By Sabrina Fay
It’s January. You’ve returned from the holidays expecting to be refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to be your most productive self. But for whatever reason, be it the biting winter air, the longing to go back to sitting indoors and sipping delicately at hot chocolate, or the law of inertia, you find yourself unable to summon the enthusiasm you know you should be able to.
Well, dear hypothetical reader, you may be suffering from a case of the Second Semester Slump. You don’t have to be a student to grapple with this condition; it is something that anyone can empathize with and undergo. In short, the Second Semester Slump is a state of mind characterized by a lack of motivation or enthusiasm for work in the New Year. Alternative monikers include the New Year’s Blues and senioritis.
As a high school senior I am part of a demographic particularly vulnerable to this condition, and so thought I might share some advice with how to tackle feelings of ennui that the new year may bring about.
1) Buy a planner
Planners are the pinnacle of simple, effective organization, and one can hardly call themselves a productive member of society if one does not possess an agenda of some sort. You may not place much faith in planners if you’ve had one before but hardly used it, but that’s probably exactly why it didn’t work for you. A planner must be used if it is to be of any use. A seemingly simple statement, but harder to implement in actuality. Why would you want to take time out of your day to write down assignments or events in your planner, or--worse yet--daily to-do lists? Utilizing an agenda effectively most certainly presents an inherent degree of tedium, but once you get into the habit of it, the rewards of knowing exactly what you’re going to do and when you’re going to have time to do it are innumerable. Agendas are everywhere, too. You can stop by the dollar store for a simple, sleek one that would probably fit comfortably within a pocket, or you can invest in one with all the bells and whistles of an inviting design, inspirational quotes, and scented notebook pages! There are even sites that allow you to completely customize notebooks and agendas of your choice.
2) Color code
Let’s say you end up grabbing a very simple agenda; you can still make your efforts at productive organization fun with - what else? - pretty colors! Physically writing notes and to-dos is already a stronger memory-booster than typing them on a phone or simply letting them marinate in your brain bank, but studies also show that color-coding those notes allows you to exercise the creative side of your brain and increase general mental performance. Who knew how smart copying rainbows could be?
3) Sign up for some online learning
What makes learning fun? For most, classes are often taken only to fulfill a requirement or gain certain amount of credit hours for graduation/degree requirements. Yet when you take the time to learn about a topic you’re interested in, education becomes a delightful hobby rather than a dreary obligation. There are more resources for knowledge available than ever before. Try learning a new language or auditing a course on business from the Wharton School through free resources like Duolingo and Coursera.
4) Set small goals
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your amazing acclaim won’t come to you without days upon weeks upon years of hard work. So take it one step at a time; goals become more attainable when they are broken down into steps, and when each of those steps is considered a goal within itself. By utilizing such a strategy, you’ll quickly begin to rack up a string of little accomplishments, which will give you the self-confidence needed to reach the big ones.
5) Take a breather
There will always be days, maybe more often than not, where you want nothing more to curl up with a warm blanket and bingewatch your favorite show. This isn’t always an urge you should fight. Taking the time to appreciate yourself and all you’ve done so far, or simply just to breathe, is a vital part of cultivating healthy habits and keeping yourself from feeling completely burnt out in the near future.
Some of these ideas may seem obvious, while others may sound like they won’t help you at all. You know yourself best, so take or leave any advice as you will; one thing I hope you understand after reading this, however, is that you are not alone. Success is not a natural state; it must be fought for, earned, and maintained. The key to getting through the smaller chores of life in order to reach your larger goals is to see them as opportunities rather than obligations. Each dish you wash is an exercise in patience, each busy work assignment you complete is building a strong work ethic. If you can be mindful of this, your Second Semester Slump will amount to little more than a speedbump on your road to awesomeness.