We all need some motivation to carry us from spring to summer break. Here are 30 ways to do just that!
1. Sun’s Out, Fun’s Out
Sunny days are ahead! To keep yourself motivated, take a blanket outside and go soak up some rays while getting your work done. If you’re working with a laptop, you create a time-based goal.
2. Naps Are Your Best Friend
Interplay stress with naps. Pushing yourself to extremes can be incredibly unmotivating. Take a nap, set a timer, and wake refreshed, ready to keep working!
3. Set Waypoints With Special Events
Plan some awesome days and activities with friends! Just a few events to look forward to between spring and summer break. A museum opening! A beach day! The possibilities are endless.
4. Watch Motivational Ted Talks
Sometimes, all you need to hear is some words of wisdom from someone that’s come before you. The great thing about Ted Talks is unlike other quasi-harpy speeches, and you can find some wonderful bite-sized videos you can watch between tasks.
5. Plan a Special Relax Day
Plan a day where you can sit with yourself and a book and maybe some candles. Disconnect from the world and just enjoy what it means to be you. Cherish these intimate moments with yourself, you don’t get many of them.
6. Disney Day
If you have the fortune of living close enough to a Disney park, set aside a day where you can go experience the Happiest Place on Earth!!
7. Aspire to a Fictional Character
There are some great fiction characters that have their shit together. Or at least seem like they do / make an effort to. Pick your favorite(s) and develop a mantra: “What would ____ do if they were in this situation?”
8. Make Plans with Old Friends
Reconnect with some people you met first semester but haven’t gotten to see recently because of the busyness of midterms and starting a new calendar year. Grab coffee sometime to just chat about life.
9. Make Plans with New Friends
Ask your in-class study buddies who you’ve never said anything to besides “was there homework due today?” out to coffee. Get to know them. It never hurts to have a friend when finals come around.
10. Choose A New Show To Watch & Finish By Summer’s Start
Binging. Is. Therapeutic. Find a show (preferably something with only a few seasons—let’s not go crazy here) and watch 1-2 episodes every day until the semester is over. You’ll have a whole new cast of characters in your heart that you can focus on their suffering instead of your own.
11. Get A Fun Calendar
A fun calendar helps you pass along the months! To have something to look forward to turning at the end of each month keeps you on your toes. Maybe some cute cats, maybe the Warwick Rowers Calendar! Whatever floats your boat!
12. Learn A New Skill
Maybe you never quite learned how to cook for yourself, or you want a green thumb! Ala The Sims style, head over to the library and get yourself a beginner’s book. See where you end up by the end of the semester.
13.Plan an Awesome First Day of Summer
If you have a specific, incredibly amazing day planned for yourself as soon as you get out of school, the anticipation will magnify, prompting you to work as hard as possible to make the day nearer.
14. Try a New Restaurant Every Week
There are surely lots of restaurants you’ve never been wherever you are. Pick one, big or small, chain or mom-and-pop, and just go adventure once a week. Go with some friends and share some dishes to truly test the scope. You never know what hidden gems you may find.
15. Be Positive
Very vague, I know, but even if you’re feeling down sometimes thinking of the best possible scenario will make it possible. Especially when you’re surrounded by negative people, the best you can do for yourself and them is my blood-type: B-positive!!
16. Work Toward a Creative Goal Short / Long Term
A long-term screenplay or dissertation or something you can add a little too every week may seem minuscule now, but will build-up over the long term. If you write five pages every week, at the end of 9 weeks—you’ll have 45! That’s incredible!
17. Make Some Task-Specific Playlists
Nothing helps get the job done like music! Pump up the toons and make some playlists specifically for studying and shopping and working out. You’ll be surprised how much easier these activities get when you have songs you’re looking forward to within them. As well, tasks move a lot faster when you’re singing.
18. Surround Yourself With Positive Phrases
Find your favorite positive quotes and phrases and make some post-it notes. Surround your workspace with them to keep a positive workplace and offer some affirmation.
19. Benchmark Studying
Have a good system of mini-rewards for yourself while studying. Something like a gummy bear or pretzel for each paragraph written or read. That way, you’ll feel more inclined to keep going.
20. Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself
We make mistakes. That’s a fact of the human experience. However, what we can focus on is learning from them instead of dwelling. Had a bad date? Not your fault, just move on to the next experience. Didn’t get the grade you wanted? You did your best. Work harder next time.
21. Move Your Body
Shake it ‘til you make it, baby! Get out there and exercise! This may seem basic, but if you’re serious about keeping your spirits high in that long stretch between spring and summer break, the best thing to do is keep yourself moving!
22. Break It Down
Tackle your tasks into smaller, manageable pieces. If you break down large jobs into lesser sections, psychologically the end goal will appear more tangible because you’ll have many tiny goals instead of one huge one.
23. Expectancy Attitude
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” - The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Manifest positivity! If you expect good things to happen, chances are they will! Tell yourself in the mirror all the good things that may happen to you, and watch them come to life!
24. Don’t Worry About What You Can’t Control
We have control over many things in our own lives, but there are also several things we don’t. Instead of focusing on the out-of-control, take solace in the fact that you control every breath your body takes. You are the only one that can control your own fate. So take a second, take an hour, take as long as you need, and see what you can do with your own two hands instead of worrying about what others are doing with theirs.
25. Rehearse Winning
Speaking positive affirmations out loud to yourself in the mirror is incredibly therapeutic. Practice congratulating yourself for your accomplishments and realize you really are doing tremendous things!
26. Make Sure You’re Doing Things For You
Nothing can kill a work ethic faster than working on something you don’t care about. If you don’t have the choice in the matter, talk to a professor or your boss and see if you can work out a situation where you are doing work that truly matters. At the very least, find a way to relate the project to your own life so that you may find a better understanding and purpose for it.
27. Check in With Yourself Regularly
If you’re not maintaining a daily check-in with your body and your thoughts, you should start. Nothing is more important than how you’re functioning and if it isn’t at peak capacity, slow down and examine the issue more closely. Are you tired? Thirsty? Make certain your body has what it needs so that your mind can continue to function at the capacity you desire.
28. Make A Gratitude List
Every day, write down something new that you’re grateful for. By summer’s beginning, you’ll have an extensive list that you can look back on and recognize all of the wonderful things in your life these past few months.
29. Go Check Out Some Open Houses
A truly fun activity, go to open houses in some very expensive neighborhoods and tour around some homes that could potentially be your future estate! This is a fun exercise in acting and also pure adventure, seeing how someone like the Kardashians might live.
30. Create a Vision Board
If you know what you want as your most long-term of all long-term goals, put it on a cork board. Surround it with other subsequent goals and soon you’ll have a spider web of goals that you can easily follow along to get to your lifetime achievement. But don’t become too fixated on it. Many possible paths there are, and with them, many possible futures.
