With people stuck inside due to quarantine, many students may find it difficult to stay motivated to complete their school assignments, stay active, or even to do things they normally find pleasurable. This could be quite troublesome for many students who would normally be at the top of their game if physically attending school was still in session. Watching their grades drop could bring on anxiety which leads to them procrastinating their work even further. If you are similar to the students described above, then this is a must-read for advice to keep you on your game–even during these difficult times with distance learning. 

The most important piece of advice is to set a schedule for yourself. Right when you wake up, before you get dressed, have breakfast, etc. take out a piece of paper and plan out your day. Look at the assignments your teachers have posted and judge about how long you think you would need to complete each one. Then, decide on the times that you will work on everything. 

For example, from 12 to 12:30 you could work on math homework, then, from 12:30 to 1:30, you could work on science. With set times that to complete all of your work, you are more likely to commit to getting it done before that time so it does not throw off the rest of your schedule. As sophomore Ryan Rowe said, “To stay on top of my assignments, I have been trying to plan out in advance. At this point I can, for the most part, predict the work I’ll get and when it will be due. So, with this information, I try to decide the order I’ll do things. In some cases I try to get ahead but with more challenging classes it’s harder to do that. I originally tried to do a subject’s week of work in one day but I’ve adjusted to doing bits and pieces so it’s more manageable.” 

You may find it hard to stick to the schedule. For example, what if you underestimate how long you thought something would take and you end up working past the allotted time? Well, if that ends up happening, just move on to the next thing on your schedule as originally planned. After you complete everything, you can go back and finish up assignments that you couldn’t finish. This may seem a little contradictory, but think about it like this: if you still attempt to follow your schedule, then you will still be motivated to try to finish all of the assignments before the time is up. 

Sophomore Josh Alms shared how he was keeping up to date with his assignments, stating that, “[he’s}been using numerous, valuable education tools found on Youtube and the like to continue learning new content, and [has] established times in [his] day dedicated to completing class work to make sure it all gets done.” 

For activities that you wish to do that are not school work, like exercising or writing for fun, creating a schedule can apply to this as well. Since these things are often more entertaining to complete than school assignments, it is okay if you go over the time you allotted to complete them so long as you added these activities to the end of your schedule, after all your work is completed. If you placed them in the middle of your schedule, then no matter how entertaining they are, you have to pull yourself away from them and get back to work at the time you originally decided. Look on the bright side: it may take some time for you to adjust to a structured schedule, but once you do, you can have a much more productive and enjoyable day! You won’t feel bogged down by avoiding your responsibilities and will feel more at ease. 

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