Tips for Surviving Online School

Hi Everyone,

The pandemic has definitely caught us all by surprise. Though, it has provided us with many changes that are both good and bad, there are a lot of things that have generated mixed reactions. One of them is online learning. Some people have found the opportunity of being responsible for completing their work and meeting deadlines for assignments easy as pie! 

While for others (including me), it was a really hard thing that definitely took a long time to get adjusted to. Though I am not yet completely adjusted, some things I did helped me become more comfortable.

Here are some tips that helped me and will definitely help you too!

• Keep track of Assignments

Well, with these online classes no one is actually paying attention (atleast it looks like it) as to whether we complete our work. So, let's slack off!!

....Not something I would advise, as a person who has already fallen into this rabbit hole. It just makes things a lot worse for us. Something that can help is to keep track of your due dates and deadlines as it can give us ample time to assess and allot time for each of these tasks. This can be done in any way, but it will be more better to either use a planner or to use an app like Evernote, Google Keep or Todoist.

• Manage your time wisely

This kind of overlaps with the other tip but it is something of a life saver. 

" I have a major essay to write and its deadline is the day after tomorrow....but I will do that after this new episode of _ on Netflix...it will take only a few minutes." It always begins like this and ends in a sleepless night and total dissatisfaction in our work. This is a vicious cycle and it becomes more prominent in our online learning circumstances. Scheduling your time can work for some while for others, the best thing to do will be to set up reminders on your phone or use sticky note reminders and put them up on places where you will see or use some other strategy that works for you!!

• Keep yourself motivated

This is a big one. Motivation is definitely a key to success. To keep yourself motivated, my favorite method is to use a good reward system or you can get your friends or family members to be accountability buddies to keep you on track. This works wonders if used well!

• Remember to take care of yourself

Last, but not the least, remember to care of yourself. It helps to keep you from burning out and keeps your morale up. Especially in times like these, taking care of our mental health has become very crucial. Always try to schedule some time for taking care of yourself- do yoga or meditation, take a walk outside (if possible), give your loved ones a call from time to time, and treat yourself to spa day or something like that. Even binge-watch on Netflix!! It helps a lot to keep us sane.

These are some tips that helped me (and is continuing to help me) during this really unexpected period of time.

What are some YOUR favorite things to do that keeps you sane?

Sending lots of love,

Saarangi