How to Stay Productive over the Summer

As the spring semester winds down, I, like many other college students, am turning my focus to the coming summer season. First and foremost, congrats on (almost) making it to the end of the semester! In no time at all, you’ll be turning in your last final, and I encourage you to take a brief break to the extent that you can to celebrate what you’ve accomplished. This year has been particularly challenging for a myriad of reasons, and after the stress of finals, it’s important to take a second to relax for a moment and take a deep breath.

After that celebration and relaxation, all eyes will turn to internships, summer jobs, and summer classes. All of those opportunities are so exciting, but if you’re anything like me, it can often be difficult to stay focused and productive during the summer season, either because you’re living at home in your childhood bedroom or because summer fun outside is just too tempting. In order to avoid falling into what I call the “summer slump,” I’ve put together a few tips for how to make your summer both productive and rewarding.

Set specific goals
Think of the start of summer as similar to New Years in this way: it’s the perfect time to set new goals for yourself. Set specific, attainable goals for the things you’d like to accomplish over the summer, but keep them on a short timeline (not just “by the end of the summer”) so that you can hold yourself accountable more often. By setting specific goals at the beginning of the summer, you set yourself up with a to-do list and a framework for how you will have the most rewarding summer break that you can.
Extra tip: Not all of these goals should be work or career related. Keep your time balanced between work and fun and make sure there’s time to take breaks. Consider adding something like “try 5 new restaurants” to your list!

Invest in a season-long gym membership
Many gyms offer a 3-month membership as an alternative to the annual one, which is perfect for the summer! Especially if you’re a college student headed home for the summer, you may find it difficult to keep up with the activity level of your typical lifestyle (in other words, it’s easy to get lazy when you’re home with mom and dad). If you have a gym to go to, you’ll not only have a great way to stay healthy and fit, but you’ll also have an outlet away from home for when your family gets to be a bit too much.

Find a peaceful work space
One key element to staying focused is to surround yourself with a peaceful and work-centric environment (aka not your bed). In a perfect world you’d be able to set up a work space that’s outside your bedroom because that’s beneficial for several reasons, but at minimum try to set up a desk or separate area from your bed for work. This way you can use your environment to send your brain the signal that it’s time to focus.

Establish a routine
Another tip to help you stay productive this summer is to establish a regular daily routine as early in the summer as possible. You should try to wake up and go to sleep near the same time because it has numerous health benefits and set specific hours during the day to be your work time and schedule other times for things like self-care, working out, and eating balanced meals. If you can give yourself these guidelines, you’ll be less likely to fall into an endless cycle of procrastination and more likely to accomplish those goals that you set at the beginning of the summer.

Pursue your passion projects
Since you’re likely to have a little extra time over the summer, it’s the perfect time to work on all the things you never have time to work on during the school year. If you’ve been wanting to teach yourself a new skill, now is the perfect time to jump into it. If you’ve been wanting to work on a social or political cause that you’re passionate about, use your summer months to take the first steps towards making a difference. You’ll feel so enriched by the end of the summer if you can look back and see that you worked on projects that you actually cared about and that meant something to you.