university of siegen career service english language website
… the year together. How do you spend your Christmas time? Are you relaxed or stressed? Shortly before the end of the year, the Career Service team at the University of Siegen met once again for a relaxed evening with a delicious meal. With a good mood and new plans, we will continue next year. We say goodbye to a nice Christmas break and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
… in our ‚dealing with procrastination series‘, we have two more tips to deal with procrastination. As discussed in our earlier posts, the starting point is admitting that you are procrastinating. Then comes, choosing a study location and eliminating distractions. You might see progress after these first three steps, but you are also likely to feel a little bored studying alone. This is likely to happen every once in a while, when it kicks in, we recommend step four.
Step Four: Work with a study group.
When you are not highly motivated, it might be difficult to bring yourself to study. Studying with friends or classmates could help bring you in the mood. You could also discuss your assigned topics together or explain to each other any difficult concepts. The downside to this is that it could be distracting for some people. In that case, studying together in the library could be a better alternative.
Step Five: Set achievable goals.
It is crucial not to overwhelm yourself with more than you- or anyone- could do. Set realistic goals and plan breaks because you will need them. A good strategy is to write down everything you need to do on one paper, and then take 3 items and write them down on another paper. The second paper is your actual to-do list, when you finish with the first three items, you can add more, and so on until you have finished- or the day has.
Stay tuned for the last post in our dealing with procrastination series, coming up in two weeks!
Don’t forget to check the remaining workshops for this semester, you can register on unisono!
… motivated work. Who hasn’t experienced this? You wake up and realize that your motivation is at a very low level. An external incentive doesn’t always help. Ideally, you will find an inner driving force that motivates you. A few changing sentences and a simple exercise can help.
Phrases that change:
Exercise:
… blog about procrastination, we discussed the first step to deal with procrastination, which is admitting it. After this, it is important to put yourself in an environment that helps you focus. Which brings us to:
Step Two: Choose a ‚good‘ study location.
A suitable study location changes from one student to another, however, there are some common characteristics of the recommended study location. It should be clutter-free, quiet, and not usually used for other activities, like your bed. Examples of this would be the university’s library, your desk in your room, a quiet coffee shop, or your favorite spot on campus. Having two or more locations to visit regularly would ensure sustained productivity, as you are less likely to feel bored, and helps for easier execution of the following step.
Step Three: Eliminate distractions.
Whether it is a cluttered desk with many items, a seemingly neverending stream of notifications on your phone, loud noises from your flatmate, or any other form of distractions that you could identify, the goal is elimination. It could help to sit down and write these distractions down and formulate an action plan to get rid of them, but in the case of your loud flat mate, perhaps consider a talk first.
Taking one day off to declutter your desk will be worth it!
… control is better. Losing control of things can often throw us off course. But sometimes it helps us. Let go and let yourself drift. Save up your strength so that you can get going at the right moment.
Letting go mentally (3 to 5 minutes)
Note: This exercise, used regularly, is first and foremost a classic relaxation exercise. However, it also trains the ability to let things happen and not always wanting/needing to control everything.
..unfocused most of the time? Do you find it difficult to remember the tasks you need to get done? Is it difficult not to hold your phone every 20 minutes? Do you feel tired and unproductive? Is your caffeine consumption over the roof?
Then maybe you are dealing with procrastination. Procrastination is the action of delaying something, usually a task. Sometimes, over and over again. The idea of the task itself feels gigantic and overwhelming. In some cases, sitting down and looking over the task, could put it in perspective and help to simplify the feelings associated with this task. In other cases, sitting down could confirm the size of the task, and further overwhelm the student. So how should you go about handling procrastination? Over the next few weeks and biweekly, we will introduce the series of ‚Dealing with Procratsination‘,
Step one: Admit that you are procrastinating.
The first step for finding a solution to procrastination is to admit that you are dealing with it. It is more difficult to deal with procrastination when you identify the symptoms but struggle to know why you behave this way. Why do you miss so many deadlines? and struggle to keep a proper study schedule? Why is your time management so poor? Identifying the problem will make it easier to move on to the solutions, by shifting your mindset to deal specifically with procrastination.
An illustration from behance.net
… from the earth. Letting go is not always easy. No matter in what respect. But sometimes you have to let go in order to find yourself anew.
Letting go physically (3 to 5 minutes)
Tip: If you practise letting go physically for a few minutes at a time throughout the day, you will also become better at letting go mentally over time.
.. with waking up early? If yes, then this post is for you.
It is not easy for university students to juggle the different aspects of our lives stress free. One thing which is a common factor across all the activities we have to engage with on a day to day basis is time, or the lack of it. A simple yet very effective trick to create more time for your day is to wake up early. I know it sounds cheesy and I am not really introducing something new here. This is a kind reminder that waking up early needs patience with yourself and multiple trials until your body gets used to it. Those few quiet hours in the morning are for you to wake up slowly and not jerk yourself off the bed and rush through your breakfast to catch the bus, but rather to have a slow morning where you give your brain time to wake up and to treat yourself to a proper breakfast in preparation for a less stressful day. Here are a few tips to start:
1- Set a time that is realistic. Give yourself the 7 or 8 (or how many you need) hours to sleep, rest and recharge. Do not try to wing 4 or 5 hours of sleep (unless that is what your body needs).
2- Prepare the night before the things you need to do in the morning, so that it is not stressful to arrange this when you are still half asleep
3- Be patient with yourself and give yourself enough time to do things slowly. In a few (not super) consistent weeks you will find yourself falling into a nice routine and enjoying more productive time on your days.
Using this extra time, perheps you would be interested to visit our workshops in English and German at the Career Center, do not hesitate to check them out here.
Some fresh fruits and a nice cup of coffee in your slow morning could make a big difference in your day 🙂
… vacation. Everyone has probably heard this advertising slogan before. Vacation is always good and beautiful. Escape from everyday life and simply enjoy a change of scenery. New countries, new cultures, sounds, smells and tastes. All of this makes for a great vacation. But what if you can have a little vacation at home every day?
The inner vacation (3 to 5 minutes)
… to anyone interested in our workshops. There is a change in dates in two of our seminars as shown in the picture, due to room unavailability. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to see you in the new dates!
