If there’s one thing I’ve learned to be true, it’s that being in the middle of the semester can feel a lot like getting stuck in rush hour.

You’re surrounded on all sides by cars, moving at a snail’s pace as you try to get to your destination. Every once and a while, there’s a break in traffic and you find yourself cruising along for about five minutes until inevitably road construction, a fender-bender or some other unforeseeable obstacle slows you down once more.

For the purposes of this analogy, the cars are symbolic of all your assignments and activities, the brief moments where you are actually moving down the interstate are your weekends of freedom, and the road construction is everyone’s (least) favorite day of the week—Monday.

Much like rush hour, the middle of the semester can be pretty stressful. And if there’s one thing that is guaranteed to bring about negative thoughts, it’s stress. Unfortunately there’s no good way to escape rush hour, nor is there any way to effectively avoid school, but there are a few ways that you can reduce the stress of the mid-semester traffic jam.

Be Proactive

The number one thing you have to keep in mind during this part of the year is that you are responsible for taking charge of your own life. If you realize that you have a crazy week up ahead of you, then do something about it. Sometimes this means reaching out to teachers/coaches/bosses for assistance, and sometimes this means resisting the urge to chat with friends and get some work done when your teacher gives you 10 minutes at the end of the hour to work on assignments. This may not be fun, but you’ll be glad you were productive with your time later on in the week when you get bigger, more time consuming assignments.

Dive Right In

Thinking about getting your homework done doesn’t actually get you anywhere, so when you’re given an assignment that’s due at the end of the week, it’s usually better to work on it now rather than later. Trust me, I understand the temptation to put assignments with far-off due dates on the back burner, but it’s pretty likely that if you do that, you’ll end up burned. The sad reality is that when you put something off until a later time, it starts a snowball effect until you end up with too many assignments to finish in not enough time, which is never an enjoyable situation to deal with.

Set Up a Productive Environment

This tip is actually twofold. Once you’ve decided that you’re going to get your work done, not only do you need a physical environment that is conducive to productivity, but you need to be in a similar mindset too. Before you break out the books, take 30 minutes to do something for yourself—read a few chapters of your favorite book, walk your dog, listen to music—just, whatever you do, avoid doing anything that includes a screen because the moment you turn on the TV or power up your laptop, you become susceptible to countless pathways to procrastination. Once you’ve taken this time to calm down and collect your thoughts, sit down at an organized, quiet workspace. I, for one, can’t work in total silence, but I am prone to starting impromptu concerts if I listen to my music, so I recommend downloading a free app that will play ambient noise as you work to fill the silence around you in a non-distracting way.

Take Breaks

No one’s mind is programmed to concentrate on one thing for hours on end, especially not after spending all day sitting in class, so whenever you find yourself becoming inattentive to your work, take that as your cue to have a ten minute brain break. Again, heed the no screens rule to avoid procrastinating. When you have about a million things on your To Do list, this may seem like a waste of time, but I’ve always found that giving myself a few minutes to decompress between assignments helps out my ability to concentrate in the long run.

Like I said, there is no way to avoid the mid-semester traffic jam, but this shouldn’t be a reason to panic. With a little bit of self-control and determination, you’ll easily make it through rush hour and start cruising down the highway in no time.