So it's a strange time and we're sort of having to just a readjust to trying to
do work from home.
I found that I can't focus or get down to any work in my day unless I
actually get up and get dresses. If I stay in my pyjamas, there's not a chance I'm
doing any work so my first tip is just make sure you still get dressed because
otherwise I think it's like the fastest way to fall into a pit of Netflix.
I've been making some daily task lists which I find is super helpful
because instead of getting up and being like ,I've got nowhere to go
I'm gonna watch Netflix all day, I have like a set list of things I need to
get done that day, so I'm more in the mindset of 'I need to do things' and then
I can chill instead of getting up and being like 'I'll get around to some
work at some point'. So I've just got like a really simple small notebook, and then
I'm writing the date of each day and everything I want to get done and I'm
just like working through it to make sure I'm keeping on top of all the
coursework, because it's easy to leave some behind when there's like five or six
of them and then just like keeping motivated really so you don't get lost
in what you need to do and when you need to do it. So if I go over to today
I've mainly just got some coursework to be catching up on, not catching up on, but
like doing some work. We're sort of just doing group meetings every two
to three days and then doing our work between and setting mini deadlines. So
with regard to your group calls because all my course mates are pretty much in
groups and normally at uni, you meet up every few days, you talk
face to face, you'd be able to plan out next steps really easily, but since
coming home because of all this coronavirus, we've had to
move over to things like Skype, Zoom, there's Microsoft Teams.
There's actually loads of ways to collaborate online with people. You still
get it done, it just takes a bit more time management and
prioritising but I'm sort of like adjusting to that now which is quite
handy.
I think for me I've just had to try and establish a routine as much as
possible at least until my course and deadlines are over because they're all
going to come in such close proximity to each other that I can't
really afford to be completely lazy at home right now. I'm just trying to
keep up of lectures as they come out and because they're still being published on
Moodle on the day that we would have had the lecture, so just try and keep up with
that on a weekly basis. I think it's really important that you're not
cramming even more than you usually would be before an exam and then also
just making sure you have a good workspace set up. So for me at home I
knew I wouldn't work well in like the living room or the dining room because
people would be walking past, like my parents, and I just get too easily distracted
so I knew it needed to be in my bedroom but my bedroom is not the place for work
so I had to do a lot of rearranging. I also spilt coffee on
my laptop so I had to bring the desktop computer from downstairs to my
room, but that was just my own fault really.
Um, so yeah, so just kind of keeping it tidy, so that I'm feeling productive in
it instead of it being like a claustrophobic space. So I'm just about to
go for my daily walk - government approved - Harley's barking in the background - she
wants to come, so I'm gonna go walk the dog and then I need to get down to work
like properly because I've been procrastinating today.
So now it's time to actually get down to a few hours of solid work. I've got some
cold coffee which is my absolute essential to get anything done. I've been trying
to cut down my coffee, because when I'm at home all day I would drink it
continuously like as soon as one cup ends, I will go and make another one and I was
just having so much caffeine, so I've been trying to like cut it out or not
drink it until lunch or whatever, so today I've got some cold coffee which
in my mind was like wow I'm not drinking coffee but I am.
It just feels different, so I feel less guilty about it
Our group has just submitted all our course work and if it feels so good
ticking it off because it's like progress. So I just had dinner and I'm running a
bath because I want to relax in the evening now. I'm trying to
like get into a routine where I work up to dinner, that I have dinner and
then the rest of the evenings are just for like facetiming friends, watching TV, reading,
just switching off, because I think otherwise it'd be easy to
either work all the time which is the less likely event or just relax all
the time - more likely - because there's not that separation anymore where
you like go to a lecture or like go to work on campus and then come home and
relax so I'm just trying to like put in some boundaries so I actually do some
work.