Summer is an amazing time for enjoying the outdoors with your friends and family. Oftentimes, we have many fun weekends full of hotdogs and smiles. However, some struggle with keeping a rigorous routine. This list provides you with 10 different methods of boosting morale during the summer.
1. Outline a list of your goals for the summer in a planner.
This step of jotting down your goals allows for a target that one can work towards meeting. It reminds you where to allot your time while keeping you organized. It's one of the most important steps because it sets the tone for the remainder of the summer. It's easy to make this step fun by writing down academic, personal, and fitness goals. You can include all types of goals to ensure you have success in all areas of your life.
2. Be very realistic with yourself as to what you’re capable of achieving.
Sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking we can accomplish more than we can reach during a period of time. It's something most of us are guilty of due to our need for craving more success. Nonetheless, it's better to have fewer goals than multiple goals that you're unable to meet. These few goals will eliminate feelings of anxiety and overwhelmedness. Overall, this keeps the process much more consistent.
3. Create monthly schedules that plan out your days instead of waiting for the month to arrive.
The only way to reach the goals you set for yourself is to create detailed schedules for the month. Although it seems productive people just work every hour of the day, they usually have a concise routine they follow that leads them towards success. It's not healthy to expect yourself to work all the time during the summer, so this enables one to enjoy themselves while achieving their goals. You can easily pencil in days on the beach and days at the gym.
 4. Set incentives for yourself for following the monthly schedule.
It's easy to create a schedule but the following one is a whole other story. They're many factors that can sidetrack us from our plan that are tempting to cave into almost every day. Therefore, incentivize yourself to follow the schedule in different ways. You can reward yourself for waking up early every day of the month by taking yourself out on a sushi date. This is a silly example but it truly encourages one to stick to their initial schedules.
5. Do not fall into comparing your summer with others summer fun.
Social media is not to blame for every horrible thing in the world, but it's difficult watching your friends backpack through Europe every time you go on Instagram. Every person utilizes their summers for a different purpose. Some use the summer for only vacationing while others use the summer for only working. We are all individuals with different priorities and end goals in mind. There is nothing wrong with traveling for the three months of summer similar to how there is nothing wrong with working full time for the summer. This is easier said than done for the average person but remain strong.
6. Always make time for relaxing activities to clear your mind of any stress.
Fun activities like biking or running are just as important as getting into studying for your summer class. Our health comes before anything else. These activities allow us to gain happiness and clarity. Especially, for those who live in very warm states such as California.
7. Remain hopeful about your future by renewing your intentions multiple times throughout the summer.
Humans tend to drown out their own happiness by focusing on negativity throughout their lives. Positivity all the time is not necessarily healthy, but allowing yourself to engage in thinking critically about your goals helps much more. Examine why what tasks you do daily will help you out in the future. Give yourself time to take a look at what you do every day that will change the outlook of your life.
8. Check back in periodically on the list you created to see if the routines are paying off.
Unfortunately, people can work hard and still fail at achieving some goals. This is not fun whatsoever. However, this is apart of life. The one way to see if what you're doing is providing results is going back to the list you made. See if the list has goals that were failed or accomplished. Try to figure out why you failed instead of beating yourself up about not succeeding.
9. Never give up on yourself despite setbacks and failures.
Family and friends are great for keeping you happy and hopeful each day. They make up essential parts of our lives. However, we spend a lot of time alone and away from them. During this time, it's super easy to isolate yourself and feel down. Do not give up on yourself no matter what because you're only capable of great things.
10. Spend your summer doing what you love professionally if possible.
Work takes up a lot of our time, so we should all love what we do. Life is made up of work whether we like it or not. Thus, we should try to like the work we do. We're all multifaceted people who change our minds over time. It's best to try new fields of work in the summer so we tap into what sides of ourselves we enjoy the most.