How many times a day do you think we say “I’m tired”? We’re always tired of something. Maybe from lack of sleep or trying to cram too many things into our day. Maybe we’re tired of stress or studying. It could be from doing something productive or something completely unnecessary. 

The bottom line is, as college students, it can be very easy to be very busy and very involved and very tired. Energy is a valuable resource that can’t simply be renewed over and over again by our good friends Starbucks and Red Bull. Power naps can only get us so far when we’re running on enough hours of sleep that you can count on one hand. We need to conserve our energy in order to fully utilize our potential in the short time we have here at school.

Surveying your daily routine or weekly planner though, it may become apparent that there are certain areas or aspects of our lives that we may be dedicating more time and energy to than they are worth. 

At the start of every day, you’ve got a tank of energy, and the big important things like classes, homework, exercising and traveling through campus can take up big chunks of it. But what about the smaller, less important things we focus on. They may seem miniscule and unsubstantial, but a few of them adding up can gnaw away at your time and energy throughout the day. 

We can’t afford to be distracted students. We may think we’re excellent multi taskers, but in reality, we’re only devoting a portion of our full potential and focus to each object, not completely utilizing what it could be. In order to efficiently use our energy to make the most of our time, there are a few things we need to start doing less of, and focus that energy elsewhere. 

Social Media

If you go throughout your day looking for moments, thoughts or pictures to post on your social media accounts, you’re too invested in it. Constantly yearning for approval or wanting others to see how exciting your life is leads us to devoting way too much energy into platforms that will most likely be obsolete in five years. 

Live in the now. What are you going to remember more after college: long nights with your best friends or the statuses that hit 50 likes? 

Worrying about the future

Don’t know what you’re doing this summer? You’re lazy. No internship lined up yet? Hello unemployment. We’re pushed to think three steps ahead and prepare for so far ahead in the future that we forget where we are here and now. 

I’ll spare you the cliched inspirational quotes about how everything will work itself out. But there’s a stark difference between worrying about the future and being prepared for the future. Become multidimensional in your field of study and networking are the ways to success. Save yourself the energy: stop pulling your hair out about the future and wasting your time stressing, it will get you nowhere. 

What others think about what we think

It’s fun to imagine ourselves stepping out of the crowd, swimming against the current and being the 1%. But it can be a lot harder when it feels like society or the status quo tells us how we should act, think, speak, express, desire, etc. 

Why waste energy curtailing and grooming yourself in order to fit the mold of what others think you should be like, when you could be using that energy to become the person you want yourself to be? If you want to adamantly express your faith, rep it. If you desire to be something besides what you’re studying to be, pursue it. This is college, you’re basically a big ball of Play-Doh in the eyes of the world. Shape yourself how you want.