5 Ways To Stay Focused On Your School Work!

Do you constantly find yourself scrambling to get work done? Or do you find yourself not doing your work at all? If you find yourself fitting into either one of those categories, then you are reading the right article! Schooling and getting an education can be stressful. As a freshman in college, I've had my fair share of meltdowns, "all nighters," and "I give up" moments. During my times of trial, I found that the five steps I'm about to lay out for you, truly helped me stay on track whenever I felt like I was going to derail. I hope they do the same for you

1. Set goals for yourself!

Setting goals is a great way to keep yourself organized. Rather than aimlessly going about your day and/or school year, set goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the term. You keep yourself looking forward to something, and you will ultimately feel the sense of the satisfaction when you do reach your goal. When you do reach your desired goal, you can always set even higher ones to keep yourself motivated. It's overall the building blocks of success and if you don't have any goals, then what are you trying to accomplish?

2. Please, just put the phone away.

Sometimes, we are the cause of our own demise, and cell phones play a vital role in that. That text or phone call really isn't that important. Especially in comparison to your school work. You can either silence your phone, for instance putting it on airplane mode of do not disturb. For those of you who have little to no self-control, you may have to go to greater lengths to make sure you keep that phone out of your hands. So you guys can for one, turn your phone off completely and put it away in a place where you can't see and/or use it. Second, give it to someone who will for sure not give it to you if you ask them for it back. Out of sight and out of mind. I swear, if you take one to two hours away from your phone, you will undoubtedly see a difference in your work habits.

3. Stay away from the people who aren't motivated nor have similar goals as yourself.

These people are the reason why you have to lock your phone away! Lock yourself away from them. It isn't worth it to surround yourself with people who aren't as motivated as yourself. I was fortunate to have had an amazing group of friends who have the same outlook on success and being successful as myself. If anything, they made me even more into doing well in the things that I do. Shout out to Sara, Cella, Adrian and Cathy! You guys are some of the most amazing people I have ever met, and being surrounded by you all made me push myself to be a better person in and outside of the classroom everyday. I appreciate each and every one of you and love you all so much. If you surround yourself with people who strive for nothing but greatness you will in fact achieve greatness.

4. Be responsible...that means DON'T PROCRASTINATE.

Yes, we are ALL notorious for this. We've all had an assignment that was given out four months before it was due (those darn research papers or end of the term projects) and yet we still wait until the week or night before it's due to start it. If you find yourself procrastinating, just stop. It's of no use to you, you're only hurting yourself and your grade. By the time you're finished putting all that time and effort into complaining about how you don't want to do it, you could have already been done with it. If you wait until the night or week before to start the assignment, you're grade will show it. If you have four months to work on a project, work on it a little bit each night. You may find with using this method that you may finish within two months and then have the additional two months to tweak your work and make minor enhancements that will only benefit your assignment and grade. Procrastination is a bad habit, and if you find that you do it more than often, you need to stop. You're only hurting yourself and the grade you would have gotten if you would have put in the time and effort to do it right in the first place.

5. Remember why you are getting an education in the first place, and be mindful of all you want to accomplish.

Obviously, you care about your future if you are out in the world getting an education. It's important to remember what you want to achieve and how you want to do it. It's important to constantly remind yourself that you have pure intentions and you want to be successful. It can be hard, and achieving success is not easy. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, while being mindful of what you want to accomplish, you will be successful. Never take your eye off the prize!

I hope that these five steps find their way into your life, and help you achieve overall success for the future. Remember: YOU CAN DO IT! Good luck out there!