After a long, relaxing, and unproductive break, we’re back at school. While it can be nerve-wracking to start a new semester, with new classes, professors, and expectations to manage, it can also be a chance for a fresh start. We like to set resolutions for ourselves each new year to (hopefully) guide how we’ll live moving forward, but as law students, the same practice can be useful before returning to the classroom. Here are three of my resolutions for this semester that I think could be beneficial for us all.

Outline (Semi) Regularly

I’ve heard the advice that law students should add to their outlines every week, and I even know students who follow this practice. While that sounds borderline impossible for me, I also recognize that my strategy of waiting to outline until classes end is also…not ideal.

The main reason why I like to wait to outline is because it can sometimes take a while for a class to really come together for me. If it takes us multiple weeks to go through a chapter in our textbook, I want to wait until that chapter is done to start outlining the material it contained. Which brings me to my resolution: Although I won’t outline super regularly, I plan to outline at the end of each chapter or unit in the syllabus. If we all do this, maybe we can enjoy the month of May a little more than usual!

Prioritize Health

I’m a night owl, and likely will remain a night owl thanks to my perfect 3L Spring schedule that excludes any classes before 10 a.m. But I can also reluctantly admit that staying up later than 12:30 a.m. on a too-regular basis is probably not ideal. Fixing my sleep schedule is one part of a larger goal to prioritize my health and wellbeing this semester. Let’s go to the gym, drink more water, and get more fresh air — this is our year!

Let Go of Perfectionism

As I’m entering into my final semester of law school, I’m starting to look ahead to the career I hope to have after this stage of my life is over. One thing in particular that I’m trying to think about more consciously is how to avoid burnout as a new lawyer. 

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I can sometimes spend a lot of time “cleaning up” my work — double checking citations, adding in small stylistic changes, and making sure everything is perfect. But what I often notice is that the time I spend making minor changes to perfect my work is time that has diminishing returns. In the new year, I want to try to embrace the common aphorism: Don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Not only do I think this will allow us students to use our time more productively, but I think it will also help us avoid burnout moving forward.

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Tess Halpern is a third-year student and president of the Impact blog. Contact her at halperte@bc.edu.