by Henry Woodward-Fisher ‘12
December 2009 Issue

So, it’s Fall Exam Period 2009, freezing outside, you forgot to wear your sneakers and you’re now nursing Primal Scream induced frostbite and grazed knees. How will you get through the next week or so when Reading Period was such a disaster? You’re feeling especially out of shape after running around Harvard Yard in your birthday suit and you’ve still got a lot of BoardPlus and Crimson Cash to use up before the start of the holidays. What the hell is the blood-brain barrier anyhow? How on earth are you ever going to get through this new calendar?

ON PROCRASTINATION:

White Noise Generator – Just click on www.simplynoise.com to get the Internet’s purest and highest quality white noise (y’know the sound that TV makes when it’s not on a channel), it apparently aids sleep and helps block out other distractions.

LeechBlock – Go here for a Firefox extension that blocks websites (like Facebook, I Saw You Harvard, Twitter, etc.) that you might be tempted to visit repeatedly as you study.

MeeTimer – This Firefox add-on logs how much time you have spent on each site that you visit. It can give you pop-up reminders if you are spending too much time on procrastination web sites.

Things to avoid: Never, repeat, never go to meatspin.org or hippohippo.ytmnd.com – such things will only lead to unhappiness and awkward looks from others.

ON STUDYING:

Watch lectures faster! – Enounce allows you to play any video (read: lecture videos) at the speed that you like without any loss of audio quality (aka “no chipmunk sound”). You can watch your lectures up to 50% faster and still absorb the material.

Join/make a study group – Share the work and ease the pressure. You could even use Google Wave to collaborate on study guides!

Evernote – This handy note-taking program allows you to organize notes, lecture videos, pictures, and PowerPoint presentations. Clip parts of web sites; sync between computer, phone, online account; and search text in pictures.

Avoid library depression – We know it’s bad, but break up your studying into more manageable chunks and follow the aforementioned tips to help save yourself from slipping into the abyss. Of Lamont.

ON DAILY ROUTINE:

Wake up earlier. The most productive times of the day to learn new material and get stuff done are early in the morning and just before you go to bed. Why not get up two or three hours earlier and take the evening off?

Eat apples. It keeps the doctor away and reportedly is better for waking you up in the morning than coffee. Other brain foods include fruit, nuts and Ranger Cookies (of course).

Do exercise. It may be getting dark at a ridiculously early hour, but 30 minutes running along the Charles will really set you up for a productive day of work. Get those endorphins going and reinforce those reward pathways!

Do have free time. Set time aside for things that you actually derive pleasure from – brew fresh free-leaf tea, get a haircut, play that guitar, practice for the spring semester 2010’s Female Orgasm seminar, etc.