{"id":535,"date":"2017-06-30T01:34:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T01:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/?p=535"},"modified":"2020-12-07T13:36:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T13:36:54","slug":"a-new-semester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/a-new-semester\/","title":{"rendered":"A new semester, a new routine…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"amy1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I last left you I was starting Spring semester, anticipating pleasant weather, and starting to prepare for comprehensive exams. I write today, pretty much in the same boat.\u00a0 While the weather has gotten marginally better, I am still waiting for it to warm up a bit!\u00a0 I have been outside enjoying running and biking, now I am itching to get swimming in the open water.\u00a0 It\u2019s still too cold for that yet!<\/p>\n

I have made some progress on preparation for comprehensive exams.\u00a0 There is a lot of reading, and I am also trying to stay on top of writing, both to practice for comps and to publish.\u00a0 So right now, my key skills are in organizing the workload and preventing procrastination. The beginning of each semester has brought with it a new routine. This semester, with a lack of innate structure from classes, has been the most challenging.\u00a0 I am someone who responds well to routine and the structure that comes from weekly classes and deadlines. So I have had to arrange these things for myself and it has been a case of trial and error to find what works for me. I want to share some of the strategies that have worked.<\/p>\n

The first essential is a calendar. No surprise there. I am sure most grad students are as chained to theirs as I am to mine.\u00a0 I have found that a paper calendar works best for me. When I was working full time, I used an electronic calendar, which worked fine.\u00a0 But there is something different about grad school with a combination of short term and long term goals and deadlines that requires a tangible calendar that I can flip through and hold in my hand.<\/p>\n

In addition to that calendar, I do up weekly schedules, like this one<\/a>, that breaks down each day hourly and allows me to fill in tasks for the week.\u00a0 Again, I\u2019m pretty devoted to paper for this process.\u00a0 Usually Sunday evenings, I sit down and figure out what I have to do for the coming week. The key in figuring out my schedule is identifying what I call my \u201canchor activities.\u201d\u00a0 This is the stuff that I have to do during the week that requires me to be somewhere at a specific time.\u00a0 For example, I teach a weekly spin class, or some weeks I have family stuff or meetings for school.\u00a0 Those activities go in the schedule first.\u00a0 These obligations help with the structure that I know works for me.\u00a0 From there, I have two priorities, school work and triathlon training. I add my tri training next because that is often time dependent or I am meeting with a group, or my training partner.\u00a0 Then, I can schedule school work, and usually have some good blocks of time to work with.\u00a0 This system has been helpful because everything is all planned out, with some room for flexibility and a social life.<\/p>\n

Even with this well-thought-out schedule, there is still room for me to procrastinate and put off some stuff in favour of a beautiful day outside or the new release on Netflix.\u00a0 So I have my second line of defense: friends to check in with.\u00a0 I have a good friend who I met in grad school this year and we check in daily to apprise each other of the work we are doing (or not doing.)\u00a0 This is helpful to create some accountability and to give each other encouragement when things may not be going as well as we would like. Additionally, I have friends outside of grad school who help me to stay on track by checking in with me and giving encouragement.<\/p>\n

Finally, I have used some online tools that help me to stay motivated and connected to an academic community.\u00a0 Phinished.org<\/a> is a great community of students working on finishing PhD programs. While I am not at the dissertation point yet, it is still a helpful resource to stay on track, set goals and seek advice. I have also found some goal setting sites that have been helpful.\u00a0 Beeminder<\/a> is \u201cautomated accountability.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not academic specific, but you enter in any goal you might have and it tracks your progress.\u00a0 You can also set it up to penalize you if you do not meet your goals. For example, you can set it up so that you have to do a certain number of readings per day and you have to track when you meet your goal.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do the work, (or forget to track it) the site will charge you $5.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to set it up with a credit card for payment, but it certainly increases your accountability! Another helpful hint is to go public with your goals. It can be helpful to tell others what your goals are for that layer of accountability and encouragement.\u00a0 You could post to Facebook, or start a blog.\u00a0 While looking for advice on how to prepare for comps, someone suggested I start a blog to write about what I was reading. I think that this may be a great place to go next as I keep working. I think a blog could be helpful in a number of ways.\u00a0 It would help me practice writing and would also allow me to process what I am reading, as I would need to create summaries of articles and books if I wanted anyone to read my blog. It may also be a helpful way to draw connections between readings through using tags. Finally, it would be great to engage in discussion!\u00a0 That\u2019s one big thing I miss from classes.\u00a0 So sounds like I have talked myself into writing a blog about my comp readings.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

I am discovering as I engage in the process of pursuing a PhD, that the program is as much learning about me as it is about learning course material or how to do research.\u00a0 I am reflecting much more on myself and how I operate and it has been a great learning experience.<\/p>\n

Until next time\u2026<\/p>\n

~Amy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/zaymyi-next.html<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I last left you I was starting Spring semester, anticipating pleasant weather, and starting to prepare for comprehensive exams. I write today, pretty much in the same boat.\u00a0 While the weather has gotten marginally better, I am still waiting for it to warm up a bit!\u00a0 I have been outside enjoying running and biking, … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-amy-sheppard","4":"post-535","6":"format-standard","7":"category-student-blog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1635,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}