A new semester is finally here! New classes, schedule, friends, and adventures awaits. Are you stressed yet? Not sure how to balance all those activities or keep your motivation up everyday? No worries. I feel the same way. But, like I was always told, "Failing to prepare means you're prepared to fail."

In order for us to win this semester, let's get prepared.

1. Get organized before syllabus week.

Yeah, I know, syllabus week is a bunch of blah blah blah from professors and you sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing. Why not wait until then? Honestly, that may seem like the smart decision, but you should organize your life beforehand. Check if your professor has posted a syllabus. Organize your planner. Buy your notebooks. Being prepared never fails.

2. Pay attention during syllabus week.

Am I joking? No. Syllabus week gives you a chance to feel out your classes, classmates, and professors. The dreaded day that your professor takes a whole hour to discuss a syllabus that is extremely similar to the professor's syllabus you just listened to earlier that day... we all go through it. But, not paying attention may cause you to miss the professor mention some bonus credit or an assignment that they won't explain again at the end of the semester. Paying attention during syllabus week may save your grade at the end of the semester.

3. Set a weekly grind. Make a calendar.

Setting a schedule is so important. Your body will get used to waking up at a certain time every week. Making a calendar through my phone helps me immensely. I like to use Google Calendar. It's clean, easy to use, and it keeps my life organized! You can use it on your laptop and through an app on your phone. It also syncs up with your Gmail account!

4. Figure out what your "me time" is going to be and plan it into your schedule.

I look forward "me time" every day. This is where you set aside one to two hours of your day (depending on your schedule) to do something you love. This may be reading a book, playing some basketball, painting, surfing the web, Netflix... whatever will give you a few moments to take a step away from the stress in your life. For me, it's going to the gym. If I don't have time for a full gym session that day, I'll set aside a half hour or so to just go through some news articles online. Setting time for yourself to de-stress is so important.

5. Step away from social media and focus.

Personally, this is going to be my biggest focus this semester. I find that when I'm in the library doing work, I'll get distracted by my phone way too often. I'll spend 20 minutes on an assignment, get bored, check my phone, and do that process all over again until all my work is done. If I just zoned in on my work, I'd be done in two hours. But instead, I decided to procrastinate, which leads me to be at the library for hours on end.

One of my friends told me of this trick she uses. She sets a timer on her phone for one-hour. She'll put her phone in her bag and focus until the timer goes off. At that point she'll be able to take a 10 minute break to do whatever she wants (food, coffee, social media, etc.) then back to the timer and work she goes. I think this is a great idea that we should all try using!

6. Dress well, test well.

This is college. Do not expect me to wear anything except sweats and hoodies! I know we are all thinking this. I usually follow the "dress well, test well" motto on days I have exams, because I truly feel like I'm more confident when I feel good about what I'm wearing. Try doing this for exam days, or even everyday, and you'll feel ten times better. I promise it'll make the difference.

7. Smile. Be happy. Simple as that.

Your mood and attitude is not define by what happens to you during a given day. Got a bad grade on an exam? Got into a bad fight with your roommate? Missing home? Yeah, those things may suck, but it's up to you how you react to those things. You can choose to forgive and forget, moving on to the next thing, or dwindle on it and get upset. That's up to you.

So this semester, choose to be happy, positive, and smile. Work towards your goals with confidence and be the light in every room. Stay motivated and kick some butt.

Happy Semester, friends!