Make Your Thanksgiving a Big To-Do

Not only is Thanksgiving break highly anticipated for Dukes, but also highly stressful. Many students leave for our one week break and let go of all responsibilities to focus on their friends and family. Although this is the most desired way to spend your week of free time, coming back to all of your group presentations, papers and exams will be a rude awakening.

How do I avoid the pile of tasks waiting for me in Harrisonburg?

Well, Dukes, there’s a simple answer for that. Make a condensed list of things to accomplish over your break. This may include even errands that you know you should check off your list before your time gets too thin to stretch any further.

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Setting aside specific times on a list of to-do’s will keep your break productive. Here’s a short list of potential anxieties you may currently be in:

• Are you behind on a dentist appointment?

• Have you neglected to see that one really good friend from high school that you’ve been meaning to make time for?

• Do you owe your mom some quality one-on-one time? You know how much she misses you while you’re at school.

• Want to get a small reflection paper out of the way before finals week?

• Maybe you have been putting off making a Quizlet for one of your biggest exams and it’s stressing you out?

Well, you’re not alone, Dukes. These are all things that you should think about before you begin your journey home and compile these thoughts into a list.

There are many different pieces of advise out there about the best ways to make lists, but I have come up with a few of my favorite and most helpful tips that make for a quick, easy and effective to-do list.

1. Do a five minute brain drain on to a piece of paper that spills out any thing you have on your mind to accomplish.

2. Take these items and decide just how much you would actually like to allot your energy over your break to.

3. With these most important tasks, decide on exactly which are most important.

4. These tasks will be the first on your to-do list with all the others to follow.

5. Do not drive home and stare at your list pondering what to do first. Instead, go down the list accomplishing one task at a time.

6. Finally, cross out the tasks as you go. The progressively less information on the page, the more accomplished you will feel.

These to-do list instructions many seem like common sense. However, a bunch of small tasks scattered in your head actually can cause far more stress on accomplishing them all. A to-do list will take your thoughts, line them up and help you shoot them down.

Most importantly, when you return from break back to JMU, you only have three short weeks left on campus for the semester. Although most of your time will be dedicated to final school projects, have some extra time to see your friends and enjoy the ‘burg before you leave is always a relaxing plus.