Managing Midterms:
Tips for Well-being & Academic Success
by Alek Kopulsky, '19, HAWP Intern
Do one kind thing for your future self daily
Before the day ends, ask yourself: “
What can I do now that will make my life easier tomorrow, this week, or in the coming months?
” Maybe you can spend 15 minutes researching for a project you didn’t plan on touching until the weekend. Perhaps you can gift 30 extra minutes of sleep to tomorrow’s you. Doing small, kind deeds for your future self is a powerful act of self-compassion.
Tap into the power of habits, rituals, and routine
Rituals allow us to walk through the door from one headspace to another. They can help you get into work mode or signal to yourself that it’s time to relax. Rituals distinguish our experiences as separate and significant. They nourish us by giving meaning to parts of our day that wouldn’t have it otherwise. Some ideas include:
- Setting a consistent time each night to put down your work and relax.
- Using a cup of herbal tea or a book you love to signal that it's time for bed.
- Creating a weekly or monthly get-together with friends centering around a ritual such as watching a show, playing board games, cooking, etc.
Set input goals rather than output goals
Output goals
are goals defined by their desired output or result. One example might be to finish the first draft of a paper by the end of the day. But what happens if you don’t finish? Output goals can make you feel like your effort was lacking or deficient when you don’t meet them.
Input goals,
in contrast, are goals defined by the effort you contribute. For example, an input goal could be to focus on reading a chapter for the next 40 minutes. Input goals are much more easily attainable than output goals, which will contribute to a greater sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy.
Exercise your attention span
Our focus is constantly interrupted by notifications and impulses to watch YouTube videos or browse memes. Many of us don’t realize how much these distractions have damaged our ability to focus. To exercise your attention span, try the Pomodoro Method. This is a strategy designed to optimize your focus in short bursts and is named after classic kitchen timers shaped like tomatoes.
- Set a timer for 20 minutes and work for this amount of time without distractions.
- Take a break for five minutes.
- Repeat the process three times.
- Take a 30 minute break: go for a walk, read a book you love, watch some YouTube videos… you earned it!
