Today was a great day. I finished one problem set and got halfway through the other one due Friday, so there shouldn’t be any (late-night!) problems tomorrow night, if you get my drift. ;-)

I’ve been thinking a lot about a certain problem lately, though – does my student work week actually include enough hours for me to get my desired results in classes? Things I’m considering:

1. I’m probably working more, maybe much more, than ever on my classes. If not in terms of hours, definitely in terms of work completed, even though I only manage to fit in at most six 50-minute study blocks. I think that if I had actually followed this schedule since I started college, I might have been totally covered for the semester by now.

2. But…what do I really know? My dad tells me he came home at 6 every day during college, cooked dinner and watched a little TV with friends, and then studied further until 11 PM. Plus, he worked through Saturday and Sunday. He says, “If you can manage this work schedule, you must be a genius.” I consider myself a fast learner, but I don’t think my classes are *easy*.

3. Also, friends and family have always told me that college is hard. “You will pull all-nighters. Multiple nights in a row.”  I definitely see enough Cornellians spending working on essays or studying until 6 AM (I even encountered one around 6 this morning – I was up and about because I was heading out to the gym, but he was just finishing up for the night!)…but is it really because of procrastination and poor study-skills, or is it just too much work? For some of them it might be the latter because of too many courses and too many extracurriculars, or a poorly planned schedule, but what if…college is just hard? I could accept an occasional week where one would have to buckle down and study the entire day, but little to no free time?

4. My study schedule does seem a little sparse. No work at all on Saturdays? Well that’s not entirely true – I teach piano lessons, have side projects, and have a part-time job…but it does seem a bit easy in a way. Especially since today I met a high school student who claims he has studied for the SAT for 10 hours every day on Grockit.com for the last two weeks, while I write about slow mornings, afternoon slumps, and decreasing productivity as the day moves on and winds down.

5. Work expands to fill the time allocated. So maybe by timeboxing my study time, I make myself more efficient. Always possible. And there’s got to be time in a college schedule to pursue an interesting extracurricular or two while partying the way we college students are entitled to. :-D

I’m interested in hearing your guys’ ideas. Is college that hard, or is it just time management and overcommitment that results in late-nights with your friend the textbook? Am I just a study sissy? Am I missing something, or am I right on target?

After reading these blog articles:

Study Hacks – Establish a Student Work Day

Make It Happen – In 30 Days – Just Go On An Adventure!

I’ve decided to start a 30 Day (well, till the end of the semester, so more like 43 day) Trial for the Student Work Day Cal Newport suggests. The whole idea is to have a set time where the bulk of your work gets done, just like a 9-5 job, and then relax, guilt-free, the rest of the time. This is pretty simplified so check out the Study Hacks post if you’re interested in getting into the nitty-gritty details.

I tried doing a Student Work Day the last two weeks and it’s worked really well, except for two things:

1) I burned out by having too many 8:30 AM- 8:30 PM workdays in a row, and only had a minor break for Saturday and Sunday, which resulted in an existential crisis by Tuesday night (seriously)…which seriously did not help for my math midterm. I have a new theory that one has a certain threshold for studying, or “academic endurance” level that can be raised over time, but mine was definitely too low for this amount of work, with no significant (day-long) breaks.

2) It’s just not a habit yet. Hence the “30-day challenge.”

So, I’m hoping to address these issues over the 43-day trial (adventure!). This will be a constant give-and-take thing – we’ll see how things have worked out at the end of the semester, and whether I’ll want to stick with this permanently! But the benefits I noticed while actually following the schedule were really great – work got done before play, and playtime became much more fun because it was “guilt-free.”

New Habit: Student Work Day

[[Adopt a student work day, take Saturday off, and follow a Sunday ritual.]]

MON.-FRI.

• After shower and morning prep (hair, makeup, clothes), get the hell out of my room and go to the library (ideally by 8:30-9:30 AM).
• Return to dorm building only after 6:30 PM (exception: cooking dinner).
• Once a day, enjoy one long meal with friends.
• After student work day, do nothing but relax or work on personal projects and errands.
• Sleep by 12 AM on school nights and pack everything for next day the night before.

SAT.

• Relax, work on personal projects, or work on part-time job and errands.

SUN.

• Enjoy Sunday brunch! (It’s really good here at Cornell)
• Work outside of dorm building for 3 hours, then sign out!
• Relax, work on personal projects, or work on part-time job and errands.

And to keep me on top of this, I’ll be reporting to friends, and on this blog. :) All I need now is a reward at the end of the semester for trying out this new habit for 43 days. Any ideas?

Day 1 Report

Things went perfectly today – I went to the gym, ate breakfast and was at the library by 8:40 AM. There I did 50 minute blocks of work separated by 10 minute breaks (where I browse the internet, check e-mail, and sometimes even drill flashcards) before heading to classes, which lasted until 3:30 PM. After that I fit in two more 50-minute blocks before meeting up with my boyfriend for dinner at around 5:30. By the time we got back to the dorm, it was 6:30!

Now everything’s ready for tomorrow, and I’ve got tomorrow’s studying planned out. Random observations:

• You can use your 10-minute breaks to convince yourself to study for 50 minutes first thing in the morning (or whenever starting a session) *before* checking your e-mail.
• My concentration started going down around 4 PM.
• Thinking this whole thing as a “30-Day Adventure” instead of “Trial” or “Challenge” will probably help a lot.

Till tomorrow!