There’s no doubt about it: spring semester is always exponentially more difficult than the fall semester. An entire month’s worth of Christmas cookies are sitting in your stomach and you feel entirely unmotivated to do anything productive. Luckily, it falls right at the new year so it’s easy to think of it as a fresh start. Here’s a few tips for getting through the semester without struggling TOO much:
Get a planner and actually use it.
There’s nothing worse than getting behind before sylly week has even ended. Running to CVS or the campus bookstore and grabbing a daily planner will make a world of difference. Writing down your assignments as soon as you get them – as well as their due dates – will help you stay on top of your game all semester.
Set aside time for yourself.
It’s easy to get so caught up with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and the social aspect of college that you forget to take time to be alone. Walk to the Point, read a book in Village Park (once the spring semester actually starts to feel like spring, that is), or even binge watch Breaking Bad in your bedroom on a Saturday afternoon. This could be the factor that could make or break your success throughout the semester.
Do some serious spring cleaning to your dorm, apartment, or house.
De-cluttering and starting the year in a fresh, clean setting could be the key to success. Throw away your St. Patrick’s Day clover necklace from two years ago. Lysol every surface. You could even do some serious fueng shui and completely redo your room. These changes can make all the difference!
Get to know your professors.
There’s nothing worse than going through an entire semester and knowing absolutely nothing about your professor other than the fact that they give ridiculously long microeconomics lectures. Believe it or not, the majority of your professors are here to help you and want to see you succeed; take advantage of their knowledge. Connect with them both inside the classroom by participating in class discussions and outside the classroom by attending their office hours.
Drink more water than coffee.
That’s a difficult thing to do when you have those flex dollars burning a hole in your pocket and temperatures are dropping into the teens, but you’ll feel better in the long run. Limit yourself to one coffee per day and try to drink at least six glasses of water to keep you on your A-game all semester!
Turn off distractions when studying.
You say you’ll only spend five minutes on Instagram before you start your marketing project, but those five minutes on Instagram turn into thirty on tumblr and another fifteen on Twitter. When you set aside time to study or do homework, try to limit your distractions. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take breaks – just don’t let those breaks turn into watching an entire season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” on Netflix with your roomies!
Keep a positive attitude!
So you stay up way too late one Sunday night and miss your 9:40 on Monday morning. So you skip the gym for an entire school week. It’s totally okay! Just try and keep a positive attitude and don’t let those mistakes turn into a downward spiral. Shake them off and try to get back on track.
Happy second semester, collegiettes, and Good Luck!