Sometimes it can be difficult to push through and stay on top of all your school work when you are working at home in isolation. With just some small improvements and practice, your work life can enhance greatly. 

The most important tip is to set a schedule for yourself. The many benefits of online school is that now you have the luxury of being in charge of your own plan for the day. A tip is to also wake up early, that way you have more productive hours. Try setting an alarm the night before.

The second suggestion is to get out of your pajamas. When you wear pajamas, you can feel lazy and unmotivated to work.

 “It’s really easy to say ‘Oh I’m going to work in bed all day and wear my pajamas’ but trust me you are playing with fire,” said student Ava Davis. “Your pajamas are your sleeping clothes and wearing them will give you tendencies to curl up in a blanket and fall asleep.” 

The third piece of advice is to use a planner. Organizing what your day will look like the night before can be very helpful to stay on task. Downloading mobile planners, such as Egenda, can help you target deadlines for all your classes. Now that we don’t have teachers to remind us daily, it’s important that we do it ourselves. The art of creating a bullet journal has also become many people’s hobbies, since it becomes your own customized planner. 

Next tip is classmate collaboration. Creating study sessions with your friends from school can help you learn more of the material you work on. You can schedule a time to have a virtual meeting and review the details of each topic you’re learning.

This next piece of advice is the hardest for most students, and that is to put your phone away. Putting your phone on airplane mode or placing it in another room will help you get some work done. Unless you absolutely need it, then that’s a different story.

Create a designated work space for yourself. Cleaning up your surroundings and getting rid of any distractions creates a better environment to study. 

“My recommendation is to work at a table or desk. Just try to avoid your bed because you will either fall asleep or watch Netflix instead,” said UCLA college student Jen Martinez. 

A very important tip is to give yourself breaks. As a student, you work hard for long periods of time and it can be very overwhelming, mentally. Get out of the space you were working in, grab a snack or watch a video and distract yourself for a few minutes.

Background noise or music can be relaxing while you work. Everyone is different, so do what suits you best.

As a reminder, again, online school implies working independently, so take charge of your own learning.