Staying focused: The beginning of a long journey

Hey Readers!

Perhaps you are wondering why it's been so long since the last post. Well, the problem with trying to learn about grad schools is that it is very time consuming. Also, it requires something very great from all of us: staying focused. That's why, this post will be about how to stay focused on your goal.

My mind is very flustered at the moment. Nothing is going on, and yet I find it hard to advance in my research of schools. I almost want to call up the schools in advance and ask them my chances of getting into their schools. I want to find out more about the schools I am looking at, especially the ones that I feel I have almost no chance of getting into, but think would provide me with the best experience. Graduate school is a dreadfully scary topic to consider. However, for many of us, graduate school is the only option if we want to really advance with the field we love, or at least, the field in which we are most comfortable.

Perhaps you wonder what sorts of things will help keep you focused. I am sorry, but I cannot really tell you exactly what to do. However, I do have a list of things I am sure may be useful!



Staying Focused During Summer

1. Keep a normal sleeping schedule: While looking up all sorts of handy grad school things, we cannot be vampires. I am having a hard time with this because I am naturally nocturnal. I don't like sunlight, and if it was up to me, I would sleep all day and work all night. This is why my blog updates usually happen in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning. Try as much as you can to maintain the sleeping schedule of a normal adult. Waking up around 9, crashing around midnight. That should keep you on track and give you plenty of daylight to get work done. And if you need to make phonecalls to the schools, you can assure that they will be open!
2. Exercise your mind and body: I know, I am the last person you want to hear telling you to exercise. However, it is clinically proven (seriously) that daily exercise, even 30 minutes, keeps our brains actively thinking. And not just physical exercise either. While 30mins of working out is great for the body, your brain needs to stay active too. Do a daily puzzle, read a difficult book, or even some calculus problems. Whatever keeps you thinking on the level you would while at college, you should do this throughout the summer. Not only will your brain be charged enough to get things done at a college-student's pace, you can also be assured that when you get back to school, you will not have to worry about getting back into the groove of using higher-level thought processes from day to day.
3. Talk about your mission: We are so independent these days, but I believe that if we talk about grad school and what we want to do with people all of the time, we will feel obliged to do something about it. Whether we are talking to ourselves, our friends, our parents, we will gain a desire to do something -- anything -- to make a change with our progress. The more we talk about it, the more we should want to have something new to say, and the only way to acquire something new to say is to make a change!
4. Talk to yourself: Yes, I want you to talk to yourself. Keep reminding yourself what it is you wanted when you decided to go ahead and start looking at grad schools and the like. It's easy to forget why we do things, and the only people who are really going to remind us are ourselves.

That is all for today's list. I hope you are all making great progress! Keep in touch!