Completely agree with this, getting variety into your day is also really important for your brain to properly rest. I can't remember where, but a few years ago I read that the brain rejuvinates not by doing nothing/sleeping/watching tv but by switching contexts and working on something new.
If you've spent all day in university with a heavy day of lectures (sitting, listening, staring at a screen / whiteboard) you're probably not going feel ready to sit down and crack out an essay or project in the evening. You need to spend some time doing something that takes your mind in a different direction, getting active is a great contrast to lectures for instance.
You need to be well rested for motivation to take hold, and if it doesn't you'll at least be rested enough for discipline to get you going.
>> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening
>
> Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?
This is also a really great thing to pick out. I started doing a lot better at university when I treated it as a 9-5/6 thing. I'd spend the day on campus either in lectures or doing assignments. At 6pm at the very latest it was time to do something different. I broke that sometimes if I had a nasty combination of assignments, but on the whole this gave me most of my evenings and weekends back in my final year while doing my dissertation. It was a huge quality of life improvement, far bigger than anything else I did during university.
If you've spent all day in university with a heavy day of lectures (sitting, listening, staring at a screen / whiteboard) you're probably not going feel ready to sit down and crack out an essay or project in the evening. You need to spend some time doing something that takes your mind in a different direction, getting active is a great contrast to lectures for instance.
You need to be well rested for motivation to take hold, and if it doesn't you'll at least be rested enough for discipline to get you going.
>> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening > > Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?
This is also a really great thing to pick out. I started doing a lot better at university when I treated it as a 9-5/6 thing. I'd spend the day on campus either in lectures or doing assignments. At 6pm at the very latest it was time to do something different. I broke that sometimes if I had a nasty combination of assignments, but on the whole this gave me most of my evenings and weekends back in my final year while doing my dissertation. It was a huge quality of life improvement, far bigger than anything else I did during university.