How to Make the Most of Christmas Revision
For most of us, Christmas is our time off. It’s time to spend with family and friends and relax after a first, stressful academic term studying.
But for many students studying law, however, it’s unfortunately a different story. Stacks of reading, numerous essays and assignments, revision and applying for law-related work experience. Undoubtedly, it is a stressful time for many, and it is difficult to deal with this when everyone else is relaxing and doing whatever they want, work-free.
Despite this, it is still important to have some down-time, and some time to yourself to wind down. Whilst doing work, it is essential to take regular breaks and make sure that there is a good life-work balance in order to maximise productivity and to de-stress. However, when it comes to Christmas, you will want to spend time with loved ones and so it is important to make sure this happens. Here are some ways to balance your work with Christmas:
Christmas Revision: Get Organised
Make sure that you plan how you will spend time before getting into doing any real work. If you stay organised you will be able to get the chance to spend enough time working whilst also having time to relax and enjoy the festive time of year.
For example, it might be necessary to make a weekly, flexible timetable. Make sure that you do enough hours in the day so that you can have the evenings off. It would be good to have a general timetable sorted before the holiday actually starts so that you do not waste any precious time.
On the more social side of things, ensure you arrange to see friends and family. If you make plans, you can organise your work around this and it can be something to motivate you to get the work completed. It is even acceptable to take days off work (in particular, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and Boxing Day, for example). Taking days off work is sometimes a refreshing break from work; it is sometimes better to go away, and then come back to it with a fresh mind.
Christmas Revision: Time Management
Do not leave things to the last minute and make sure that you prioritise what you do according to deadlines. Time management is undoubtedly key to getting work done productively and efficiently. Particularly for those who may have multiple things to revise or more than one essay to write, it is important to make sure you spend enough time on each. It is easier said than done, but if it is achieved it will limit your stress and you will value your time relaxing, knowing that you have work hard and well enough to deserve a break. The more productive you are when you sit down to work, the more time you will have to enjoy your Christmas.
Christmas Revision: Remove Any Distractions
Another way to make sure that you balance everything is to ensure that when you are working, you are fully focused, in order to make the best out of your more limited time. It may be helpful to put away anything you might be distracted by.
A big distraction nowadays is social media, so in order to restrain yourself from accessing such applications, make sure that you leave your phone in a different room, or just turn it off. By doing this, you will feel productive and thus be guilt-free when relaxing. Furthermore, make sure that you work in a room where there are no distractions- somewhere in which you know you would get a lot of work done.
Christmas Revision: Sleep
Early nights are key to making sure you make the most out of your day. If you go to sleep as early as possible you can make sure that you start work early, and it will make your day longer. If you work hard in the morning, you can ensure that your evenings are clear.
Christmas Revision: Study Buddy
If you know of anyone else studying the same subject, you could organise study sessions with friends to make things more interesting. This could be helpful on those days where you do not feel as productive and you need someone else to motivate you. By having someone else with you, you can surprisingly get a lot of work done. It means you have someone to test you or read through your work. Furthermore, you might learn something you did not know that your friend has learnt, that you might not have picked up in the first place.
In conclusion, the key to balancing your social time and work over Christmas is to make sure that when you work you are productive enough so that you can watch all the Christmas movies and go to all of your festive parties, without feeling as if you should actually be working instead. Give yourself some time off and do things you enjoy; this will likely make doing work slightly more bearable!
Author: Priya Luharia
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