Zoning out, losing inspiration, and plain old procrastination can be detrimental during a week of schoolwork. This typically occurs during your undergraduate program where you will likely take a course you do not enjoy. It could be a seemingly useless required program or an elective program that did turn out to be what you expected. Either way, once a student is bored with a course, it is easy to zone out and push off the work.
While one approach is to play video games, watch TV, or surf the Internet, reading can produce better results. For example, after playing several hours of your favorite shoot-em-up, you now must transition into a reading or writing mode. The process can be abrupt and even painful. Your brain zones out with these sorts of activities. However, if you start with a book as your escape, you are at least practicing the very thing you will need to do afterward. You are keeping your brain active.
Always keep a book or two nearby. It does not even have to be non-fiction. In fact, returning to an old favorite can help inspire creativity and remind you why you are back in school in the first place.
The most important thing is to avoid guilt for reading something other than your assigned schoolwork. It is allowed. You need the occasional escape. After a while, transition back to your schoolwork and notice the difference of procrastinating through reading instead of some other medium.
By Scott Manning
Online Learning Tips, Student Contributor
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