The After-Effects of Prépa

“Goals change thus so should routines.”

I now have officially completed my first year of prépa in Lille. Even just a year ago I did not really believe that I would go to France to study, it seemed like such a leap of faith. I am so happy that I did take that leap, since I would argue that this year was a very formative year in my life. I got to rethink my whole self, which is such an amazing opportunity. Of course prépa and overall the French system gave a certain direction to that rethinking. To be precise there are 3 major things that came into play thanks/due to the prépa. Here they are:

A Healthy Work Ethic & Time Management Skills

In prépa there is a lot of work. So much work actually that sometimes choices have to be made – either social life or a slightly better grade on a test. This is very difficult to accept for anyone who has the slightest touch of perfectionism in them. Everything cannot be done. I am pretty happy with where I got to when I sort of accepted that fact. I set studying periods (outside of classes) every week, usually 5 to 6 hours on the workweek and that was the only amount I wanted myself to work. If I decided to take part in group study sessions then that would be okay because it has a certain social aspect to it, but no more than that premeditated time should be spent on studying. Setting those boundaries was a real game-changer, because it helped me to take time off which is just as important as time spent studying (I talk more about leisure time in this post).

Overall I started to use my calendar more and more, and I would argue that I improved my time management skills. They are far from perfect, but I did get better at using Google Calendar and thus the organisation of my calendar also got better (here are some basic calendar setup ideas). Time management can be a slippery slope, planning creates a certain feeling of control over your days, thus it is very easy to over-plan in an attempt to reach total control. Sorry to burst your bubble but unfortunately total control is impossible (mostly saying that to myself to be honest). Overplanning is dangerous because at some point we will fail to respect the plan and then it can lead to feeling guilt, stress etc. Basically it is a perfect recipe for burnout. I got to that point myself and I do not wish it on anyone. It is why getting good at time management is important.

A Comfy Routine

Another thing about spending a year in prépa is that there is a very rigid routine which rarely changes (I also had 3 volleyball trainings a week which accentuated the routine even further). When routine changes, it creates confusion. I am very much a person who appreciates routines, because it is a lot simpler to implement habits when there is a pre-existing structure. It is why I am genuinely happy to go work this summer because I will have that structure to play around with. On the other hand there is a problem with routines – the comfort zone. I clearly got comfortable this year, and during this summer I hope to deliberately confront myself about that and force myself to do things out of said comfort zone.

Routines are so important because that is when the work gets done, but exiting the routines is just as important because then we can gain perspective on the things we are working towards. Goals change thus so should routines. Chris Bailey talks about both, the working and the exploring, in his book Hyperfocus (a great read, more info here). For Bailey it is essential to learn to switch between hyperfocus and scatterfocus, between getting stuff done and wandering around.

A Solid Safety Net

When reading up on prépa I saw “have a strong safety net” as a genuine tip on an article about how to succeed in prépa. I must say that after my first year I have to agree with that point. This year I realised how grateful I can be to have a such a supporting family and a few very close friends who I can rely on. This was so important especially in the start of the year where I struggled a lot with making friends and did not understand the happenings of everyday life. Having someone to call or simply a place to go to when having an existential crisis is a great deal of help.

For some reason it came to me as a surprise that I could rely on others because I always wanted to believe that it was possible to be completely “self-made” (just like I want to believe in total control). I am starting to realise that it is just the brainwashing of grind culture and social media overall which has affected me and probably many others into believing such BS.

The school year went by in a blur. This first year of prépa was a great experience for me. It got me to work and to try some new things. There were also loads of realisations along the way, thus also small adjustments in the direction that I want to be moving in different aspects of life. I have to say that I am very happy with the way things turned out and I am genuinely looking forward to see what the second year will bring.

This Week’s Suggestions:

🐞 Farewell:
Last weekend I went to Rampage, the biggest Drum & Bass festival out there. Needless to say that it reignited on full blast my love for the genre. At the festival I saw Buunshin, the producer of this song, live back to back with another amazing dutch producer IMANU. “Farewell” is a song with such a vivid energy. The build up is rather long and it goes slow making the drop even sweeter. The vocals are simple and only said once throughout the whole song which makes them stand out so much in my eyes. This song is one of my favourite energy boosters in recent times.

Till next week!