Staying Motivated Senior Year

When I look back on my first three years at Purdue, I can remember long days and even longer nights filled with meetings, extra curricular work, and trying to stay up to date with homework. There were some weeks when I had three meetings every night and wouldn’t get home until 10pm, on a good night. However, as I have entered the last semester of my college career, I find that my daily schedule has changed drastically. Rather than having three meetings a night, I maybe will have three meetings a week. While my first couple of years came with the challenges of being busy beyond belief, second semester of senior year has presented me with a different challenge: staying motivated with a relaxed schedule. Here are some tips that I have learned while trying to stay on track this semester:

1. What to Do – I know a number of busy people who use a to-do list to keep themselves on track, but what I’ve learned this semester is that to-do lists are helpful regardless of your schedule. With a more relaxed schedule, it is easy to think: “I’m not busy and I don’t have much work to do.” The problem with this is that it makes it easier to forget the tasks and chores you actually do have to do. To help myself from forgetting about homework or tasks, I make a list of things I need to get done in the week ahead. This way, when I start to think about my lax schedule and all my free time, I have my list to double check and see if my relaxed feelings are accurate or misleading.

2. Work before Netflix – When you indulge in free time during your relaxed schedule, it’s easy to think: “I only have about an hour of work to do, I can watch a couple episodes on Netflix then get to it.” However, by relaxing before working, you often times can set yourself up for failure. Those two episodes can turn into half a season or a two-hour nap, and throw your semi-planned schedule off. It’s easier to stay relaxed when you’re relaxing, which makes it harder to get work done. On the flip side, it’s easier to stay working when you’ve been working. Therefore, it’s easier on your stress level and daily schedule to get all your day’s work out of the way before indulging in relaxing activities that could keep you from getting your work done.

3. Eyes on the Prize – Second semester senior year comes with plenty of distractions: job searches, last hoorays with college friends, more time to Netflix binge, and so on. I’ve found that when these activities distract me from doing my best job academically, I simply remind myself what I need to get done to graduate, and re-focus on that. It’s important to spend time looking for jobs, and I would recommend enjoying your last semester together with your college friends. However, the main priority is getting that degree, or the other things won’t matter.

These tips and strategies have helped me adapt to my new lifestyle and make the most of my last semester on campus. By focusing on the work I have left to do here and the importance of doing it well in order to graduate, I am better able to prioritize my life and enjoy the end of my college career.