Is your routine harming you?
We all have a routine. Even the greatest ‘free spirit’ has a certain point during the day when he’ll regularly be doing something, and us students are no different.
A routine provides comfort and certainty in our day-to-day lives and enables us to focus ourselves on particular tasks at certain times of the day, but can sticking to your routine too closely hinder you in your studying.
via flickr
In short, yes it can. You see by committing yourself to a routine in such a strict way you lose the flexibility to start tasks early and finish them later and often you spend less time on these tasks, leaving their quality to suffer. But it doesn’t have to be like this…
In order to complete tasks to the absolute best of your ability you need to dedicate time to them and you’d be surprised how much time you actually have.
Let’s say for example that you tend to do your tasks in the evening. During that day you may have missed an hour of two’s worth of opportunity to get started, at lunch time for example. And don’t think you need a quiet room with a deskto get started, just twenty minutes on the bus home or relaxing in the library is enough to get you thinking ahead and mentally preparing your work. Just getting some ideas flowing around your head can really focus you when you get down to the business of actually doing the thing.
This is something I have recently realised that I actually do a lot, I think I always have done. I’ve always been pretty focused in school (ever since starting) and thank goodness because without this ability to concentrate I would have done a lot worse at school. I sense that school has always been lurking at the back of my mind (it does kind of take over your life as a kid) and even when I was playing football after school I could let my mind wander and ponder my work.
This may not suit you that as well as it suits me, I am sort of a workaholic and I can cope with an overlap in my work and home lives.
If you have been at all confused by the message of this post, here it is: Don’t be afraid to loosen your routine if it allows you to commit more fully to an assignment. Good luck!
I enjoyed reading the article Matt, I do fully agree with you that routine can harm progress and productivity in various aspects of life; and this is especially true to schooling. Even I find myself wandering off to watch television or browse some social media sites; a big problem I have is that my computer is right next to my desk (0.5 metres away) and this can be a big hindrance when I’m trying to sit down and get focused on work.
As humans, a lot of us are used to getting what we want, when we want, I am now realising that we all need to exercise a little self control in order to succeed and complete tasks well. Think about it, we have computers, the internet, mobile phones, extra-curricular activities, out of school stuff, mp3 players etc…So many distractions. What should people do? I think the best policy is to close all IM windows and applications (MSN, AIM, Google Talk etc…) Empty desktop, even turn of the screen. Remove all distractions and take a couple of minutes to really think and get focused on work.
It’s important to think about this fantastic quote which I always refer to “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, but concentrate the mind on the present”. This will remind you each day that, whatever you want to become, as many businesses you may want to own, whatever you want to do, you need to overcome the small hurdles leading up to it. Focus on the present and be distraction free. Use your resources and succeed in life.
Fabien: I think you’re spot on about concentrating fully on your work and the computer can be very alluring(especially now we have the internet). It’s definately not a bad thing that we’re curious to learn new things online but at time you must, as you say Fabien, exercize a little self control. Maybe my article wasn’t that well written or focused but I was trying to make the point that you can also alter when you do your work so that you give yourself more time as well. Thanks for the comment.