CHECKING IN
Reading days are over, and we’re back in the thick of the term. It’s a good time of the term to take stock and ensure that you’re doing what you need to do to be ready for the final week of due dates, presentations, and getting ready for finals. From here on in, it’s about maintaining so that you are gaining good value from your time, energy, mental and physical health, and resources.
Take ten or twenty minutes for an overview of the state of the union in these key areas:
Time
Check to ensure that you are keeping up to date with your calendar and your daily and weekly schedule reviews.
Revise your calendar and schedule in light of the syllabus and the state of your projects and papers.
Mental and Physical Health
To keep yourself in good running order, schedule daily physical activity–walks, weights, dancercise, yoga–whatever fits your schedule and your exercise style.
Get outside every day. This can be a two-fer, depending on your choice of physical exercise.
Get back in the habit of a study-break-study routine, if you’ve drifted from it.
Control your breaks so they don’t control you–but take them!
For every effort made, endorse for the effort.
Plan reinforcers for effort–a special tea, a play with a pet, a short story.
Plan rewards for finishing a chunk of work, whether that’s finishing the research for a paper, reading a chapter, or reviewing the day’s notes. Rewards need to be enjoyable but need not be expensive in terms of dollars or time.
Eat well. You know that drill.
Sleep. Watch out for the blue light from screens. You may miss a bit of sleep now and then, but to be in shape for the next four to five weeks, target good sleep hygiene.
Social Connection
Social connection supports mental and physical health as well as cognitive and project performance. We know from the effects of the long pandemic lockdowns (shudder!!!) that connecting with people is important for our wellbeing.
Daily reach out, even if briefly, for a one-on-one with a friend, family member, or colleague connection. Build in some group connection at work, club, religious gathering, sport, choir, band — this often needs to be in addition to your group work collaboration, which may be more stressful than validating.
Manage your social connection time. Schedule clear communication with your friends and family so that a good thing doesn’t become too much of a good thing.
Use Resources
Draw up your own checklist of resources that are available to you. Your list might include
- Librarians. They know so much more than where books are shelved.
- Student learning centres, with specific areas for consultation, such as writing papers, or exam anxiety.
- Student counselling if you would benefit from tips and tools for dealing with thoughts, habits, and feelings that you would like to work on.
- Tutors and peer study groups.
- Academic strategists. We coach you on the skills of successful studentship and help you keep on track.
- Your instructors: If you could use advice on improving your grades, or on making sure your term project is well targeted for the course, or if your group needs instructor guidance, plan these meetings now, rather than when panicking students are crowding the prof’s office the last week of class.
What’s on your checklist?
There. That’s twenty minutes to thirty minutes (I know I said ten to twenty minutes, but everything always takes longer) invested now that will help keep you in shape for managing your academic tasks.
Endorse yourself for investing the time. It keeps you in control and moving toward your goals. Connect with me to fine-tune and strategize: [email protected]
The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.