Can I Take A Day Off In Law School?

Can I Take A Day Off In Law School?

There is no denying that law school is a lot of work. You will have a lot of reading to do to prepare for class, on top of papers, projects, and clinics. We have already covered ways for you to study efficiently, as well as 10 tips on how to succeed in law school. We’ve also discussed the importance of short study breaks during your workday. With all that work, can you afford to take a day off during law school? Yes! Read on to learn why taking a day off regularly may actually improve your law school experience, as well as tips on how to do it.

Can I Take A Day Off In Law School?

Benefits Of Taking A Day Off

1. Refresh and renew your mind

Taking a day off during law school will help you feel refreshed and renewed. Law school courses can be dry and technical, and even the interesting material is quite complex. You need to give your mind a break to recharge and absorb the content you are studying.

2. Get better grades

It may seem counterintuitive that less time spending may result in better exam grades. But the goal of studying isn’t just to absorb the law, but to be able to recall and apply it on the final exam. It doesn’t matter if you’ve memorized the entire casebook if you are so tired by exam day that you can’t remember any of it! (Our founder graduated as the #1 student and took a day off every week!)

3. Enjoy law school more

As hard as law school is, it’s also a unique time in your life. You will never find yourself in this kind of environment again, even if you pursue another graduate degree. And if you are in a new city for law school, you want to take the time to enjoy it while you are there! You don’t want to tell people that you spent three years in a new city but never left the law school library.

4. Get outside the law school bubble

Law school can easily eat up your life, especially if you spend all your time with other law students. Taking a day off will help you get out of the law school bubble and connect with people who are not in law. When you are stressing out over grades or internships, going on a hike or watching a play or just talking with a friend can help put things in perspective.

5. Build good habits for when you start working

Law school is a great time to build good habits for when you start working. This is particularly important if you went straight to law school from undergrad and have never worked a full-time job before.

How To Take A Day Off In Law School

1. Build it into your study schedule

We’ve already covered how to create a law school study schedule; you can include a day off in that schedule. By putting it into your study schedule, you will be able to plan around it, and commit to actually taking that time off! If you want to get more tips, check out this blog post on scheduling your breaks!

2. Do something restful and enriching

You don’t want to take a day off and end up just doing all the chores that you kept pushing off. While you’ll have to do some “life maintenance” on your day off, try to take some real time off to do something you enjoy. Watch a movie! Go for a walk! Visit the museum!

3. Avoid your books

Make a point before your day off to put your books and study materials out of sight, so that you are less tempted to study or feel guilty about not studying. If you don’t want to put your books away, take yourself away to another room or out of the house. Go to a coffee shop or a friend’s place.

4. Don’t look at your school email or social media, and spend time with people who aren’t law students

Take your day off to step away from all of law school, including your email. Set up an auto-reply on your email saying that you aren’t checking it, and will respond by the next day. If you are taking your day off on a Sunday, it’s unlikely that you’ll miss any important emails from your law school (the staff are taking the day off too).

Your day off is also a good chance to reexamine your relationship with social media. Social media may sap your motivation to study and compare yourself to others. Consider whether you want to take a break from social media, news, and other notifications on your day off.

5. Take care of yourself, with sleep and exercise

Use your day off to take care of yourself and your health. If you’ve found yourself slipping into unhealthy habits (not sleeping enough, eating poorly, etc.), use your day off as a “reset.” Read our previous post on how to stay healthy in law school.

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