Both Cal Day and 4/20 are behind us, which means this semester’s fun has officially come to a close. Finals linger in the distance, drawing closer by the second. In case you’re horrendously locked out — and I’m stuck in those shoes too — here are some handy tips and tricks to switch out of your party mindset, no matter how alluring and beautiful it is, and lock in for one (or four) final hurrahs.
Don’t quit your social life cold turkey
Finals season doesn’t mean that your social life needs to reside in a casket! In fact, being alone for too long cannot be good for anyone’s mental health, even if it’s to study for that impending final of doom and despair. That being said, continue spending time with your friends! If anything, now is especially the time, since everyone’s going their separate ways in less than a month. Nevertheless, rather than going out partying until 3 a.m. together, you and your friends can go on a study crawl instead! Berkeley is famous for its abundance of different cafes with decadent sweet treats, delicious matcha, Wi-Fi and outlets, and there’s only so much time left to indulge in that sweet, social study session. Even if you’re not a cafe person, spending more time studying in the common spaces of your home can break you out of isolation.
Set mini goals for yourself
Following the laughter and dopamine-rich days of this past weekend, it can be hard to even open bCourses. A simple life hack that can solve this predicament is to set personal mini goals rather than biting off more than you can chew right off the bat! Instead of immediately forcing yourself to tackle the massive assignment that you have been procrastinating the whole semester, take baby steps! First, complete one reading, take a break and then do another. Switch subjects every so often and, soon enough, your checklist will be gone. Pro tip, list out each mini goal on a piece of paper or on a Google Calendar, and check them off as you finish them. It helps you visualize your progress.
Engage in adjacent productive activities
Bouncing off of the mini goals guidance, if you’re repulsed by the idea of even opening your computer, then do something else productive! Even if it’s not an actual assignment, making my bed sets me up for an organized, purposeful day and eliminates me from feeling like a messy disaster, especially after a night — or, in this week’s case, a weekend and Monday afternoon — out. Some other productive activities can be cleaning your desk or room, organizing your notes or maybe even reading a few pages of that book collecting dust on your nightstand. Whatever it may be, hopefully it puts you in a TCB — taking care of business — mood so you can more easily pursue your actual school assignments!
Schedule concrete study sessions
If you’re the type to continually put off studying, no matter how dire, perhaps it’s time to put that damn phone down — despite wanting to mine through Cal Day pictures — and lock yourself away in a Doe Library study room. In all seriousness, booking a study room at the library is the perfect way to avoid procrastination — not only will you feel a newfound duty to actually complete work — you didn’t book this room and walk all the way here for nothing — but you now have dedicated a good chunk of time to study! Indeed, blocking out time from your schedule, rather than just hoping that you’ll eventually get to it, is the perfect way to actually lock in. And don’t worry, once your time is up and you’ve returned the room key, you can begin crafting your Cal Day and 4/20 Instagram dump. It’s like a reward.
Plan stylish study outfits
Personally, I am a full believer in the “look good, feel good” mindset, and studying is no exception to this. Try to avoid rolling out of bed and trudging your way to campus in the sweats you put on last night after getting home from the best weekend of your life. While it may feel tempting in the moment, I know from personal experience that observing all the cute, put-together people around you jump-starts the worst study session possible. Not only will you struggle to focus on your notes due to your unpleasant outfit, you will be thinking of all of the other, better things you could have been wearing. A good outfit a day keeps the procrastination away, so before you head to your grind session, get that fit on!
All in all, with finals looming and memories of the recent past lingering in the back of your mind, hopefully these post-Cal Day tips and tricks can get you through the rest of the semester.