<p>I've really fallen into a pickle with my work load, and I'd appreciate any advice or anecdotes on how to catch up. I've never really been good at playing catch up, and though it's easy to just push it off and do it later, I really need to get going.</p>
<p>I haven't been as conscientious as I normally am this semester, and I now have mounds and mounds of work to get done. This work entails catching up on a couple weeks' worth of reading/activities for an online course, doing research for a project due in April, reading and synthesizing information for a project/presentation due in a week and a half, and keeping up with my French studies and (hopefully) getting ahead with that (French is the only class in which I haven't really slacked off, but I am a bit behind with the lab and workbook stuff).</p>
<p>The good news is that my spring break is this week and I've taken off work so I can study and catch up. This is my golden chance at redemption, and I just need a good plan!! Normally I'd just delve into whatever I feel like getting done for the day, but I have so much going on at once that I think I need more structure.</p>
<p>It might be helpful if you worked out a schedule/checklist for yourself - including breaks - so that you can have the sensation of reaching smaller goals along the way. Psychologically, at least for me, being able to cross things off the to-do list breaks down a seemingly insurmountable task into manageable chunks.</p>
<p>Try to make your study time goal-oriented, rather than time-oriented. So instead of saying that you’re going to read for an hour, tell yourself that you’re going to finish two chapters. If it takes longer than an hour, then it takes longer than an hour. But then you at least have a specific goal to accomplish. Also, instead of having this overarching “work on your research project” goal, try to break it up into small, discrete tasks that you can accomplish in a set amount of time. So things like “find and summarize five resources” or “write introduction” or what have you. Make a basic schedule that gives you an idea of when you want to accomplish certain things, and stick to it. If you take longer on one task, keep in mind that you might have to work harder to finish another task. And if you take less time on one task, then you can bump up other things or just finish early. Having a schedule for the week will give you an idea if you’re falling behind, on track, or ahead of what you need to accomplish, rather than just blindly going along and saying that you’re “working” when really you’re not getting anything done.</p>
<p>In days before skin cancer was seen as such a concern, I used to take iced lemonade outside and get a tan while I studied. Killed two boring birds with one stone, and could make myself stick to it for longer. Aschedule is fine, but it doesn’t sound like you need '‘chapters’ done so much as whole books read. Block out break times as rewards not work times, and just assign classes by days, is what I would suggest. </p>
<p>In other words, flip your mind set. This is your work time. What specific events do you want to do during spring break with friends or family that you need to schedule in? The rest of your time is for work.</p>