So we all crawled to the finish line of 2016, thankful to make it out alive and (relatively) unscathed. As we picked ourselves up off the ground, we made a determined resolution to come back with a vengeance in 2017. This year has to be awesome because anything is better than 2016, right?
That was before you proceeded to sit on the couch and watch Netflix for two weeks because it was winter break and that’s what college students do over winter break. Now the semester has started, and this is your time to shine. Even if your first two weeks of 2017 were lazy and less than noteworthy, there’s still time to get 2017 off to a great start by owning this semester. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Get yourself straightened, organized, and ready to go.
Actually use the planner that you get at the beginning of the semester. Make to-do lists, and scratch things off as you go. If you like a lot of color, buy a pack of fun gel pens and color-code by class. Find whatever works for you and stick to it. An organized student is a happy—and productive—student.
2. Be bold and assertive from day one.
This sets the tone for your participation in class for the rest of the semester. If you break the ice the first day when everyone else is too shy, everyone will think of you as the insightful student who always has great ideas. Plus, participation points don’t hurt either.
3. Be sure to get those ZZZ’s.
The classic saying goes that in college you get three choices—grades, social life, and sleep—but you can only pick two. Well, I’m here to tell you that prioritizing sleep will completely transform your waking life. Use a sleep tracker app like Sleep Cycle to measure how much sleep you actually get each night. You’ll probably start to notice that the nights you get good sleep, you get a lot more done the next day.
4. If you want to change your life, you’ve got to change the little things you do every day.
Maybe this means drinking a green tea in the afternoon instead of a Red Bull. Or maybe it means reading a little bit from your textbook every day instead of letting those assigned readings pile up until the night before the exam. Think about your bad habits that could be replaced with better ones, and do something little every day to make this transition. Consistency makes a routine, and a routine brings change.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
If college was meant to be something you accomplished on your own, they wouldn’t cram 40,000 students onto one small campus, put them in discussion classes, hold office hours for TA’s and professors to answer your questions, or offer an array of clubs and extracurriculars to help you learn and grow. You learn so much more when you interact with other people. Take advantage of what your university has to offer.
New semester, new you. Go own it!
