PLANNING AHEAD FOR READING WEEK

/in /by

Next week is Reading Week for many of you, and many of you fall into four different categories: Maybe you’ve thought several times since September about what you’ll catch up with in your coursework. Maybe you’ve planned Reading Week as Spring Break, heavy on the break with a full getaway trip. Maybe you’ve scheduled every last minute for study, study, study, write, write, write. Or maybe you’ll just go along until you get to Reading Week and see what’s up.

Wherever you fall on the no-plan to super-plan line, you do have three days this week to do a few things that can ensure that when the end of Reading Week comes, you’re not wondering where the time went. Having said that, I am going to encourage you to not beat yourself up if ten days from now you haven’t accomplished all that you thought you would. Endorse for planning, recognize how much more got done than if you hadn’t planned, and assess what you can apply to get the most out of the next break. This applies wherever you fall on the study–escape continuum.

So here are four tips for managing your Reading Week/Spring Break:

  1. Look at that week as time for yourself, and balance that time between time with your studies, time with self-care, time with your social connections.
  2. Be specific about what  you plan to do: “Study philosophy” is not as specific as “Make flashcards on the philosophers studied so far.” “Review statistics” is not as specific as “Work examples for each tool from the lab and describe where those tools might be applied.” “Take breaks” is not as specific as “Use the timer for intense sessions” and “Use weights during morning breaks.”
  3. Plan for the week after Reading Week. What is in the syllabus? What appointments or work commitments do you have? What do you need to reserve or look after for that week following the break? It may be ensuring you get enough sleep after returning from Spring Break. Or scheduling rehearsals for an upcoming group presentation. Look ahead and you’ll save last-minute scrambling when you get back.
  4. Fine tune these next three days to attend to details that can smooth your Reading Week and the week after.

You’ve made it this far, this term. These next two weeks are getting yourself ready for March Madness—we’ll talk about that after Reading week. You know my mantra: Scheduling now cuts down unpleasantness later.

In the meantime, use this stub of the week for planning how you will be good to yourself in all the ways that are important to you during Reading Week.

And connect with me for more tools to meet your academic goals this term [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.