Keeping up with life in college can be tough because there is always a lot going on. You must keep a balance between classes, activities, organizations, friends, events, and work. It can be quite overwhelming, and you may feel tensed at times when you have to think about a lot of things at once. At one point, you may find yourself having a hard time in keeping focused on your real goal as a college student. But there are some things that you can do to help you stay focused:
1.Choose your classes wisely
Balance the classes that you will be taking per semester. Try to distribute the classes that require a lot of essays, exams, and presentations and balance your class schedules accordingly. You don’t need to avoid classes that are quite stressful. You just need to have the right mixture of classes in one semester.
2.Take breaks often
Take a break every time you feel stressed out, you feel that you are losing focus, or you feel that you are not making any progress. Taking a break helps you relax and clear your mind. You can go for a walk, do some breathing exercises, listen to music, have snacks, or whatever relaxes you.
3.Plan your tasks right
It’s great if you are capable of multitasking and you can accomplish a lot of things at once but if you are not capable of multitasking, it’s better to try to finish one thing at a time. Sometimes, multitasking can result in a poor quality of work and a low efficiency.
Your brain can only process little information at a time. If your brain is not capable of storing as much information when you multitask, then you will have a hard time in focusing on your tasks and finishing whatever needs to be done.
What you can do is to try to finish one task at a time. You can just set a time limit per activity so that you can still accomplish a lot of things within the given time frame.
4.Keep everything organized
In order to have an organized mind, you also need to maintain an organized environment. You cannot focus if your environment is messy and disorganized. Keep your study space organized and free of clutter. Organize your books and notes well in such a way that you only have the books, notes, assignments, and projects for one subject at a time so that you won’t have an undivided attention.
5.Set goals
Set your goals each day. List down all the things that you need to accomplish within the day and set a priority for each task. Finish the tasks that are on top priority first before finishing the tasks that are simple and easy.
6.Get enough sleep
It’s important to get enough sleep each day. Try to get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each day. Getting a good night sleep is important for your concentration. It’s not just the length of sleep that is important. The quality of sleep is also crucial. Avoid having all-nighters because it won’t do you any good. It will worsen your body and it will make you more anxious. If you didn’t get enough sleep the night before, take a power nap to boost your brain and energize your body.
7.Study with friends who are serious in studying and who can motivate you to study
It’s nice to hang out with friends from time to time especially when you want to relax and unwind or kill time if you don’t have much to do. When it comes to studying, it’s important to go with friends who are focused in studying and who will not try to drag you from studying and influence you to do other things instead. Study with friends who can get you motivated in studying.
8.Limit the use of your phone and your laptop especially when studying
Your smartphone or your laptop can be a big distraction when studying. Going online can take a lot of your time that you can spend in studying and finishing tasks at hand. Try to put your phone or your laptop away whenever you study to avoid checking for messages every so often, browsing through your social media accounts, or browsing through websites.
Of course, sometimes you will need your laptop when studying. Implement self-control so that you won’t get distracted easily.
9.Drink enough water to help you stay focused and hydrated
Water makes up 75% of the body and it’s therefore important to drink enough water each day to keep yourself hydrated. Keeping yourself hydrated is good for your health and it also helps to keep you focused and concentrated.
10.Exercise
Doing at least 15 to 30 minutes of exercise is good for your health and for maintaining good concentration and memory. The endorphins that you get from exercise can help boost your energy and give you sharper thinking ability and increased concentration skills.
11.Avoid drinking too much coffee
Coffee is good from time to time but having too much caffeine in your body will only result in anxiety. Do not rely on coffee to wake you up. Have a better sleep instead. Coffee can cause you an increased heartbeat, palpitations, shaky hands, and fidgeting which is not good for your body and for your overall concentration and focus. If you can’t avoid drinking coffee, try to go for decaf instead.
12.Reward yourself
Reward yourself for doing a great job. It can be after finishing a big project, passing all your subjects, acing in an exam, or whatever you think is a big accomplishment. Rewarding yourself can keep you motivated. You won’t feel overwhelmed that much if you know that you have incentives to look forward to. Do not try to cheat and reward yourself when you still haven’t accomplished what needs to be done.
13.Get into a routine
Find a routine that works best for you. Take note of things such as the best time of the day for you to study and finish your assignments, the most efficient way for you to study, or the place where you seem to concentrate the most effectively. This will make you more productive and it will help you remain focused and more concentrated.
14.Break down large tasks or big projects
Break down big tasks into simple and doable tasks to make them less overwhelming. Finishing one task at a time will help you keep focused in doing one thing at a time and push you to complete the next tasks on the list until you finish the whole task or project. You can insert breaks in between.
15.Go out with friends
Make time to relax and go out with your friends. College life isn’t always about studying. You should make time for yourself too. Go out with your friends, watch a movie, go to a spa or to an arcade. Do whatever you’d like to take your mind off school for a bit.
16.Get help if you need to
It doesn’t mean that you should be totally independent since you are already in college. Get help with subjects if you need to. You can get a tutor, an online tutor, or ask help from your classmates if you are having a hard time with one or some of your subjects. You can also ask advice from your teachers or professors.