8 Tips for Getting Through Those Final Months!

Many of my friends are in their final year of university: it’s an experience you watch other students go through year-on-year; and when it’s finally your turn you realise it’s worse than you ever thought it was going to be. And people told you it would be; you just didn’t quite believe them. And now you want to cry just thinking about it.

So take a few precious minutes out to read how you can get through those final months with as few breakdowns as possible.

1.       Be positive! You’ve got this far, you are NOT giving up now. You feel like there’s little point even bothering finishing that final essay, or reading over the dissertation for the 50^th time to make sure there really aren’t any spelling mistakes. But it’s these last few months that’s key: give up now and you are guaranteed to regret it! Think of it like child-birth: it’s painful in the moment but in the end it’s completely worth it.

2.       Eat properly. You don’t have the time to cook a proper meal, let alone go shopping to stock up the cupboard. But be sensible: eating the right food will give you the boost you need to keep you going for the endless hours you’re sitting at your computer writing thousands of words a week. Get some fruit, eat pasta and meats and look after yourself.

3.       Drink properly too. Make sure you’re drinking and keeping yourself healthy because it’ll all help to get the best out of your day and be productive. If you’re going to be drinking energy drinks keep it to a minimum: heart palpitations won’t help you stay on task and keep your stress levels down.

4.      Take regular breaks. If you’ve been staring at the screen for the last half an hour and you’ve lost all motivation for what you’re writing, take a break. 5 minutes won’t make much of a difference: let’s be honest, you’ve done nothing for half an hour. Cut your losses, leave your work station, take a breather and come back refreshed and ready to work.

5.       Reward yourself. Keep motivating yourself by rewards: every 1,000 words you can have a chocolate bar. You’ll go home and watch Eastenders if you finish this essay by tonight. Whatever it is – it’ll focus you and motivate you to work harder than you might have done if you didn’t have a false deadline or a treat at the end.

6.       Sleep. Sleep keeps the brain working: it’s important to sleep and you’ll work better during the day if you take the time to rest properly in the evening. It’s really important to keep a good routine to stay the most productive; an all-nighter is good to finish off that final essay, but you have many essays and exams so it’s not a method that you want to be using on a regular basis. You’ll crash and that won’t help!

7.      Keep yourself laughing: in the words of Nev (The Call Centre – if you don’t watch it, you need to): ‘happy people sell’. Well it’s true: happy people work better too. Do whatever you need to keep your spirits up – it might be a Skype call with someone, it might be that you work with people that you can laugh with and you keep yourselves entertained while you work or it might be that cat video your friend just posted on Facebook: whatever it is, it will keep your spirits up which will help you stay productive and working hard.

8.       And finally, ask for help. Whatever it may be. If you’re out of food and you something to eat – see if a friend can bring you something. If you feel like you’re about to break-down because this essay is just NOT happening: ask someone. Don’t rely on your strength – everyone’s in the same place and they DO understand – don’t be ashamed to ask someone to get you through.

So there you have it: my top tips for getting to the end. It's so close: don't be tempted to give up now even though you really, really want to - you'll regret it! Graduation is soon, I promise.