6 Ways To Stay Productive Especially During A Holiday & ASUU Strike; Personally, I don’t think ASUU can have the same damage on education as Covid19 had, but still, the effect of these strikes can be alarming and damaging to students studying in Nigerian Universities.
From my experience as a student in the University, staying productive during holidays, or forced holidays (ASUU strike) isn’t a walk in the park, you get that feeling that you are meant to be doing something life-changing but you are stuck in a cycle where you wake up, spend the entire day on social media & reflect on your bad decisions of the day in regrets. This article aims to change that cycle, hopefully, after reading this, your daily routine will be more goal-oriented.
6 Ways Students Can Stay Productive During The Holiday
1. Reflect on your last session/semester
Pick a pen and a paper and ask yourself the hard questions, you can lie to your mom and dad or your older siblings about how well the last semester went but you shouldn’t lie to yourself. This is a moment of personal reflection. Hopefully, these questions will help
– What did I do wrong last semester?
– What could I have done better?
– How many of my set goals did I follow through
– What habits do I need to pick up when I resume?
– What habits do I need to drop?
Answering these questions will go a long way in having a productive holiday, remember. Be truthful to yourself.
2. Use YouTube – Especially the educational part of it
Youtube is a gem for students who are eager to learn, you just have to use it the right way. Data shows there are over 5 million educational resources available on youtube, in possibly any language you can think of. To do this, get a list of your course outline and search for topics there through youtube.
3. Volunteer For Work / NGOs – Experience matters.
Getting experience as a student is another way to have a productive holiday, there’s a popular saying I grew up hearing from my parents and older people around me ” An idle mind, is the devil’s workshop. Data from AllAfrica.com says Nigeria has an average of over 46,000 NGOs registered under the Corporate affairs commission. It won’t be so hard to sign up to one or two, besides the fact that joining an NGO as a volunteer or volunteering for a random task at a company as an intern makes you productive, especially during this holiday / ASUU strike, it will be good as an experience for your CV building & you will meet amazing people that will be willing to offer recommendations that will scale your career.
4. Learn a new skill/language
There are tons of skills that students are currently jumping on, and many of them who learned these skills earlier than most of their peers are cashing out big time, I’ll name a few if you have any skill in this list, there’s no harm in learning a new one.
List of employable skills for students during ASUU Strike / Holiday
– Digital marketing
– Social media marketing
– Content Writing
– Graphic designs
– Sewing
– Hairdressing
– Intercontinental dishes
– Catering & Baking
– Web Developing
– Software engineering
– Blockchain Technology
Did I miss any skills? Kindly add them in the comment sections.
The second part of this point is learning a new language is, some study says people who can speak more than one language have a higher chance of landing jobs and scholarships internationally. Isn’t that cool? You don’t have to jump right into learning an international language (except you have a special interest in that country’s culture) I recommend you start with another language within your country, for Nigerian students, if you are a native Yoruba speaker, how about you consider learning Igbo or Hausa languages, makes sense?
For language learning apps, a simple Google search will make it so easy, but if we were to recommend one, we’ll go for Duolingo.
5. Read
There are so many data-backed advantages that come with reading especially for students in Nigerian Universities. We will share a few.
– 10 million Nigerians possess low literacy skills, glad you aren’t one of them but keep reading and encouraging people around you to read
– Reading could help reduce mental decline in old age by 32%
– Reading increases your emotional intelligence and your career outlook.
There are more statistics from where that came on. As a student, you can use the ASUU strike or Holiday to build a solid reading habit that will make a better student you. The results will pay off after all.
Start with novels, grow into motivational books, and read historical documents / Biographies, it’s a journey you won’t regret embarking on.
6. Improve your time management skills
Time-management skills are a broad set of skills that help you manage the time you spend during the workday and ensure that it’s being spent as effectively as possible.
A few ways to improve your time management skills are listed below.
Start your tasks early.
Set limits for what you’ll say yes to.
Give yourself breaks.
Prioritize your tasks.
Schedule your tasks and deadlines.
Organize your workplace.
Learn your patterns of productivity.
Use technology to help keep you accountable
Bonus Point
Spend more time with family and friends
It’s a holiday, unwind and relax with the most important people in your life, even if it feels like they just want to Frustrate you to death, search for games to play as a group/family and have everyone involved, study shows that such activities encourage bonding plus it will linger in your memories forever.
