Dear Reader,
It’s…already Reading Week? How did that happen?
I certainly didn’t sleep the first six weeks away! I’m more or less living in a construction yard at the moment, so unfortunately “sleep” is not a common word in my lexicon these days. Whereas some people are peacefully awoken by the sounds of birds chirping or soft alarms, I’m getting the persistent beep of the heavy machinery being backed onto the construction zone each day at 6:45am. How can you possibly back up for so long?! Students in math and sciences, please conduct research on this site—it’s shattering all known theories about space. And when I arrive on campus, I feel as though I’ve been transported from one construction yard to the next—Agnes, Stauffer, Douglas, Jeffery, the JDUC, Ban Righ Hall, Duncan McArthur, they’re all undergoing renovations.
Breathe.
Is my problem actually the construction? No.
Is it the lack of sleep? Yes. Yes, it is.
The lack of sleep combined with a packed schedule has left me feeling not only tired, but dazed. It’s hard to concentrate and produce quality work when I’m running on five hours of sleep during a 15-hour workday.
So, what can I do? I certainly can’t go on like this for the next few years of my PhD. I’ve let this matter interfere with my studies for a month now, and it’s time to put an end to it.
I can’t change the start of the construction. Construction starts at 7:00am, so the arrival of these machines at 6:45am is pretty much a given. So, I need to reorient my focus to consider what I can control.
Here’s my plan of action.
I like to work pretty much all day. I can stay up until midnight working and it doesn’t really bother me until the next day. But in order to get enough sleep before 6:45am, I need to go to bed earlier. That means a radical change to my regular schedule, which I have not had to do in a long time.
This is where Academic Skills Specialists at Student Academic Success Services are going to be able to help me. Academic Skills Specialists support the development of learning skills, such as reading more efficiently, taking good notes, effectively preparing for exams, tackling academic and test anxiety, and even managing time and beating procrastination. I definitely need support with the time management aspect of things right now to respond to the changes of my environment. I have multiple jobs, a full course load, numerous volunteer commitments, and family matters to attend to, among other things. It’s hard to strike a balance, especially now that I feel like I’m losing time. Academic Skills appointments are up to 50-minutes long, so I will exchange less than an hour of my day to learn how to effectively manage my schedule change moving forward.
Academic Skills Specialists can also help schedule breaks. As my friends would say, if taking a break was a course, I would be failing it. When I have an empty slot in my calendar, I tend to see it as an opportunity to slot in just one more thing. Maybe having someone help me schedule breaks wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Maybe it would actually make me feel more energized! Now that I need to change my schedule, I’m open to new avenues.
Whether you’re having a tough time managing your schedule or just want to further develop your learning skills, you can book an Academic Skills appointment for support. If you find yourself waking up at 6:45am in a construction zone—which seems more likely than not these days—and it affects your schedule, don’t trudge through the month; get support early so you can do your best work. After all, it’s what you’re here to do!
Until next time,
April