Week 3 is now here and I have more work to do. I feel a bit better than I did last week and so I’m hoping I can switch it up a few gears and get on top of everything early this week. I’ve been focusing so much on particular units that I’ve forgotten all about other units and the work that I need to do for them right now.

Work is relaxing and so I’ll have more time to take a breather and then get stuck into it. For some reason (looking at you Covid), it feels like it’s the middle of the semester and not the beginning at all, as if I’ve been dropped in after the mid-sem break and am working in a six-week teaching period. It’s such a bizarre experience that likely has a lot to do my sudden flip in schedule after not doing anything for so long. And then everything else just seems as if it’s up in the air because the second wave of coronavirus is indeed coming. Will we still be seeing updates on Covid19 in 2021? At this rate, yes.

Tomorrow is my biggest class day, 9am-4pm, three classes almost back to back. This makes Monday’s my ‘uni prep’ day so that I can actually go into the classes with an idea about what is going on.

I had coffee with my younger brother this morning and found it motivating. Studying with my little sister yesterday was also really motivating and I’m wondering if that’s just what I’m missing, is my ‘social needs’ a bit low? I don’t have friendship circles or anything but recently have spent a lot of time with those close to me and have found myself feeling better for it.

I guess I just answered my own question.

During semester, I usually follow a pattern week and am trying to do that this semester as well. It looks a little like this:

• Mon – uni prep day for week and Tuesday classes
• Tues – 3 classes
• Wed – 1 class, class summaries
• Thurs – 1 class, assessment work
• Fri – assessment work, summaries
• Sat – break day
• Sun – virtual study session, wrapping up the week

Of course what I actually do will often differ but I work better when looking at a guided schedule rather than a blocked one. I try to group together work that is similar, even if it’s from different units, because I often will get on a roll for a particular type of work, i.e. lecture summaries, tutorial briefs, assessment plans etc. I then go through and assign personal guided schedule blocks to these days in accordance to how much work I’m already doing on them. Though I wish that I could study in massive sessions and maintain high levels of productivity every day, I can’t. I burn out. And so, I have to build up better study skills/habits and make sure I’m working around what I can do, not what just what I want to do.

Here’s another quick reminder that Covid19 is very real and still here. It’s not just about you getting infected but about you infecting people who might my immuno-compromised. And once the virus is gone from your system, it won’t be all fine, the long-term effects of it are severe. So, stay safe and a metre-and-a-half apart. Follow the advice of your states, or at the very least the health department of your state.