Goal Getter: Tips for a Sucessful Semester

Hey Girl, Happy New Year! I hope your semester is going well, and that you continue to break barriers, overcome obstacles, and continue to obtain all your heart’s desires . 

As we continue throughout the semester, here are some ideas to set proper goals to make a difference in all areas of your collegiate life. 

1. Write your goals down. Whether you want to go to the gym, go to sleep earlier, or not procrastinate on assignments and studying, it is important to set those goals in place early and have an understanding of how you want to accomplish them. 
2. Plan ahead. Aside from writing your goals down, also write how you plan to accomplish these goals. Set a plan and a set schedule to accomplish these goals. Once you plan ahead, you might be more inclined to stick to the plan. 
3. Visualize. Vision Boards have become pretty popular in recent years, which is a good idea in terms of being able to see what you would want to accomplish within the year/semester. If this interests you, it is popular to have a digital version as a screen saver or a physical version in a dorm or apartment wall for constant reminders and motivation. 
4. Word/Phrase of the Day: Utilize  a word or phrase of the day to really hone in on and perfect that month. Some ideas are: consistency, time management, productivity, etc. 

Academically, here are some tips for a successful and productive year. 

• Build relationships with your professors: It is important to build relationships with your professor so that in times of need of advice or assistance, these relationships can come in handy professionally or academically. 
• Sit in the front of the classroom: We all know that there are unassigned assigned seats in the classrooms. Ensuring that you have a seat that is close enough for you to pay attention and actively engage with class discussions can promote better understanding and more focus within the course.
• Put everything in your calendar: Utilizing your calendar, whether it be through Google, Apple, Notion, and Calendly are great ways to stay on top of your assignments, courses, and other extracurricular activities. Another method is to schedule your assignments to be due a day or two earlier just in case of procrastination or forgetful times. 
• Have a healthy sleep schedule: While we are still young and in college, ensuring that you are getting enough sleep is still extremely important. Getting rest allows you to be more energetic, productive, optimistic, positive and even increases your immune system. So, make sure you set those alarms for bedtime and waking up. Also, having “slow mornings,” meaning to take your time in the mornings to digest the new day can also improve your productivity throughout the day.
  • Jalia Lucus, a sophomore Biology student on the Pre-Dental track from Long Island, New York says,
  •  “This year, one of my goals is trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep because when I do, it allows me to be more focused throughout the day. This looks like ensuring that I am creating a reasonable time balance between my academic and social life in the daytime, to then get enough sleep at night.”
• Healthy diet: Having a healthy diet is sometimes hard in college, as it is increasingly more tempting to order out or eat unhealthy meals. Ways to combat these issues include meal prepping on weekends or investing in smoothies or protein shakes to ensure that you are still getting the nutrients and protein that you need throughout the day. 
• List out priorities: Understanding your priorities within the organizations and courses that you’re in is significant in that you can easily list out which work/tasks come first. 
• Switch up locations: When studying or accomplishing tasks, it can help in terms of productivity to switch up the locations of where you complete these. We all love a study date, so try different spots around campus or the community to get fresh air.

I hope these tips helped and you learned a little about what you can do for a successful semester. Good luck, you got this, girl!

• college
• Goalsetting
• Semester