Most people are split on the effectiveness of New Year's resolutions: is it realistic to say that you're going to stick to them for an entire year, or do they actually give you a goal to achieve? While I've had some successful New Year's resolutions in the past, I've found a more effective method to self-improvement -- New Semester's resolutions.
As college students, we measure most things within the time span of a semester: classes, internships or co-ops, positions held in your fraternity or sorority, etc. Creating New Semester's resolutions are great because you have a shorter time span in which to achieve your goal, which means you can focus more intensely on it within that time period.
Furthermore, it means that you can change your goals after each semester, adjusting to what you found to be productive and adjusting to the new changes in classes or internships or whatever changes for you semester by semester. I like to take time to reflect on each semester to recognize what was productive and good for me and what needs to be changed and improved for the next semester ahead of me. So try it out this semester and see if creating some resolutions helps you to improve your semester! Here are some of my resolutions, to give you some ideas:
1. Check my planner every day
This seems like an obvious action, but I tend to make mental lists as well as written ones and forget to go back and look at the written checklists. This semester, I'm going to make sure that I check my planner at the beginning and end of every day so that I don't miss anything that I need to do.
2. Spend more time studying during the day
I'm a pro procrastinator and tend to leave my work for the end of the day. However, this semester, I'm going to be productive during the daytime, when I'm not in class, so that I can have less work to do at night and can have more time for organizations, friends, and sleep. I'm also going to look over my notes each day so that I stay on top of the material I'm learning.
3. Intentionally make time for friends who live on the other side of campus
This past semester, I neglected some great friendships from freshman year because we no longer live in close proximity to each other. This semester, I'm going to be more intentional about spending time with them and making the effort to go to their apartments because, really, our campus is not that big, and proximity on campus should not be an excuse.
What New Semester's resolutions are you going to make this semester?
