Has the summer slack hit you yet??

Hey y’all,

Summer break has just started (or at least at the time I’m writing this), and pretty soon, most of us are going to hit that moment where we think:

“What am I doing? Why can’t I do as much work as I could when I was in school? Have I not accomplished anything??“

Everyone has felt that unaccomplished, drained, “why am I here 😭 “ feeling. School binds us to this rigorous schedule of waking up early, working hard for 6 hours, and completing schoolwork. However, without the motivation that school gives us (aka the “I can’t fail…“ motivation), Summer feels like floating in a pool. You’re just drifting around, letting the ripples caused by others guide your direction. For some people, summer means catching up on sleep (cough, cough, sleeping for ten hours straight…), for others, traveling and spending time with family.

This month, I want to cover how to set up the right summer habits that you can use to personalize, and of course, help you get rid of that summer slack feeling.

✨ Let’s start ✨ 

Remember when your to-do list only had a few items: easy-to-do things like making your bed, lightly studying for a subject, or exercising for an hour.

But, although you easily could have finished it all in one day, you wasted the whole day playing Brawl Stars (what? We all know someone like this…).

To complete those easy-to-complete tasks, you gave yourself a whole day. The amount of time you give yourself influences your productivity. For example, those days when you had numerous tests in one week and had so little time to study, but you still got an A. You allotted yourself a specific amount of time to complete each review session. This principle of “work expands to fill the time of completion“ is known as Parkinson’s Law. This principle also explains why we typically procrastinate when we have a lot of time.

The key to deciding what to accomplish in a day is to allocate a specific amount of time for it while setting a clear and achievable goal — this is known as time blocking. For example, we all have to read the two summer reading books. Instead of reading both books and making the notes on them in two days (gl if you plan to do that 🫡 ), break down the task to finish it in one month. For instance, you could read 30 pages each day until you finish the book, and then take three days (maybe 45 minutes each day) to make notes. Boom, after two weeks, you are 420 pages into the book. This way, you have enough time to actually enjoy summer while getting schoolwork out of the way! Of course, whatever schedule you use, discipline is essential!

Remember, summer is a time when you should focus on all parts of yourself, your mental health (aka your mind), and your physical health (working out). As students and as young adults, we spend a lot of our time feeling overwhelmed by a plethora of factors ranging from grades to family matters. Take time for yourself, enjoy this hopefully peaceful time, and remember to ground yourself in this present moment.

Thanks so much, and keep on learning! ❤️ 

Aarushi D.

PS: Sorry, I haven’t posted for a while. 😅 Lol — guess the summer slack got to me, too.