Staying Motivated During the Whirl of the Holidays

Photo via Escobar's Highland Farm

What is it about the holiday season that has us feeling so spirited and excited at home and so dull and lifeless at work in the evenings? In the morning, I stop by my local coffee shop and grab a pumpkin-spice-cinnamon-caramel-whatever-else-tastes-like-Christmas latte before my commute, and I'm practically skipping down the street, loving all the fall colors and feeling so grateful and caffeinated. And then by 3 PM, I'm about 15 degrees from lying down in my office chair. All I want to do is sit in front of a fire and decorate my Christmas tree and eat sugar cookies.

It's a great conflict that I'm sure you're all facing as the holidays approach and the weather gets colder. I know we can all use a little motivation sometimes, so I'm sharing some of my tactics  for staying motivated and on-task when it seems only visions of sugarplums or cinnamon lattes or egg nog will dance in your head:

1. Make a to-do list at the beginning of each day. I usually do this after the coffee has kicked in, so I feel more ambitious. Then my to-do list contains items like "5. Fix everything ever having to do with the QA of solutions" and "6. Build a massive treehouse from scratch outside of the Chegg office. Make sure to include an elevator and multiple restrooms for visitors."
2. Save the snacking for specific times. Just say no to that plate of cookies that is sure to make you feel lethargic.
3. Have a plan of action for each task. If you're writing a solution, set up the template, write a quick draft, and then get to typing everything up. Write a really messy first draft and then come back to it later.
4. Take Facebook breaks. I kid you not. I have a reflex where I take about 30 seconds every hour to look at Facebook and see that nothing new has been posted. Then I get back to it.
5. Take real breaks in addition to the Facebook breaks. Take time to have a good lunch and see the people who matter to you. 
6. Set up alerts. Whether you use Outlook or Any.do or Google calendar, set up alarms for yourself and allocate specific amounts of time for each task you need to complete.
7. If you're studying for exams right now, make sure you prioritize that above all else. You can't take back a bad grade, but you can certainly fix other mistakes. Yes, even writing textbook solutions for pay. You can re-do a solution, but you can't take back a bad grade.
8. Sleep. I should probably take my own advice more often with this one, but sleep will work wonders on your productivity. Supplement with exercise. 
9. If all else fails, coffee works for a few hours. Coffee will carry you through quite a lot. 

If you've got any suggestions of your own, feel free to share. 

Very happy holidays from the Chegg Homework Team!