Throughout December our wonderful team of Student Advisors have been sharing photos of their cosy study spaces and snippets of their motivational study tips. Here you can read their full tips to inspire you and help you to #SleighYourStudies. Don’t forget, we’d love you to share your cosy study space photos with us too – you could even win a prize! To find out more visit our Sleigh Your Studies With UniSkills blog.
Maya
My best tip for getting motivated to study during the holiday period is to plan, plan, plan. If you schedule your time well and stick to it, it means all your work and studying will be done when it comes to holiday time, so you can relax at a time where it matters the most. You’ll be able to enjoy time with your family and friends without the thought of deadlines hanging above your head, and it’s the best feeling you can get!
Alex
Christmas is a busy time for everybody with various social commitments, alongside many people also having part time jobs (which likely become more intense this time of year), and numerous deadlines approaching. Fitting all your study into this festive period can be difficult but you can make the whole process a little less daunting by making yourself a comfortable and cosy study space where you can relax and take the time to make sure you’re up to scratch with your studies.
Personally, at Christmas time I like to put a few Christmas lights in my room, bring all my pillows and cushions to the corner of my bed and lean back with a textbook, notepad, laptop or whatever I require at that moment in time. Sitting there with my dog by my side and a warm hot chocolate really makes my study a much merrier experience. Being warm and cosy throughout the holiday period really helps me to focus and make sure my work is completed to the highest standard I can achieve before Christmas so that I can relax and enjoy it without the worry of work overshadowing me.
Laura
The Winter break is a great time to get ahead with your studies. However, the short days, gift buying responsibilities and the general excitement of the holiday period can make it difficult to stay motivated. Here are a few tips for staying on top of your workload during the holidays. Find a dedicated study space. I find that separating my study space from my ‘chill’ space is imperative. For example, when working from home, I never study in my bedroom as I associate this space with sleep and relaxation. Instead, I work at a desk next to my bookshelf, an area I associate with productivity.
I like to switch on my fairy lights and my desk lamp when it gets darker, so the atmosphere is calming— but not so calming that I drift off to sleep! When working in the Catalyst, I typically choose a study pod on the second floor. This means that I am close to the Literature section (as my dissertation focuses on Victorian fiction), and the encouragement of quiet study ensures there are minimal distractions.
Darren
Studying over the holidays can be challenging, especially when you just want to be with your family and friends. Two things that really get me motivated, one being that I need to set myself a timetable to know when I am going to be working on assignments or exams and when I am going to spend time with family and friends. The second being that when studying I like to feel all warm, cosy and with a hot chocolate I find it really helps with my motivation to study and stay on task.
Callie
My top tip for motivating yourself during the holiday period is to plan what you’re going to do and when. Look at what assignments you have due and plan what time you will spend doing those assignments. This way you know what time you have free to enjoy the holiday season.
There is a planner template on the UniSkills webpages that I find really useful! Even if you don’t plan to do much, try and do a little bit each day if you can, apart from Christmas Day of course! If you like listening to music whilst working, why not put a Christmas playlist on whilst you work, get in the Christmas spirit and complete your assignments at the same time!
Paula
Study over the holiday period is a way for me to get away from the hustle and bustle and have some time alone, there is always something around the house that needs doing or someone who needs feeding so an excuse to go and hide in my office is great. The week between Christmas and New Year can get a bit repetitive, chocolate, TV, cold, wet, washing dishes, repeat. Now if there was some snow, I might find it a bit more difficult to get myself studying, I’d rather build a snowman. I love snow over Christmas when it isn’t inconveniencing me, but it never seems to happen.
Emma
The holiday period is one of my favourite times of year! I love getting cosy, lighting candles, seeing all the Christmas decorations and lights all around, I think it makes everything look a little bit magical. As fun as all the festivities around this time can be, it’s also important to stay on top of your studies, especially considering many of us have deadlines in December and January.
I stay motivated by planning my studying week by week and rewarding myself for completing study sessions or tasks by allowing myself to engage in festive activities like watching a Christmas film or meeting friends for hot chocolate. I listen to soft classical versions of Christmas songs while I’m writing assignments and make myself different hot drinks to keep me going throughout the day: green tea for early morning study sessions, tea and biscuit flavoured tea (you can find it in Morrison’s, if you like tea, I highly recommend!) and hot chocolate to accompany the quieter, more cosy evening studies!
Meet Your UniSkills Student Advisors
Our Student Advisors provide help, support and guidance to other students on a peer-to-peer basis. They can help you get the most out of the University Library and assist you in developing a range of introductory academic skills – such as how to use Discover More, navigate Learning Edge/Blackboard, and feel confident with Harvard referencing!
If you’d like to find out more about who your Student Advisors are and how they can support with your studies, you can read all about it in our recent Meet Your Student Advisor blog.
We’d like to wish you all the best with your studies this December and hope you all have a wonderful winter break. See you again soon in January!