How To Stay Focused On Your Online Classes Now That You’ve Been Kicked Out Of School
Now that you have online classes, you might be thinking that you can never focus on them. Chances are you’re back home, forced to stay inside with your bickering parents or annoying siblings.
You can’t go outside either because of quarantine so you’re basically screwed. Lucky for you, that I am a master of social distancing and I’m going to help you stay focused on those lame-ass classes.
1. Wake Up Early
I know it seems unnecessary, but you have to realize just how much time there is in a day. If you wake up at 5 am every morning, you have plenty of time to get your ass in gear, and get the day started.
Waking up early allows you to get into a routine and get focused on your goals for the day. If you do this, you can have a head start on your classwork, enabling you to have most of the stress-free!
Another benefit of waking up earlier than everyone else, means you have peace and quiet. This is very valuable to getting work done because it eliminates distractions.
2. Set a Schedule
During these rough and tumultuous times, it may seem trivial to stay focused on your online classes. However, if you set a schedule to get your work done and keep your mind constantly preoccupied, I’m sure you will keep your focus.
Setting a schedule on an hourly timer is a great way to keep your focus on your online courses. Make sure you place that schedule somewhere you will see it every morning so you don’t get sidetracked.
It’s an easy thing to do when you’re stuck at home.
3. Limit Distractions
This is perhaps the most important way to stay focused on your online classes. As stated earlier, it may be hard to limit distractions such as parents or siblings, but simply placing a do not disturb sign on your door could very well do the trick.
Other than that, you should work in a room without a television or leave it off. You should also turn your phone off, or place it on do not disturb.
Log off all social media, or place a temporary block on those particular sites. If you have noise-canceling headphones, earplugs or have always wanted to buy some, now is the time.
I also recommend listening to instrumental music because music with lyrics can often be distracting and have you singing along rather than using your mind to study.
4. Treat it Like a Job
I don’t mean working exactly 8 hours, although that’d be one way to stay entirely focused on your courses.
What I mean is set daily goals for yourself to help you learn the material better, do not skip an assignment to allow you to accomplish the work efficiently and independently.
You should have a success mindset, you may not be getting paid, but you should treat the online classes like you are being paid. Implement firm boundaries and accomplishing small goals every day will help you succeed.
5. Take a Break
Now that you’ve been forced to take online classes, it can seem very overwhelming at first. If you’ve been working for multiple hours, it’s beneficial to take breaks whenever you feel an overwhelming need to.
Use this time to check your social media, but be careful not to spend too much time doing so as it will consume your time quickly.
My favorite thing to do is take a walk to clear my head. This may not seem like an option for those that are not allowed to leave the house.
However, you should be able to walk around the block or something. Either way, after being cooped up inside working diligently, your break should involve going outside.
You know, smell the fresh air, stare awkwardly at birds, all that good stuff. Tell yourself that you deserve it after all that work. Especially since you won’t be paid for any of it.
6. Turn Work In Early
More often than not, you’ll have all week to get your assignments done. For example, if an assignment is due on Monday, don’t wait until Sunday night to do it.
Set strict guidelines to allow you to avoid unnecessary stress and anxiety. I recommend pretending that each of your assignments is actually a day or 2 ahead of time.
If you do this, it will give you an opportunity to catch any errors you might have made a few days before you even turn it in!
This will also fix the problem that often occurs when you wait until the day its due to submit something which is that the internet is out or the wifi is lagging. I don’t know, but one of those problems could always arise.
That’s why it’s best to submit your assignments as early as humanly possible. One of the best things about online classes is they give you plenty of time to complete a task to the fullest extent of your ability.
Once you finish your assignment early, you can ask your professor questions that will further improve it. This also develops a great rapport with your professor and will have you stand out among your fellow peers.
7. Reward Yourself
As stated earlier, treating your online classes like a job may be difficult since you’re not receiving any type of money or reward other than a higher grade point average.
This means you’re going to have to reward yourself. For example, if you happen to beat a few deadlines or get a hundred percent on a project, treat yourself to an hour of something that gives you joy.
For every project you finish or get an A on, then that’s how many episodes you can binge a new Netflix show.
Maybe you’ve been eating healthy all week and now that you just aced your test, you feel the need to eat a nice greasy burger, or veggie burger.
Now that you’ve worked so hard, you deserve something of a reward, whatever that may be.
