It’s the home stretch of the first semester and the end is nearly in sight. However, that doesn’t mean that getting to this point has been easy by any means. By this point in my freshman year, I was ready to throw in the towel as I felt I was being buried alive with schoolwork.
This year things are different.
This semester, I feel that I’ve been able to keep up with my busy schedule. Gone are the days of leaving things to the last minute and having assignments and papers sneak up on me. Over the summer I promised myself that for the upcoming school year, I would make some tough but important adjustments to how I get my work done.
Here are some changes I’ve made that I have found helpful and maybe you will too.
- Buying an Alarm clock
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I know it sounds silly, but I found this shift in my day-to-day to be the most impactful.
Like most people, my phone is also my alarm clock. Admittedly, I am also addicted to my phone to the point I put it under my pillow before going to bed. Terrible, I know.
Since my phone would be so close to me when the alarm went off, it would be all too easy for me to hit snooze and either miss my 9 a.m. completely or have to scramble to get there in time.
After missing one too many of my lectures I decided to go old school and buy an alarm clock. Killing two birds with one stone, I bought a Sunrise Alarm Clock that gradually wakes you up with a bright light and with a sound of your choosing. I put my clock on top of my desk so that the alarm would be too far for me to turn off without getting out of bed, but still close enough that the light could work effectively.
Knowing I have to walk across the room to turn my alarm off has made it impossible to fall back asleep, and forces me to start my day which is exactly what I needed.
- Mapping out my assignments
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We’ve all seen a TikTok on our For You Page (FYP) telling us to buy a planner and write down assignments at the beginning of the semester once we get our syllabi. How many of us look at that planner past week three? Not many I’m guessing.
In freshman year, I used a planner where I would write down when my assignments were due, but would often forget to look back at it until it was too late. In August I implemented a new technique.
Since almost all of our school work is now digital, I realized my planner should be as well. I created an Excel spreadsheet, color-coded each of my courses and then plugged them into the document.
Instead of letting my planner collect dust on my desk, every assignment for the semester is now on one page that I can simply glance at. Exams, quizzes and papers are all bolded so that I know I need to start preparing for them well in advance. The spreadsheet is also sorted by the due date with a check box indicating if and/or when the assignment was completed.
It’s the one tab on my desktop that I never close, allowing me to check every morning what my tasks are for the day and allowing me time to start working on the ones due later in the week.
- Changing my study location
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My bed has been and will always be my favorite place in the world to be. With the temperatures dropping this time of year, this has never been more true.
Since I still live on campus, my dorm is my office, bedroom and kitchen all in one.
This ended up being a recipe for disaster for me since I would start off working on my bed and miraculously end up taking a nap almost every single time. Waking up with only an hour to spare to write an essay left me needing to find someplace else to work.
I found that for me, the best place to work is the Business Library on the third floor of Pattee and Paterno. It’s not completely quiet to where I feel isolated, but also not too noisy that you can’t focus. Every day I go to this floor to work and don’t allow myself to go back to my dorm unless it’s necessary.
This was definitely the hardest change, and I often still find myself wanting to stay in my bed, but it gets easier and easier as time goes on.
So far this year I have not missed any assignments and only one of those was late. I truly believe this is because of the few shifts I’ve made in my days. I will not lie and say that these changes were quick and easy, especially since they took an entire school year of trial and error.
I can however say that my grades and ability to stay organized have increased drastically when compared to last year. I hope that by reading this, maybe one of these tips can be useful for you, and help set up the rest of the school year to be a successful one.