INTERSESSION: REFLECTION AND PLANNING FOR REWARDS

I hope everyone is gaining the best from these last weeks of summer. Exams are over and fall term is on the near horizon. Next term, I’ll be blogging again about strategies for meeting academic goals–time management, goal setting, goal achievement, group projects, relationships with professors, writing exams, dealing with the unexpected, learning and retaining new material, self-management, returning as an adult learner, and other topics that I work with in my academic practice.

But this is the time to reward yourself for the effort you have made over the past academic year–celebrate the successes; take heart if the year wasn’t all successes.

Time to enjoy what you may have been putting off enjoying: time with family, time to yourself hiking, biking, driving, checking out that new restaurant.

Time to reflect: what did you enjoy in the different areas of your life? What course or project did you enjoy most? What areas of your job went well? Who did you meet at school, at work? Changes or maintenance in personal areas of health, wellbeing, and relationships? Jot these areas down in a file or journal–a letter to your future self, perhaps.

Sometimes it isn’t always success–just a case of what was least worst. Sometimes it was disappointment–if so, endorse for the effort you did make, and take the long view. You are here, and it is a whole new year coming up.

Now, looking forward, what do you look forward to this year? And it doesn’t have to be academic. Maybe it’s having time to write poetry, to be in the gym, to play with your kid, to explore a new relationship, to mourn what needs to be mourned, to save for a new bike, to graduate, to perform at stand-up comedy gigs. This is not about goals: it’s blue-sky positive anticipation.

Finally, make a list of rewards and reinforcers that mean something to you (all within budget, of course). You’ll be using these as part of your academic success strategy. You need the five-minute treats, the twenty-minute reinforcers, the half-day breaks, the week-end celebration. The simplest, shortest, reinforcer is stretching out and taking a breath. Take it from there.

This week is about grounding yourself: Reminding yourself that you are a person of some capabilities and potentialities. 

And a whole new year is opening up!

Connect with me here to wrap up the summer and start planning for September: [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.