorize formulas and answers.” The more specific you are, the more manageable everything will seem. Plus, it feels great to cross off each little thing as you go, doesn’t it?
Of course, you don’t have to reward the capitalism monster by running to your nearest office supplies store to buy another fancy planner you will forget about in a week. However, having at least a calendar for assignments works wonders for the visual learners out there, because not only is everything mapped out by urgency but having all of the important info lets you plan your time much better.
If you want something more visually pleasing, create a homework schedule template that works for you and just reuse it every week. There are lots of many examples available online, but here’s the general idea:
Integrate Tools When Doing Homework
Most students are already doing it, especially after the ChatGPT craze went by. However, the majority don’t exercise their right to some AI assistance to the full extent. Say you’re stuck on a math problem or can’t quite figure out how to phrase a thesis sentence in your essay—there’s a homework helper out there that can assist.
And although it’s not an endorsement to mindlessly use every single free trial on any platform you can get your hands on, automizing your typical tasks like creating outlines, brainstorming topics, summarizing lengthy articles – the list could go on – is a great way to save up some time. Besides, some websites have a handy personal account, where it is much easier to keep track of your tasks. This way, if you feel like falling a bit behind, you can always refer to them and cross off a few more things from your plan.
Stay on Top of Things
Not many students like to be that person, but writing important notes and full homework assignments immediately after hearing them proves to be effective. By staying on top of things, you’re doing yourself a huge favor. Let’s face it, trying to remember what the professor said two days later while scrolling through social media isn’t going to cut it. Get in the habit of jotting down details as soon as they’re mentioned. It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfectly organized—just make sure you capture the essentials. And if you have a group project that you don’t really want to do, try figuring out if you can divide the work between the participants so that everybody does their part separately, without being pressured by others. Besides, it’s a great way to build some connections with your classmates, when they will be asking about homework details since you can easily then get a favor in return.
Another pro tip? Keep everything in one place. Whether it’s a physical notebook, a planner, or a notes app on your phone, find a system that works for you and stick to it. Scattered sticky notes or random scraps of paper might seem fine in the moment, but when you’re frantically trying to find that one page of notes the night before an exam, you’ll wish you’d been more organized.
When Feeling Hopeless, Motivate Yourself
Unfortunately, sometimes the world is just against us actually being productive. The mood isn’t right, there’s not enough time, the laptop isn’t fully charged, and there’s a new YouTube video you wanted to check out… We’ve all been there. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling hopeless and letting the distractions take over.
But here’s the thing: those moments are when it’s most important to dig deep and find a way to motivate yourself. It doesn’t have to be some grand gesture—often, it’s the little things that make a big difference. Start by setting a small, achievable goal, like opening your textbook, then reading a page, and then another one. Once you get started, it’s easier to keep going.
Another trick is to change your environment. If your usual study spot isn’t doing it for you, move to a different room, head to a café, or even just switch from sitting to standing. Sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to shake off that sense of being lost and get your brain back in gear. Moreover, after you finish, you can splurge on a sweet treat!
Talking about sweet treats, a little party never hurt nobody, as they say. This isn’t limited to donuts, cupcakes, or chocolate – it just has to be some sort of reward that you can allow yourself after reaching a certain goal. Maybe you were thinking about changing your phone case but could never really get to it; now you can buy it with peace of mind. Knowing that there’s something to look forward to can make the work feel a little less daunting.
Some people take their sweet treats very seriously, even to the point of using a pointer system. If you haven’t seen it on TikTok yet, it works like this: you create a list of tasks you have to finish, each of them being a certain number of points. Then, you create a list of things you want to get – they should typically “cost” like 2-3 tasks. You can spin it however you want, like assigning more points to those things you’ve been procrastinating or just hate doing. Here is a little example of how that might look.
A Final Word on Homework Tips
Obviously, getting a higher education is not a smooth ride. Too many things can influence this process, as well as your overall productivity. Things happen, and it’s okay if your priorities shift because it means you’re changing and adapting to a new environment. Even when feeling down in the dumps, in the middle of your exam season, with little to no will to go further – there are always new strategies to try and routines to build.
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