Thanksgiving break is over, and of course you got nothing done with finals looming, just like every other year. Intermission has the best ways to re-motivate yourself after a week off.
Take a TV break
No, we don’t mean skip studying to watch three hours of “Parks and Rec” reruns, satisfying as that may sound. Instead, try making a pact with some family members and/or friends from back home, wherein you and your pals decide on several TV shows that you love, and refrain from watching those shows until winter break. Then, after the terrible drought from “Happy Endings” or “The Voice” (whatever floats your boat), you can go home, get cozy with your best buds and have an extremely satisfying marathon over popcorn and your sorely-missed local takeout. Consider doing the same for new movies, and log some quality time at the movie theater during break. Movies are probably easier to abstain from at Stanford, seeing as we’re so sadly isolated from many convenient movie theaters.
Go big or when you go home
While this may sound like a retroactive suggestion to get wine-drunk at family Thanksgiving dinner, what we actually suggest here is to do your best to get the slacking out of your system before week nine starts! Hopefully you spent a solid amount of time lounging horizontally, catching up on that sleep debt over Thanksgiving break, and so maybe you’re already OD’d on procrastinating and wasting time! But for the rest of us mortals, it might be a good idea to try to pack a bit more chilling into the first couple days back at school – we should have our fill for the next couple weeks until we get a proper vacation after finals.
Handle with care
Don’t open those holiday promotion-related emails from your favorite shops and stores! There is nothing but trouble buried in those high-res graphics of awesome must-buy items. Those emails are a portal to one of the deadliest threats you’ll face in the coming weeks: online shopping, of course. Cruelly, there’s actually good reason to online shop these days, what with impossible-to-shop-for mothers and grandmothers that use their emails solely to harass you about what you want for Christmas. But alas, online shopping is an endless black hole that will never release you back into the land ‘o productivity. Stay sharp, friends.
Delayed gratification is greater gratification
If you somehow fail with the previous trick, and you’re already thinking presents, think of how much more compelling your argument for why you deserve the iPad mini will be if you can flaunt your stellar grades to your parents/grandparents/aunts/significant gift givers in a few weeks.
Try or Die
This strategy is not for the faint of heart when it comes to procrastination/focus techniques. Finish whatever TV show you’re watching, and finish it completely! Works best for since-canceled or retired shows. Alternatively, take the lower-risk option, and just refrain from starting any new TV shows with six seasons available on Netflix Instant Stream. There’s only one way that can end…