Four days ago, September 22, was the official beginning of Autumn. Leaves are slowly changing colors, the weather is beginning to chill, and homework is piling up. After having my first couple of tests, I can officially say that every aspect about Summer is over. Late nights gazing at the stars have been replaced by staring at my textbooks until one in the morning. This is fine when what I’m reading about is interesting, but what if it’s not? What do you do when you have a lot of homework and no motivation to do it?

For starters, always find that time of the day when you are most motivated to get things done. I know that I can’t sit down right when I get home and do my homework. I focus best once everything I have to do for the day is done, which means I usually study towards the night. I work well under pressure, so I’m most focused starting at about 8 or 9 at night.

Second, know what you need to complete and when you need to complete it by. I’ve had an assignment notebook for the last 10 years because it keeps me organized. At the beginning of each semester, I write in all the tests, paper due dates, presentations, etc. I know of for the semester. This way, I know exactly when I need to focus most on a particular subject. This weekend, for example, I’ll be focusing on studying for my Project Management class because I have an exam on Tuesday whereas I just had my test for my Science class so I won’t be focusing on it as much the next week. With seven classes, my life is always about prioritization, knowing which class matters most in different points in time. This is how I have always stayed on top of my classes and grades.

Third, have your downtime to do activities that you enjoy, whether it be watching your television shows or going for a run. If you make your entire life about your homework and things you have to get done, you end up burning yourself out. In my next blog, I’m going to write about some of the activities that I have done since school started, and several of the things I look forward to doing in the next month. If I’m having fun in life, I’ll have more fun in school. I watch my TV shows during the day so that I can do my homework at night and I have fun Friday nights and designate Sunday as my homework day. If something is mandatorily due soon, I get it done, but if I have some time, I don’t want to sit and try to do homework while thinking the whole time “This episode aired four days ago and I still haven’t watched it…”