Starting School Off Right: Tips To Make This Year Better

By Timothy Hayes on July 20, 2015

The school year is rapidly approaching. It seems like just a week ago you were relishing in finishing your last final and being rid of tests, homework, and professors who can’t operate technology.

Now academic responsibility is bearing down on us like a semi-truck on the freeway and you’re still shaking from memories of last year. Well my fellow students, fear not because you and I are going to start this year differently. We’re going to start this year off right.

Firstly, mentally get yourself set. This does not mean sitting in your room rocking back and forth, breathing heavily, and whispering to yourself “It’s coming. It’s coming.” Instead, it’s time to stare the beast in the eye and let it know who’s boss. Who’s the boss? You are.

Whatever your last semester looked like, you’re about to get a whole new chance to knock this out of the ballpark. There is no second option for you. Go and stare down the coming school year and dare it to do its worst.

You’re going to want to plan this all out. Start with your courses. Make sure to get them in early and get yourself set for the school year before classes fill up. As you plan these out, take into consideration a few things. How well did you fair in early morning classes? How about those late afternoon ones? What classes did you fare well in?

After this, check and see where on campus your classes will be located. Ensure that you won’t be running from one end of campus to another with 10 minutes to get there. If you can, ensure you’ve got time between every class. Too often, students will run back to back to back classes for timing, but it has been shown that if you study what you did in class immediately after class, you can retain more and learn faster.

After you’ve got your schedule figured out for classes, get your life schedule worked out. Go get a planner from an office supply store and get it set for yourself.

A planner will let you get your schedule organized. (image courtesy of www.householdplanner.com)

The best calendars work with you. Start filling in the planner and set aside time you’re probably going to need for things like work, study, and leisure. If you don’t know some items, pencil them in. For the permanently scheduled things use pen. Start using this to organize your day to day and week to week routines. Routines form habits. Good habits lead to success.

Once you’ve got some sort of a planner going, get a big marker board. Start using this to get your thoughts out of your head and up onto a big space. This way you can see them, organize, and prepare for upcoming struggles like big tests or a heavy workload.

Setting reminders is a great way for forgetful people like the author to get things done. (image via smartphones.wonderhowto.com)

Your phone is your friend. In your pocket you’ve got a device with more computing power than the entirety of NASA had for the moon landings. Likely though, you’re using it for stuff that does not help you stay productive or successful.

Your phone is a great way to set reminders for yourself and be a personal annoyance device. Setting multiple alarms throughout the time of your morning routine will allow you to pace yourself. If not alarms, then start a playlist of songs that get progressively faster paced as time approaches for you to leave.

Your phone can also allow you to record your lecture while you take your notes so that you can listen to the lecture as you go back over notes. While your phone is your friend, your friends have their place. When you’re in class, don’t just set your phone to silent or vibrate. Instead use the “airplane mode.” This is usually hard to disable so if you’re like me and love technology, then this will serve as a way to keep you away from distractions.

Before you get back to school, start the routine you’ll have during the school year. Wake up at the same time you expect. Test out the morning playlist. Set aside time from your day to be productive in the time you would be in class. Make sure that that time is spent focused as you would be in class. Just reading a book would be good practice.

Getting this time period in before school does two things. It gets you in the habits you’re going to need and it lets you work out any kinks and make it your own.

This year you can be much more productive. However, this does not mean you need to become a hermit or a workaholic. Spend time with your friends. Budget your precious time to be spent with them. They are very important in formative life and are crucial support structures for both you and your friends.

So take Saturday night off, pop a beer, and have some fun. You’ll be happier, healthier, and better able to tackle the enormity of college life.

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