Learning and Study Guides

Staying motivated while Studying over the Holidays: 5 Tips

Posted on by Seán O'Connor

Staying motivated while Studying is critical at holiday periods. Whether its Christmas, New Year or Summer weather we can often find our well laid study plans begin to fall by the wayside as we try to make the most of the holidays! It is important to take a few moments to review or progress on our course and to put some strategies in place to ensure we stay motivated and on track with our studies during the holidays.

1. Staying motivated while Studying: Review your study patterns
  • With children off school or covering for people on annual leave in the work place chances are your daily timetable changes during the summer.
  • You should review your study patterns and timetable to make sure it still fits with these changes.
  • During the winter you may opt to dedicate one full day to your assignment work but in the summer it may be more practical to dedicate a couple of mornings to assignment work so that you are free in the afternoon to enjoy the summer.
2. Staying motivated while Studying: Can you study outside?
  • Have you any reading or writing you can work on outside? While not always practical to bring your laptop outdoors you could bring your reading material outdoors.
3. Staying motivated while Studying: Complete a review of your goals
  • Why did you decide to study online? What made you chose this particular course? Review your goals and remind yourself of why you are completing this course.
  • Reminding yourself of your own aims and goals for completing the course will hopefully aid you in keeping on track with your studies
4. Staying motivated while Studying: Reward yourself
  • Plan some rewards for meeting milestones in your course. They can be simple rewards such as meeting an old friend for a coffee and catch up or planning an hour with a good book. Never the less it is important to recognise your achievements and to reward yourself for meeting your targets and deadline.
5. Staying motivated while Studying: Checklists
  • Now more than ever you need to have a checklist and schedule to work from.
  • Prioritise your studies – once the essential tasks are completed (submitting assignments etc.) you can then afford be a little more flexible with your smaller study tasks so you can schedule to take those few hours out during the day to enjoy the sunshine!