Whether you like it or not, it's about that time to start thinking about being back in the classroom/lecture hall again. Although most of us dread this yearly transition, starting some school tasks now will help make the plunge into the new year a lot less stressful. By beginning some common back-to-school rituals early, you'll have the upper hand you need to start tackling that miserable morning routine 10 times faster than those who start right when school begins. Talk about efficiency, right? Use the tips provided below to help you excel, whether it's your first semester or final year.
1. Set your alarm and begin waking up earlier.
I know, setting your alarm early when school hasn't even begun yet sounds like a weird form of torture. However, hear me out before you start clicking away from this article. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to start being productive at a — most likely — earlier hour of the day than you're accustomed to in summer. By starting to gradually set your alarm to an earlier time, you are getting accustomed to a new sleeping routine that will help get you up and going at your most productive point in the day. You'll also be more on track than those waltzing into class 15 minutes late in sweatpants.
2. Clean out your inbox of old emails and your computer of old documents, pictures, etc.
Cleaning up your computer for the semester may sound like a daunting task, but in reality it's quite simple if you break up the work. If you spend 15 minutes a day on one area of your computer (example: I'll spend 15 minutes today on "Pictures" and 15 minutes tomorrow on "Documents"), you'll be surprised at how much you can get accomplished and how fast your computer will run after you clean house.
3. Buy supplies you'll need for the year and organize them into your school bag.
Once a semi-annual "do this the night before the semester starts" task can be beneficial to do in advance. Preparing your school bag can help you feel more relaxed the night before or morning of school starts. By being able to just get yourself ready, grab your bag and go, you save time (and sleep) not worrying about what you might've missed packing or organizing into your day's supplies. Make a list early or mid-summer of what you need to put into your bag, buy your needed supplies off that list and get to work organizing it into an efficient manner inside your bag of choice. It'll take some time, but you'll thank yourself for it at the end of the summer when everyone else is scrambling and you're ready to go.
4. Make your binders for each class.
This might go hand in hand with the previous piece of advice, but in addition to packing and organizing your bag you should prepare your binders. This can be extremely simple and helpful to starting your year. Once you know what your classes are, you'll know how many and what different binders/folders/Trapper kepers to make. You can organize however you like and it can be as simple as putting in usually required dividers and labeling them things like, "Notes," "Tests/Quizzes," "Homework," etc. If your binders have a clear plastic sleeve covering the front, you can also put in a letter-sized piece of paper with the name of your class and maybe an icon or picture representing the field of study. If not, you can usually just write on the binder with a Sharpie of your choice. There's not much to organizing your binder, and doing all of them can save you time the first week of school when you're usually studying syllabuses or signing paperwork needed for the rest of the year.
5. Create a Word doc/Excel spreadsheet of your classes/school schedule.
You probably have received a computer-generated version of your school schedule already, but sometimes they can be difficult to read or not properly laid out in the way that you'd like them to be. What can be beneficial for your eyes to read is important when scrambling to get to the right classroom/lecture hall. Do yourself a favor and create your own Excel or Word version of your schedule and do it with the intention of getting ahead and glancing at it quickly, knowing where you're supposed to be in a moment's time. It'll save you some stress in the long run.
6. Make sure your desk/work area/office is clean and ready for working.
Everyone needs a work space to be their most productive selves. Whether that's a work desk, the kitchen counter, your bed or wherever you decide to get things done, make sure that space is clean. This may be the most tedious task of them all (depending on how messy your space is), but it's also the most rewarding once finished, because you get to see what your efficiency has produced in the final result. You'll also get to complete even more by doing this, and it'll relieve some of the stress put on by back-to-school worries.
7. Buy all of your school/textbooks now.
While everyone's rushing to the crowded school store or bookstore, wouldn't you like to be doing something else? Once it's available to find out what books you need, it will be better to buy them as soon as possible? Why? It might be better on your wallet. When nobody is buying what will become an in-demand textbook once school starts back up is just another textbook now (with a most likely friendlier ticket price). Save yourself the stress and money of waiting to buy your textbooks once school rolls around and be an early bird. Trust me, you'll thank me later.
8. Finish anything that you won't have time to dedicate to during the busy school year.
Need to get your car inspected? Pay off credit card bills you've accumulated from back-to-school shopping? Whatever it is and however scary the challenge may be, it's probably best you get it over with before your schedule is even busier again. Just take some time to write down a list of things that need time dedicated to them and implement that time into your life. You'll be better prepared for what else life and school will swing your way.
It gets harder and harder to believe that school is coming back, but don't let the stress that comes with it prevent you from being as productive as you can be. There's so much you can do to help yourself before the day is here and to distract you from what you'll need to do once classes start back up. Once you're in the right mindset, do some work and also remember to take breaks so that you don't burn up trying to save yourself from stress. It'll all be worth it once you start school back up, and you'll feel better that you started earlier.
