Well guys, the end of the semester has just about reached us. Here we are in the second full week of April with only two more weeks to go. We all know what that means! Exams will be upon us by the beginning of May. My relationship with this month is a bit of a love/hate type of relationship. The first day of April means that we are in the home stretch of the semester. However, this also means that it is crunch time. Something about only having one month left makes professors want to just give you all of the projects and work to do. As an added bonus they make it all due at the same time.
I am an art education major here at MTSU and my April will probably look slightly different than yours. I have to wrap up projects from an art studio course that I am in. I also have a project where I must spend twenty hours teaching a lesson to hormone-charged high school students as well as completing a studio project for a class that isn't even a studio! Did I mention that I also have a paper that has to be completely typed out in Spanish due in the next week? Tests and projects and grades! Oh my! Well, guys and dolls, here is my gift to you. Here is my fool-proof method to finishing out the semester with minimal crying and maximum grade point averages.
Get Some Real Sleep.
Yes, I am excruciatingly aware of how cliche this is. I know how hard it is to sleep that full eight hours while being in school. Bless my heart, I am an art major so I hardly ever sleep! But I can tell you that the nights that I can manage to get a full eight hours in I wake up the next day ready to tackle that eight am class. I can at least put on pants and make it to the eight am.
Eat An Actual Meal.
No, Cookout does not count as a real meal. I am not trying to tell you how to live your lives here. That would be silly especially since your girl can put away a cookout tray better than you can! I can say though that fast food from any other restaurant will just sit in your stomach and make you feel lethargic. If you want to get real stuff done, then you have to cook something. Meal prep isn't that hard. Bake some chicken on Sunday and eat it all week with a salad or some canned corn. You will have significantly more energy and you wont feel like a slug after eating it.
Plan Your Work And Work Your Plan.
I have grown up hearing "You never plan to fail, you just fail to plan" all my life. It was one of my Dad's many famous sayings. It is completely true though. I am a master procrastinator and it stresses every fiber of my being out to have to throw together projects last minute. If you can take just thirty minutes to sit down and get your ish together in your planner, then you will be better off. If you are like me and color coding is your thing, then do it! Having every class and due date in a different color makes my frantic looks through my planner that much easier.
Go To Your Classes!
We all want to start bailing on our classes right around this time of the year. It is so easy just to say forget it and start skipping. However, in my experience I have had teachers more willing to work with me and give me that extra push to get the grades I want when I actually show up. So go to class, kiss butt and in the words of Tim Gunn, "Make it work!"
Take A Minute To Just Live.
Another key to success for me is that I take the time to step away from the studio and the homework to go do something I enjoy. My thing is taking my dog to the park here in town. My dog loves going to see the other pups and just getting to run around while I love the relaxing atmosphere and the friendly people. It is a great way to escape from life troubles, you know? So find your oasis and go take a thirty minute break to rest your mind and your tired little college soul.
If you can work at least three of these things in to your daily routine, then you will see the difference. Over working your self is just as bad as over indulging. You have to find that happy balance. It just is not healthy to over work ourselves like we do. Yes, this is college and I know we will never be this young again or this free again or whatever the saying is. However, you have to take care of yourself and you have to take the time to ensure your success. So lets get down to business and defeat the huns (or your finals). I hope you end this semester with good grades and minimal panic attacks.
