Happy first day of school!!! Well, for me at least. Guys some how I have ended up as a 3L and trust me I'm just as surprised as you are that we've made it this far! Since this is my very last semester of school ever (I keep saying that because it still doesn't feel real yet), I only have one goal for this semester: stay productive and don't let senioritis get the best of me. To keep me on track with this goal, I'm trying to develop some new habits that will keep me productive.
Stay on top of emails
I always check three things first thing in the morning: school email (in hopes that class is canceled), the Skimm (to stay updated and be a smarty pants), and the weather (it helps knowing if it's going to be cold all day or get hot after lunch). But one thing that I'm really bad about is not reading through the rest of my emails that don't have a subject line of Class Canceled.
I recently came across a blog post mentioning the "touch it once" method where essentially instead of reading an email and then flagging it and coming back to it later, right then and there you reply to it if necessary or add the event to your planner or whatever. The touch it once method applies to more than just emails, but I'm taking baby steps to get my life in order and once I can get this down, I'll start applying it to more aspects of my everyday life (hopefully).
Stay on top of study schedule
Every semester, I come up with a general study schedule for how I'm going to study every day and make little goals of how much I want to study before finals.
This semester, I want to make basically a spreadsheet and keep up with how much I've studied. I hope this habit of tracking how much I study helps me be in the habit of studying a little each weekend. I know that a big part of this is learning how to prioritize what needs to be done for each class and when it needs to be done. I'm making a study spreadsheet for each class to hold me accountable on working on my outlines, flashcards, and practice problems. I'm still not sure if I'll end up having an outlines day one week and a flashcards week another, or if I'll have a banking day one week and a tax day another, so we'll see which works best after I experiment a little!
Stay on top of life schedule
Speaking of schedules, this semester's going to be a toughie for me. This will be my first semester working while in law school so I'm super nervous about making sure that I don't overcommit myself. On top of class and work, I've also got to make sure that I block out time to participate in all of my mediations for my clinic and be a good law school senator at my university's SGA (which is separate from SBA).
I also always have post ideas in my head so my goal is to at least keep up with 2 posts a week but I'd really like to squeeze in 3 posts if I can. This is my last semester being able to live-blog my struggles so I got to get it all down while I can! My plan for this is to think out realistically how much I can get done in each day and put that in my planner, because I've realized that if I have way to much on my planner, I just end up ignoring it all completely.
Stay on top of procrastination
Y'all this one is a biggie for me. I always aim to do a load of laundry a day but then end up pushing that all until the weekend. And I mean to write my papers a little each week so I can have time to revise and edit, but I always end up waiting until the weekend before it's due. I'm right at the edge of being in the real world so I know I have to rein this is in quick before I end up blurting "my procrastination" when I get asked "what's your biggest weakness?" in an interview.
To get this habit started, my plan is to first make a general to-do list of everything that I need to get done in my life and then break that up into lots of little manageable tasks. I set an alarm in my calendar for every Sunday evening to update my planner and throw a few of these little tasks in throughout my week. The goal here is to just stay mindful of what I can start getting done now.
Stay on top of relationships
If law school has done one thing, it's made me a terrible friend. I end up ditching my friends way more than I should simply because by the time hanging out with them comes around, I'm exhausted and just want to do nothing. I'm also really bad at responding to texts because I'm such a procrastinator.
Luckily for me, my friends are understanding and don't hold this against me, but I know that I could be a better friend. It sucks when I finally do meet up with them and realize how much I've missed out on. Even if I have to put it in my planner to text one different person a "hey what's up!" text each day, I'm going to try. Law school is a very good excuse to get a little sloppy with your friendships, but it's no excuse to be a neglectful friend!
I've heard that it takes 28 days to form a habit, so I created a habit tracker to help you keep up with your good habits :) Click here for your free habit tracker!
Good luck with law school this semester. Today is my first day of 1L (though I took criminal law over the summer) and I am so nervous. I have loved reading your blog for insight into law school (:
ReplyDeleteThank you Jordyn! I think your school is so smart for offering that class early and you it was a smart choice on your part to get ahead! Kill this semester :)
DeleteNikki, you literally give me life! I've been reading your blogs for almost a year now. Shout out to procrastination on Pinterest that lead me to your page! I'm a senior now, getting ready to take my LSATS in a few weeks, and whenever I'm stressed, bored, need a break, or just over undergrad and so ready for law school, I find myself on your page! Thanks for always keeping us updated and giving insight. Best of luck on your final year!
ReplyDeleteOmg Sharon you made my day! I remember how when I was a senior I'd be sitting in a blowoff class so bored and thinking Ugh I wish I could be in law school already haha! I'm glad you found my blog ❤️ Good luck on the LSAT and enjoy your senior year!!
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