helloooo! here’s my first masterpost for productivity in the summer, I hope you enjoy it! firstly, I apologise for it being quite long but I really hope it’s useful for you, as summer is about to crawl upon us. please feel free to let me know of any corrections needed and of any other topics you would like me to do master posts of (though I don’t know how much it’s going to help people, but here you go anyway). let me know your thoughts and stuff! anyway, onto what you’re here for.
THINGS YOU NEED TO PLAN BEFOREHAND/EARLY IN THE YEAR
participate in a summer school
I know in the UK, not so sure about other countries, there are many universities that do summer schools for particular subjects. You can find loads of summer schools in the UK using Sutton Trust. You can also use Sutton Trust to participate in US summer schools here.
Pros: you can get a feel for a subject you want to study at university and meet loads of new people who want to go in that field too (contacts!!!!!)
Cons: you usually have to book quite early in the year, January to March sort of time.
I think summer camps are quite popular in the US, but there are also UK summer camps and even ones in other countries. For example, I have been to a music summer camp (7 days, usually the last or penultimate week of the summer term) that’s held in Malvern called the National Schools’ Symphony Orchestra for a couple of years. I highly recommend it for anyone who is highly skilled in a musical instrument (I think they recommend grade 7 or above, maybe grade 6 too). My siblings and I are also going to a summer camp in China too this summer.
Pros: you get to develop or learn new skills that you never thought of before and meet others who are either at the same stage as you in a particular skill, or are learning the same things as you
Cons: you usually have to book quite early in the year and it can cost quite some money
You can earn that extra pocket money and have something to do over summer if you have nothing in particular planned. Examples of summer jobs are working in retail (boring, I know, but you get the money and the experience of dealing with difficult people, and employers will expect bigger sales this sort of time - your perfect chance to get a job), working in hotels, holiday camps, leisure centres, swimming pools etc.
Pros: (it’s not about the) money (money money)!!!! experience to put on your CV/resume, fill up your days so you’re not sat doing nothing at home, meet new co-workers who could become friends
Cons: you usually have to have a CV, you definitely have to look early unless you’re really lucky
go to a foreign country and learn about its culture
Personally, I love travelling and going to new places and learning about the differences in culture. It’s so interesting to be immersed in somewhere completely different and see and take part in the different customs.
Pros: you interact and bond with people, you can start to learn new languages, you learn more about the world and not just your country, you meet so many new people who can become friends for life
Cons: you usually have to book a couple months ahead for cheaper flights (or you can go spontaneous and just book the day before, I’ve heard people have done this!), some places are hella expensive to book flights for, especially when it’s further away (I recommend looking at flight comparison sites like Skyscanner, Go Compare, or even Google Flights), it can take a while to plan things like hotels and places to visit, unless you want to be spontaneous and plan it there. Make sure you are safe wherever you go and someone knows where you’re going - this is a foreign place that you don’t know; anything could happen.
volunteer in a foreign country
Great for people who want to help those in developing countries and want the experience to get into their chosen field (usually medicine or dentistry or veterinary). For those in the UK, you can use GapMedics, Global Vision International, Medical Projects, Think Pacific and Projects Abroad, but you could probably use Google to find some others.
Pros: get the experience and put it on your personal statement/CV for universities and jobs to show your dedication, help others in need, promote awareness for certain causes
Cons: some programs cost quite a lot to include your flights, accommodation etc. but you can fundraise, some require you to book your own flights, you usually have to book or apply quite early but the guy from Think Pacific said that one person booked the day before, so you’ll have to talk to the program organisers
THINGS YOU DON’T NEED TO PRE-PLAN FOR
There are 6500 spoken languages in this world and some know 1, some know 7. Personally, I speak English and Chinese (I can’t write Chinese to save my life, unless you want “我爱你” or other quite basic stuff), and I’m studying Japanese in school. You can go for ones like Spanish, German, French etc., or ones like Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, with different alphabets or a different style of writing compared to English.
