Both Cal Day and 4\/20 are behind us, which means this semester\u2019s fun has officially come to a close. Finals linger in the distance, drawing closer by the second. In case you\u2019re horrendously locked out \u2014 and I\u2019m stuck in those shoes too \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t quit your social life cold turkey<\/p>\n
Finals season doesn\u2019t mean that your social life needs to reside in a casket! In fact, being alone for too long cannot be good for anyone\u2019s mental health, even if it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s only so much time left to indulge in that sweet, social study session. Even if you\u2019re not a cafe person, spending more time studying in the common spaces of your home can break you out of isolation.<\/p>\n
Set mini goals for yourself<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Engage in adjacent productive activities<\/p>\n
Bouncing off of the mini goals guidance, if you\u2019re repulsed by the idea of even opening your computer, then do something else productive! Even if it\u2019s 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 \u2014 or, in this week\u2019s case, a weekend and Monday afternoon \u2014 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 \u2014 taking care of business \u2014 mood so you can more easily pursue your actual school assignments!<\/p>\n
Schedule concrete study sessions<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re the type to continually put off studying, no matter how dire, perhaps it\u2019s time to put that damn phone down \u2014 despite wanting to mine through Cal Day pictures \u2014 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 \u2014 not only will you feel a newfound duty to actually complete work \u2014 you didn\u2019t book this room and walk all the way here for nothing \u2014 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\u2019ll eventually get to it, is the perfect way to actually lock in. And don\u2019t worry, once your time is up and you\u2019ve returned the room key, you can begin crafting your Cal Day and 4\/20 Instagram dump. It\u2019s like a reward.<\/p>\n
Plan stylish study outfits<\/p>\n
Personally, I am a full believer in the \u201clook good, feel good\u201d 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!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both Cal Day and 4\/20 are behind us, which means this semester\u2019s fun has officially come to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[119702,60899,14758,23177,43734,143,145,144,120265,24696,461,4743],"class_list":["post-278771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-4-20","tag-cal-day","tag-doe-library","tag-finals","tag-goals","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-outfit","tag-party","tag-social","tag-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}