Shaking off summer

By VERONICA DAUB
Posted 8/21/19

Some days, you’re knocking your assignments down, one after another, and you’re a force that cannot be stopped. Other days, you’re weighed down by dread and distraction, dreaming of …

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Shaking off summer

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Some days, you’re knocking your assignments down, one after another, and you’re a force that cannot be stopped. Other days, you’re weighed down by dread and distraction, dreaming of discovering some loophole that would allow you to put the work off.


When no loophole exists, the breath of summer is still around you but you have to suck it up and get to work, try these simple tricks to shift things around. Maybe something will click and you’ll become unstoppable again.

You always work at the desk in the corner of your room and it is starting to feel stale, especially with that unmade bed and unfolded laundry right behind you. Get yourself out of the house and change your environment. Try a coffee shop, library, or communal working space—like the Stourbridge Project in Honesdale, PA or the Narrowsburg Union in Narrowsburg, NY—to freshen your focus.


You cannot stand the sound of silence when you work, or, if you did find that other study space away from the house, the scratching and rustling sounds of other people working. Take yourself to Google and find instrumental music in the calmer-sounding genres you enjoy, or opt for classical pieces.

Music improves your mood by releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter often referred to as the brain’s pleasure chemical. Finding an instrumental study playlist that works for you has the potential to increase productivity while sparking your creativity.Practice the 25-5 rule. Set a timer for 25 minutes and do your best to tune out the rest of the world. Try not to let your focus leave your project, which may be an easier feat when you know you have a five-minute break in the near future. When that timer goes off, use those five minutes to do whatever you please.

You always work at the desk in the corner of your room and it is starting to feel stale, especially with that unmade bed and unfolded laundry right behind you. Get yourself out of the house and change your environment. Try a coffee shop, library, or communal working space—like the Stourbridge Project in Honesdale, PA or the Narrowsburg Union in Narrowsburg, NY—to freshen your focus.


You cannot stand the sound of silence when you work, or, if you did find that other study space away from the house, the scratching and rustling sounds of other people working. Take yourself to Google and find instrumental music in the calmer-sounding genres you enjoy, or opt for classical pieces. Music improves your mood by releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter often referred to as the brain’s pleasure chemical. Finding an instrumental study playlist that works for you has the potential to increase productivity while sparking your creativity.


Practice the 25-5 rule. Set a timer for 25 minutes and do your best to tune out the rest of the world. Try not to let your focus leave your project, which may be an easier feat when you know you have a five-minute break in the near future. When that timer goes off, use those five minutes to do whatever you please.

school, college, students, study, playlist, Google, playlist, dopamine, Narrowsburg Union

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