As the school year winds down, finals come to an end, and us college students return back home for the summer, it's easy to fall into a lethargic lull of avoiding any and all responsibility. Like notorious new years' resolutions, summer goals may start off promising, but all too often they lose their appeal after the first few days when excuses and distractions sneak in and take over your priorities.

While some people may have internships or summer jobs lined up, others may have procrastinated a bit too much and are entering the season with panic and uncertainty. Don't worry, it's not too late. There are still ways to better oneself physically, mentally, and financially. The following is a list of ways to achieve improvement this summer, even if you got lazy the last few months of school.

1. Get a Job.

This may seem obvious, but even if you forgot to apply for (or got denied from) internships or serious work opportunities, you can still make money this summer. As soon as possible, start sending your resume to any late-hiring places because you never know what could still be available.

I suggest, if you have the means to do so, actually showing up in person because this will show that you are serious about the job itself and allow the employer to match a face and a personality to the resume. When you show up, make sure to be dressed and prepared for anything because they could decide to interview you on the spot.

Princeton University offers a great 7-step plan for preparing for an interview that you can view here. A lot of people assume it's too late to find any job worth-while, but at this point, any job is worth it.

Indeed.com is a great source for finding open employment opportunities.

Restaurants are almost always hiring, summer camps could be looking for some last-minute help, grocery stores, department stores, or even families looking for summer nannies, tutors, or dog-walkers. Signing up with apps like Uber, Lyft, Fiverr, or Gigwalk is efficient and easy. Babysitting or offering to do yard work for neighbors may seem traditional, but they're surprisingly still beneficial.

2. Exercise consistently.

This does not mean you have to go buy a membership at a gym or sign up for some hardcore program. One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to feel a sense of accomplishment over the summer is to work-out or condition in some form or fashion every day.

You don't have to run your body into the ground or lift three times your body weight to get a good sweat it. Simply going for a jog, a bike ride, a swim, or even doing an abs circuit once a day will release positive endorphins throughout your body and will make an undeniable difference in the state of your physical and emotional health.

I would suggest completing your work out in the morning so that you have the rest of the day to relax and explore other activities. Instead of telling yourself you must go to the gym every day, try and mix it up so that you won't get bored or complacent.

You can always get your friends involved and motivate each other to stay committed to the process. Playing sports with groups of people like pick-up basketball or soccer is a great way to get your heart running while being too distracted by the game to feel exhausted or sore.

You don't even have to leave your house to stay in shape. There are lots of basic body circuits you can complete from within the comfort of your own room. Blogilates is a great Youtube account where upbeat personal trainer, Cassey Ho, offers awesome short yet challenging workout videos (I would highly recommend her ab-training ones) that you can complete at home with her encouraging support keeping you checked in for the whole work-out.

The key to exercising over the summer is consistency, so try and make a reminder somewhere to yourself to squeeze some active time into your schedule once a day.

3. Prepare for your future.

Even if you missed out on internships or jobs that line up with your major and career field path this summer, that doesn't mean you can't start looking for the coming fall, winter, spring, or even next summer seasons.

Take the opportunity now to perfect and your resume and interviewing skills. You could even interview or create resumes to jobs you're not interested in just for the practice. Sharpening up your Linked In profile and your social media pages can go a long way as well.

Start searching for potential internships and job opportunities to apply to in the next few months. The earlier you begin putting together your portfolio of business essentials, the longer you will have to scrutinize it and make sure it's flawless.

Additionally, the sooner you've landed a job for the impending months, the more relaxed you'll be during the upcoming school year.

Saving money is also a huge part of future preparation. You won't realize it while its happening, but going out to eat with your friends or shopping almost every day will add up and drain your bank account. Besides a job, or capitalizing on gigs, you can also sell old clothes, shoes, furniture, electronics, or other miscellaneous items to help increase your funds.

The goal for the summer should be to end it with more money than when you started.

4. Educate yourself.

This one's probably the least appealing for most college kids. The last thing you want after months of grueling classes, frustrating professors, and excruciating finals, is to participate in anything academic.

A lot of people see the summer as a time to achieve physical greatness, but neglect to practice and improve their mental strength. However, exercising your brain is just as important as working out your body.

There are a few ways one can have an intellectually proactive and productive summer. If you already have your course schedule for the next semester, although it may sound painful, you could always start developing a general knowledge around the subject, just to give you the upper hand when school starts again in the Fall.

Binging on Netflix? Consider watching a documentary on an unfamiliar topic. Follow along with the news, read a book every few weeks, or try to learn something new about the world every day.

Widening your scope of general knowledge and better informing yourself about social, economic, political, and ethical issues around the world will increase your ability to empathize with others and approach various conversations with a more developed and in-depth perspective.

You could consider learning a language on the app Duolingo, which only requires about 5 to 10 minutes a day of your time to build up points while actually working towards adding another possible language to that resume I mentioned earlier.

If you want to train your brain literally, sign-up for a free Lumosity account and the scientists behind their program will connect you with hundreds of personalized and research-tested games and exercises designed to improve your cognitive skills.

Just as you would consistently work out your body, make sure you find a little time daily to give your brain muscles attention too.

5. Begin with the end in mind.

Stephen Covey's self-help book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, sold over 25 million copies worldwide and is generally well-known in the business world as one of the best guidelines for effective goal-reaching.

One of the habits he lists as imperative to achieving your dreams is to 'begin with the end in mind'. Essentially, you need to visualize where you want to be before you start acting on your plan so that you can keep measuring yourself against and motivating yourself towards your end-goal.

This is extremely applicable to maintaining a productive summer. If by the end of the summer you want to look a certain way, reach a certain point of your career path, have a certain amount of money in your account-- you need to have these intentions laid out before you even begin the process.

As you go through the summer you should reflect often on your mission and adjust accordingly to help yourself continue to get closer to these ultimate objectives. The more target-oriented you become, the more focused and dedicated you subconsciously will become and the less likely you are to bail out on the tactics you must take to reach those goals.