As I mentioned in my last article, the school year is starting! Ah, the combination of hopes and dreams for the year, the anticipation of football season, and freshly sharpened pencils. And classes. How could I forget about the very thing that brought us all here? Oh be honest, you know you came for the football!

The new year is a time for one of two things: making goals that you'll actually achieve and making goals that you never will. I like to have a healthy mix of both. I think back-to-school goals are way more realistic than New Year's Resolutions. If it were up to me, the New Year would actually be in September but I can cover that in a whole other article.

Let's talk about goals. It's no secret that we are all likely hoping to do well in our classes. It's no secret that we are all likely hoping to be better looking than we are now. It's no secret that we are all likely hoping to live comfortably financially. It's no secret that after eating boardwalk pizza and ice cream all summer none of our pants fit (or is that just me? #oversharing). It's no secret that we are all likely hoping to maintain friendships as well as build new ones. It's no secret that that we are all likely hoping to not die alone. These are all super basic goals that we might not even recognize as goals. They're kind of just there. No one is walking around hoping their life gets worse, and if they are then I don't know them.

During the first semester of my freshman year of college, I remember thinking I didn't have a single day that was identical to another. This drove me crazy and it still kind of does. I feel that for some reason in college establishing a routine is especially challenging. This could definitely be attributed to only living here part of the year and leaving for long breaks. I also think that since college is temporary, there is more pressure to get the most out of your time and less pressure to stay home and do laundry on a Friday night. You could count up the number of Fridays you have left and when you realize that number, you'll never pick doing laundry.

The statements/goals I mentioned above are very broad. If you know the first thing about goal-setting you understand that they have to be specific. I wanted to address making these broad goals more detailed because I think it's important. I think a lot of times I make broad statements about how I want my life to be. We often run around saying "Ugh, I wish I was skinnier?", "I just want to be a millionaire", or "I need to get straight As". In the age of instant gratification of practically anything, goals about your own life don't quite fall into the category. They are something to be worked towards and take time. In today's world, this can feel especially uncomfortable and frustrating. Can I Amazon Prime a brand spanking new boyfriend to my house? The answer is no. A brand spanking new boyfriend is something I'd have to take time to pursue. We can order practically anything on there though, so I'm sure that's coming down the pike any day!

This school year think of asking yourself how you're going to achieve these broad goals. A great technique is to feed tinier goals into them. Instead of claiming that you want better grades, plan out specific times to study. Take action, people! Instead of saying you want to be in better shape, try out a new class at the gym! Instead of complaining about being single, take the leap to talk to your crush in class (wow major J-14/Tiger Beat vibes there, I know).

This is YOUR YEAR! And it's my year too! I know we say that every year, but I mean it for real this time. Whatever your goals for the year may be, or even if you don't have any, I wish you the best of luck.