My New Success Scheme

I have a new scheme for academic success: to make reading my primary hobby.

I've discovered this trend in my life where my primary hobbies have become 1) Facebook, 2) YouTube, and 3) TV.  That's healthy right?  Not so much.  But they're like a vicious cycle of electronic addiction.  I tend to leave my computer open and on all the time because my internet is really finicky for some reason, and the wireless doesn't like to connect to my laptop when I first turn it on, even though the computer is less than 10 feet away from the router.  In order to avoid undue frustration, I just turn my computer on, and leave it on.

The problem with this, though, is that then the internet is ALWAYS there, giving easy access to unproductive hobbies #1 and #2.  And, when I've watched all the YouTube videos I care to, and Facebook gets boring, I turn the TV on in the background to make hobby  #1 more interesting.

See the cycle?

But then, I had this brilliant idea!  Instead of having these pointless things be my hobbies, I'm going to make READING my hobby.  I'm going to make READING be the thing that I do most often, and my go-to activity when I have some length of time to fill.

The beauty of this plan is that I have a GIGANTIC amount of reading to do for classes before the end of the semester, especially if I want to pull my church history grade up from the depths to which I expect that unfortunate midterm has caused it to plummet.  More and more, course reading has become this seemingly insurmountable task, and I avoid school stress by avoiding class reading and trying to get by on the bare minimum.  It doesn't take a genius to know that that's not a good study technique.  But, if I can make studying seem like this cozy time of me snuggling up with a book, it won't seem as intimidating.  That's the theory, anyway.  And, of course, reading will include fun books too, to balance things out.

So, two plans for moving forward.

First, Don't have the computer open unless it's necessary for 1) Classwork, 2) Work work, 3) Skype Dates, or 4) Non-excessive facebook/email/youtube time.  And, of course, blog-writing.

Second, READING IS MY NEW FAVORITE THING TO DO.