Here are some tried-and-true tips we’ve gathered to help you be more productive, and start you off on the right foot for the year.
Set a rubric or syllabus as your homepage. If you tend to procrastinate, then try setting your browser as the rubric for the big project that’s due in a few weeks, or the syllabus for your toughest class. Forcing yourself to see it every time you open a browser makes it far more likely that you’ll follow through and do it in a timely manner.
Set your font color to dark blue or gray if your printer is low on ink. Sometimes it’ll be 3 a.m. and you’re printing a paper for your 8 a.m. class. That’s inevitably when your printer runs out of ink. Change the font color to blue or gray, and then nab a few hours of sleep.
Keep detergent in a water or gatorade bottle. Nothing compared to the struggle of lugging my laundry basket down three flights of stairs, getting the last open machine, and then realizing the detergent was upstairs. I wish I had thought sooner of keeping detergent in a bottle in my laundry basket, so that I’d never forget it and the load wouldn’t be as heavy.
Proofread your papers backwards to catch mistakes. When you read normally, your brain auto-corrects certain words and phrases, meaning you might miss some mistakes. Read it backwards to avoid that. Or, put your paper into Google Translate and have it read your paper aloud to catch any issues.
Get to know your professors. Go to your professor’s office hours, seriously. I’ve gotten several letters of recommendations from several different professors, some of whom have gotten me opportunities to study abroad, get a job, or get access to certain people. They probably wouldn’t have done so if I hadn’t made the first effort.
These are just a few of the things I’ve picked up during my time in college. What are some of your tips to stay motivated and productive?