{"id":4098,"date":"2022-04-19T09:58:03","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T00:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/?p=4098"},"modified":"2022-04-19T09:58:03","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T00:28:03","slug":"mid-semester-break-as-a-chance-to-have-a-fresh-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2022\/04\/19\/mid-semester-break-as-a-chance-to-have-a-fresh-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid semester break as a chance to have a fresh start"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Overview<\/strong>: Take a moment during the break to sit down, think about the upcoming second-half of the semester, and plan for how you might do it better than the first half. Use the natural break of semester to contemplate a &#8216;fresh start&#8217;. <em>Reading time ~ 3.8 minutes.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Recently I read a book by Katy Milkman called &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katymilkman.com\/book\">How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be<\/a>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m still processing some of the content for an upcoming blog post.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially the book described different behaviour change studies conducted by Milkman and her colleagues on such topics as procrastination, forgetfulness, laziness, confidence and more.<\/p>\n<p>From these studies, Milkman tries to extract behaviour change ideas that we can use as individuals to make improvements in our own lives.<\/p>\n<p>One that stuck with me that is timely to discuss in the holiday break is the idea of a &#8216;fresh start&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The basic idea is that we are more likely to initiate and stick with some kind of meaningful change if it is initiated in the context of a &#8216;fresh start&#8217;. It is why so many people take up &#8216;new years resolutions&#8217;. They get to start the new year with a new version of themselves.<\/p>\n<p>If you didn&#8217;t get off the best start this year, perhaps a &#8216;fresh start&#8217; when returning from the break is a good plan.<\/p>\n<p>And let&#8217;s be honest, you wouldn&#8217;t be criticised for having a slow or less successful start to the year. We have COVID fatigue. We have war in Ukraine. We have various types of political instability. There is a lot going on!!<\/p>\n<p>So what might a fresh start look like?<\/p>\n<p>Basically anything that helps you with the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Allocating sufficient time to your studies<\/li>\n<li>Planning your days and weeks and knowing what tasks need to be done<\/li>\n<li>Learning to sit with that first 20-30 minutes of discomfort when sitting down to work, without getting distracted by other things<\/li>\n<li>Starting assignments and revision with enough lead-time so you aren&#8217;t doing it all at the last minute<\/li>\n<li>Reaching out for help (<a href=\"https:\/\/students.flinders.edu.au\/support\/slss\">academic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/students.flinders.edu.au\/support\/hcd\">personal<\/a>) if there is something that you are struggling with<\/li>\n<li>Signing up to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2022\/03\/29\/wellbeing-programs\/\">programs<\/a> that may teach you valuable wellbeing or academic skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The changes needn&#8217;t be big, just something that you commit to doing differently in order for the second part of this semester to work out a little better than the first part.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe it isn&#8217;t study related changes that are important to you. Perhaps there are changes in your life outside of uni that need to be made. The same &#8216;fresh start&#8217; effect can be used for them also.<\/p>\n<p>Basically use the mid-semester break and Easter break to mark a period of time in which you make the intention to move forward in different way.<\/p>\n<p>The data suggests you will be more successful doing so than if you make the decision at some random time during the semester.<\/p>\n<p>Isn&#8217;t science interesting?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview: Take a moment during the break to sit down, think about the upcoming second-half of the semester, and plan for how you might do it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":4099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3254,14511,14512],"class_list":["post-4098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-behaviour-change","tag-fresh-start","tag-mid-semester-break"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - 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