Pros: you can learn to speak more than one language and it is so cool learning another one and being able to communicate with natives - you get to connect with so many different people
Cons: it takes more than one summer to master a language and some languages have much harder grammar or vocab
review all things learnt last year
For schools systems using GCSEs and A levels, I know that the work learnt is continuous over 2 or more years (and even GCSEs, sometimes it is used in A levels). Maybe you could use the first week or so of summer to consolidate the thing you have learnt in that academic year, especially if you are in the middle of a 2- or more year course.
Pros: if it’s in the middle of a course, you will be more likely to remember it for next year’s exams if you study it more, and then you’ll have less work to do the week before exams
Cons: you’ve probably just finished exams and want to actually forget everything that happened in that year (usually after GCSEs and A levels, or the end of university, or the end of high school, whichever you’re in)
look over/do some notes for subjects for next year
If you’re starting a new course and you know what subjects and topics you will be taking, you could start to look over them to get a feel for what you’re going to be learning. The internet is in your hands, you have libraries where you can borrow textbooks and books about your topics, there are youtube videos, you can even email your teacher to see if they have any tips!
Pros: you are ahead of the rest of your class (or at least most of them) and if you have any questions or don’t understand some of it, you can get your questions answered earlier and understand the content quicker
Cons: there may not be certain resources that you require or the textbooks may not give you all the knowledge you need - we do have teachers/lecturers for a reason
Though you may not be doing much in the summer, you can still jot down odd jobs that need to be done, i.e. laundry! It doesn’t even have to be a bullet journal, you could start a travel journal if you’re going away for summer, you could just start an ordinary journal to write down your thoughts and feelings (you can do that in your bullet journal as well).
Pros: you can get more organised by keeping everything you need in one place and you can keep it going throughout the academic year as well if you don’t finish it. It is your own and you can put in and do whatever you like with it
Cons: you might not have a lot to put in in terms of to-dos
So remember when you couldn’t swim? This summer is where you’re gonna change that! You can teach yourself, or get some friends to help you out - that’s what they’re there for. This can range from things like bike-riding to skateboarding, from playing chess to playing football! Who knows, you could be finding your future sport right there. (there are no cons to learning a new skill besides the danger, but there will be danger whatever you do)
THERE ARE NO CONS TO THIS unless you don’t like reading, but who doesn’t like reading? I’m so sure you have about a bajillion books on your bookshelf that are in the TBR (to be read) pile that you’ve bought during exam season and haven’t got round to reading. Even if you haven’t, there are definitely some books out there that you’ve been like, “Oh, I need to read that but I don’t have the money or the time right now.” This is your time! You have libraries, bookshops, e-books, audiobooks and loads of different places to obtain your books. For cheap books (in the UK), I recommend The Book People, The Works, Amazon, Best Book Price, The Book Depository. There are also loads of free e-books that you can get online through BookBub and Sparks of YA (I have personally signed up to these so I get emails from them about free e-books)
Always hated those people who sat a piano in the local shopping centre and just blasted out Moonlight Sonata or Nocturne in E Flat Major, Op.9 No.2? You can now become that person. With a bit of practice. I only recommend this if you know you’re going to be truly dedicated to learning this instrument because they can cost a lot of money especially those like brass and woodwind instruments. You can try and self teach but I would usually recommend having a teacher, unless you just want to learn some certain pieces of music like your usual Fur Elise. (You will need to learn to read music, which won’t be hard with some practice.)
Pros: You can whip out your instrument and impress all your friends, you can make your own music, you can enjoy and love every note you’re playing and appreciate the pieces others have composed
Cons: instruments can be bloody expensive, instrumental lessons can be quite dear, you won’t be great at it overnight (unless you’re some prodigy, which I would be insanely jealous about)
You’ve just been to school for the last ~10 months and you’ve probably been sleeping around 7 hours a night maybe less if you have to get up really early and you’re probably tired every single day. What better than to sleep away the first week of summer and get fully rested before you have a mega productive summer?
Pros: sleep, rest, no people, sleep, not tired, sleep, no alarms, no school, sleep
Cons: no cons cos sleep (unless you start feeling guilty about “wasting” the first week of summer - you’re not!!! unless you do it for the whole summer)
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