For students, reading week presents an opportunity to catch up on many things: family, friends, homework, dirty dishes and more. However, it’s important to keep one thing in perspective — it’s just one week. 

By all means, if you intend to do your entire semester’s worth of work all in one go, don’t let me tell you otherwise. However, for all you realistic folks out there, it is possible to enjoy your break and still feel productive.

Think about the week ahead and what you would like to get accomplished.

Here is where being realistic is crucial. Saying that everything will get done will likely leave you disappointed at the end of the week. So, stop, take a breath and then think about what can actually get done in a week as opposed to what should get done in a week. 

Think about projects coming up — term papers, group projects — and consider working on those. If you’re hanging around the city for the week and some of your group members are too, maybe meet up and set some joint goals.

If you have a research project on the go and you’re still unsure of where the library is, now’s a good time to get that figured out. Go collect your resources — unless your classmates have pilfered them already — and have those ready to go for the week ahead.

Seeing how there won’t be classes during the reading week, it’s also a good opportunity to get any off-campus chores or housekeeping items out of the way. Take advantage of the time to book appointments, pay bills or deal with that pile of papers on your desk.

You’ll have a more flexible schedule — even if you’re still working part-time — so you may find you have some time to squeeze in a trip to the bank or the barber.

If your kitchen, bathroom or dwelling in general is unrecognizable and looks like it has things growing in it, this might also be a good time to get the dusty old cleaning supplies out and, well, clean.

Being realistic also means you should take some time to relax this break — even if you feel behind on school work. Take time to see friends from outside of school, as they may be able to give you some much needed perspective.

If you can’t set aside an entire day for family and friends due to a heavy homework load, part-time job or volunteer commitments, at least set aside a few afternoons, mornings or evenings and use them for social time for yourself or with a significant other. Do some reading, watch a hockey game, watch some nostalgic 1990s cartoons on Netflix or go see a movie.

Don’t say you’re going to work from dusk to dawn everyday unless you know for certain that you can actually accomplish this, in which case, go hard. Most of us say that we will work all day but then find ourselves on hour four of some random YouTube video. This is simply a recipe for disappointing yourself, so be honest with yourself about what you can actually get done.

Follow your schedule but be flexible. There is one key to actually having a productive reading week — do the work.

If you’ve compiled a physical schedule or have a mental one set up with some goals, follow through with it but be flexible. If you have specifically designated an evening off but your friends are busy, then consider doing some work that evening and meeting up with friends at another time when it works for them, rather than wasting time as plans change.

Ultimately, there’s no secret for a successful reading week. Remember that you are human and things may not go as planned, so don’t feel too guilty if you don’t get anywhere near as much as what you’d like to get done. Getting something done while catching up with people and relaxing is good in itself, especially in this last stretch leading up to final exams.

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Liam Fitz-Gerald

Graphic: Jeremy Britz / Graphics Editor