{"id":527,"date":"2011-11-28T15:26:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T15:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mymajors.com\/blog\/?p=527"},"modified":"2020-12-15T19:26:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T19:26:17","slug":"make-the-holidays-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/make-the-holidays-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"Make the Holidays Productive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"assorted
Photo by Giftpundits.com on Pexels.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

The extended winter break has arrived, finally!\u00a0 So, how should you spend the couple of weeks away from school?\u00a0 Some of my suggestions may be unexpected, but I hope they serve you well. Others will be somewhat traditional, but there’s a reason they exist.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Turn off your alarm clock.\u00a0Yep, you heard me, turn off your alarm clock.\u00a0I do not want you to sleep all day everyday, but I do want you to rest.\u00a0If you’ve been keeping focused on your goal of maximizing your education and the opportunities it can present, you may be a bit tired.\u00a0 Allow yourself to rest, but do not take it to extremes.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Build positive relationships.\u00a0Find those people who have had the greatest positive impact on you and spend time with them.\u00a0They’ll keep you inspired and moving forward.\u00a0 In turn, it’s also a good time to be setting a positive example for someone who may be looking up to you and you don’t even realize it.\u00a0Be true to yourself, do what is right, and encourage those around you to do the same.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Try something new.\u00a0The holiday season presents a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, try one or more of them.\u00a0Do it for altruistic reasons, but don’t be surprised if you find a calling, or perhaps something you enjoy doing just for the sake of doing it.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Write thank you notes, real ones.\u00a0Yes, it’s easy to type out a quick email, but emails won’t be treasured as much as a handwritten note.\u00a0 Your handwriting, and the time you took to write the note, will mean more to the recipient than what you can imagine.\u00a0And don’t limit your thank-you notes only to those who gave you a gift.\u00a0 Send notes to people who have done something for you (letters of recommendation, reference forms, gave you an encouraging word at a time you really needed it, etc.)<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Do something outside.\u00a0It might be cold, but getting some fresh air and getting moving will help keep the cobwebs from forming in your brain.\u00a0Something as simple as just taking a walk around your neighborhood or in a local park has many benefits.\u00a0Do it daily if possible, you’ll feel great.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Check your college deadlines.\u00a0Hopefully you’ve already submitted your applications, but there may be other deadlines looming.\u00a0Check for spring deadlines that may need to be met for housing, mid-year follow up transcripts or forms, financial aid, scholarships, etc.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Fill out your FAFSA form online, but not until after Jan. 1.\u00a0 Enjoy the New Year’s Day football games and parades, but on Jan. 2 sit down with your parents\/guardians and complete the FAFSA form.\u00a0 Please do this even if you think you won’t qualify for any financial aid, you never know what you might receive.\u00a0Also, there are some merit-based scholarships that require FAFSA information.\u00a0 IMPORTANT:\u00a0 Make certain you’re going to the correct site, www.fafsa.ed.gov.\u00a0Do not, under any circumstances, pay anyone any money for completing your FAFSA. It’s called the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid, with the key word being FREE.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Reset your body clock as the return to school comes closer.\u00a0Yes, I know I said to turn off your alarm clock, but if you’ve developed the habit of staying up until 2 a.m. and sleeping until noon, you’ll need to break that habit quickly.\u00a0Plan ahead several days, go to bed slightly earlier each night, and make yourself get up earlier each day, until you’re close to the normal hours you need to keep to perform your best at school.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Do some reading.\u00a0If your English teacher has assigned a novel, read it.\u00a0Tackle it a chapter or two (or more if it\u2019s a longer book) a day.\u00a0 Keep a reading journal where you summarize what happened in each chapter.\u00a0If you don\u2019t have an assigned novel, read one anyway.\u00a0 Keeping your brain stimulated will help you perform better during the next term.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Reflect, review, and revise.\u00a0Reflect on the previous year taking note of what went well, congratulate yourself for your accomplishments, and reminisce about happy events.\u00a0Review the goals you set for the current school year to determine if you’re still on track.\u00a0Revise what you’ve been doing if the results haven’t been what you had hoped, or if you find that you drifted off course.<\/p>\n

Have a wonderful break.\u00a0Celebrate the close of one year and the beginning of a new one.\u00a0Be smart, stay safe, and have fun.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The extended winter break has arrived, finally!\u00a0 So, how should you spend the couple of weeks away from school?\u00a0 Some of my suggestions may be … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-counselor-bloggers","category-student-bloggers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pexels-photo-1666065.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7JFoP-8v","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6895,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/6895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}