We have decided to put together a centre spread that will hopefully enable positive change in all aspects of your lives.
School Zone:
After reading week is over, it can be extremely difficult to get your studies back on track. While assignments and studying are typically on your to-do list during the break, it’s easy to postpone all of your work until the week is finished. Procrastination during reading week drastically increases, making it all the more difficult to return to school once it is time to return to classes.
Whether you were productive over the break or not is far from the focus now. Instead, there should be a strong sense of urgency to perform extremely well for the rest of the semester. Especially as you near exams, it is crucial to maintain and cultivate long-lasting habits while you still can.
One of the simplest ways of accomplishing a successful study routine is to set attainable goals for yourself. If you are anticipating a hectic week filled with assignments and tests, it is important to create a plan that will organize and divide your tasks into manageable portions. While you don’t have to plan out every hour of your day meticulously, setting aside, for example, an hour of studying for each class or an enduring five-hour library session can help you work harder and more efficiently.
Another great strategy towards succeeding in your studies is physical commitment. If you are struggling to get up for a morning class, or have trouble staying awake during long study sessions, what remains most important is that you are physically on-campus. Staying on-campus for long periods of time can help you get into the zone by keeping you in an academic space filled with a variety of resources. At home, there are multiple distractions, and, sometimes, living with rowdy roommates can be overwhelmingly stressful. By committing to staying on-campus when you have intense studying to do, you avoid dealing with any unnecessary stress that can alter your academic performance.
The success of the rest of your semester is dependant on how you push forward after reading week. Being able to stay on track with your studies, while establishing a focused and organized work ethic, can help you shake off the bad habits you may have gained from break and, ultimately, grow as an individual.
Work Zone:
It can be extremely difficult getting back into the swing of things after reading week. Late nights and having the ability to sleep-in is a luxury during this elusive time period, but inevitably, like all good things, reading week comes to an end. One of the most important ways to get yourself back on track is to commit to a solid work schedule.
Whether you are heading back to a part-time, work-study, or volunteer position, engaging in your work can be incredibly rewarding. Being able to adhere to a consistent schedule allows you to shed the bad habits of reading week and establish a routine.
One way to succeed at work is to be prepared. Being organized, having your schedule in order, and packing a lunch or snacks can be helpful towards keeping you motivated to go to work. While some jobs require manual labour, and others require dealing with up-tight customers in retail, making sure you are prepared for every shift will help make each work day more manageable.
Another key way to maintaining success at work is to improve qualities about yourself. Taking the time to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses at work can immensely help you grow as a person. If you are always on time and put consistent effort into the tasks you are assigned, engaging at work can help you, as an individual, identify the strengths that you have been cultivating on a daily basis. In being able to consistently commit to your work in a meaningful way, it will allow you to see the strengths and weaknesses of your character. Furthermore, the identifying of your work ethic will help you transfer and apply what you have learned towards other jobs, and even to your studies.
In cultivating a strong work ethic, you can learn skills that are transferrable to a variety of experiences. While you may currently be in a job that is temporary, or extremely stress-inducing, the work ethic you develop can ultimately shape the way you perceive your future career and your own identity.
Nutrition & Fitness Zone
This one is surely more easily said than done, especially when a busy schedule is something that you are confronted with every day of the week. I am hoping to help you with this. I am busier than ever before in my life, but what I have realized is that staying healthy comes down to planning how to most effectively utilize your time. Building healthy habits that stick is something that everyone needs to develop – there is no better time than now to do so!
Plan meals in advance, and go grocery shopping once a week once you have planned your meals. Or, be sure to at least know what you need to make healthy dishes that are satisfying. Do this on a day that you are not as busy; a Saturday morning – or a Sunday – is typically when I have free time to get this sort of thing done for the week.
Buy lots of veggies and be sure to eat them so they don’t go to waste! When you are making your meals, be sure that you have at least some kind of vegetable ingredient – the more the better! You need a healthy, balanced diet for your body and mind to keep up with your busy lifestyle. It is always best to stay away from pre-packaged and pre-made food – they typically have a ton of preservatives and are lacking in nutritional value.
Drink enough water – be sure to include plenty of water in your diet, and try to stay away from sugary drinks. It’d be a shame for all of your hard work with meal prepping to go to waste by washing it down with a pop, or a juice that is high in sugar!
Fitness wise, I think it is incredibly important to find a schedule that works for you – and to actually create a schedule. Recently, I have created a fitness schedule that works for me. It consists of three days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., as well as a couple other days too. It is so important to get away from everything else in life and focus on helping yourself get healthy.
Our bodies are often not treated properly, because we are too busy taking care of other things. We have to remember that, to do our best in life, we need to properly take care of ourselves and give our body the care it deserves from the inside, and out.
Personal Wellbeing Zone
This is a different kind of wellness – I am taking about taking care of yourself in a personal and mental respect. So often, we get caught up with everything else going on around us that we forget to think about ourselves. Ask yourself this – when was the last time you took some time to do something you really wanted to do that was outside of your normal schedule? How long has it been since you took an evening away from everything – everybody else – and spent it doing something that you enjoy, such as reading a book or taking a long bubble bath? If you can’t quite remember when it was – or you don’t partake in activities like this often – you are likely not taking the greatest care of your personal wellbeing.
We are all busy, but we need to make time for what really matters – ourselves. We need to allow ourselves to take time to spoil ourselves and indulge in the things we love to do. If we don’t, we will never be able to reach our full potential at school, at work, or in our personal lives. Personal wellness, and acts of leisure, are things that are often taken for granted from day-to-day. It can be difficult at times to pull ourselves away from some work that needs to get done, or to say no to a social gathering that someone wants us to attend with them. But, the truth of the matter is this: if you don’t make time for yourself, you’ll never feel fully ready to take on the world.
Setting time aside to spend time with yourself is one of the greatest tools you can carry with you throughout life. If it is something that doesn’t come naturally to you, try this for starters – take at least a half-hour a day for yourself. Spend it detached from all forms of technology and focus your energy on doing something that will relieve you of stress; refresh your mind for the rest of the day. Once you get used to this, try to take an hour a day. It can be anything from journaling, to going for a walk, to taking a bath, to meditating. Just find something that you love doing, and treat yourself to some “me time.”