Happy New Year everyone! I certainly hope you all had a good one and that you’re all refreshed and ready for the year ahead, because I can feel already that it’s going to be a belter!
But it’s so stupid and obvious. In fact I’d hasten to guess that when most of you read what my epiphany was you’ll tut and roll your eyes and say ‘oh god, is that it?’. My epiphany came as the result of my need to dedicate more time to my studies and since I’d decided that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to do so I racked my brains to think of ways to make sure this happened.
'My epiphany came when I realised that the problem isn’t my lack of motivation to study, it’s the setting in which I’m trying to do it'
In the past I’ve always tried to make Saturday my ‘study day’. Gordon is usually at work on Saturdays so it gives me the whole day to get stuck into my books, but it rarely works. I end up doing the washing or finishing off the odd jobs we haven’t managed to get done through the week so I’m lucky if I get a couple of hours done. So that clearly doesn’t work.
My epiphany came when I realised that the problem isn’t my lack of motivation to study, it’s the setting in which I’m trying to do it. If home wasn’t so filled with distractions I’d probably be able to do more but since I can’t take the distractions out of my home, I’ll have to take my home out of the study equation.
So I decided to try something completely different for me. I dropped Gordon off at work at 9.30am on Wednesday 28th December, hopped on the Metro into the city centre armed with my books and made my first ever visit to the City Library. I found myself a nice empty desk on the sixth floor and plonked down intending to spend the entire day there. I was hoping that if I was sat in a nice quiet library without a computer I’d be able to concentrate better and maybe manage to get through a full chapter before the end of the day.
Something incredible happened. I got through THREE chapters. In fact, I had to leave the library early because I got so much work done I finished the book and had nothing else with me to study! I absolutely couldn’t believe it! On the Friday I tried a different version and rather than traipsing through to the City Library I went to the library which is a mere two minute walk from Gordon’s work and this worked just as well.
'For the first time in a long while I actually feel really positive about my forthcoming studies'
The benefits of going to this smaller library are excellent; for starters it saves me a £2.10 return Metro fare to town. It also means that I can call into Gordon’s work to have my lunch with him which saves me the £5 or so I’d have to spend in town to get something and it takes me away from the lure of the city centre shops (they’re not that much of a lure but there’s a well know CD and DVD shop just around the corner and that’s my Achilles’ heel). The only downside is that it closes at 5pm on Saturday and Gordon doesn’t finish until 6pm but there’s also a supermarket right next to it so I’m thinking in that hour I could go and do my weekly shop so it kills a couple of birds with one stone.
I know what you’re all thinking; what’s so interesting about going to the library to study? I know, I know, but I’d just never thought of doing it before and it REALLY WORKED! It’s just the perfect plan, Gordon’s at work every Saturday so this means I get a full day of real studying done each week without having to steal from the rare time off we do get together.
For the first time in a long while I actually feel really positive about my forthcoming studies. Such a simple solution, practiced by no doubt thousands of other students already, but this is not only going to help me keep up to date it’s also going to save me money by keeping me entertained/engrossed for what can otherwise turn into a wasted day. So I have to do my washing through the week instead, no big deal. So I have to work those odd jobs around making the tea on a weeknight, no big deal. So I have to do my food shopping in a quick hour once a week only, no big deal, in fact, brilliant because it’ll help me keep track of my spending a bit better.
Epiphanies eh. What a revelation.
