As the semester begins to pick up, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of obligations that have piled up. If you’re anything like me, procrastination will get the best of you, multiplying your stress and causing you to pull multiple all-nighters to catch up with the work you’ve neglected for weeks. Fear not— this pain and suffering is not always inevitable. Here are five tips to ease your mind and help you stay on track throughout the semester.
1. Prioritize
Every class and club will demand a significant portion of your time. However, it’s almost impossible to accomplish tasks for these responsibilities without prioritizing the most important. When the semester kicks into full gear, prioritization will save you from pulling your hair out. And relax, you’ll get it all done.
2. Make Lists
There’s no better organizational tactic than list-making. When you write down your to-do list on paper, you have a visible reminder of the things that need to be accomplished. Plus, there’s no better feeling than crossing tasks off your to-do list after you’ve conquered them. List-making will keep you sane during the most daunting times of your academic career.
3. Time Management
We’ve all heard the expression “Carpe Diem” — seize the day — more times than we can count. Although it’s definitely cliche, the expression rings true for all college students. There’s nothing more crucial than “seizing the day” and making the most out of every second of every day. When you’re determined to succeed, you’ll find time to accomplish the tasks you set out to do. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish when you squeeze in an extra half-hour of studying between classes instead of scrolling through Instagram or playing on your phone. Once you start to maximize the time you’ve been given, you’ll accomplish more than you ever thought possible.
4. Rid Yourself of Distractions
Distractions constantly surround us — friends and family compete for our attention through text messages, phone calls, and social media notifications. This constant demand for attention can make completing the simplest of tasks 100 times more challenging than they need to be. In order to accomplish your goals and remain on track, it’s essential to rid yourself of all distractions and isolate yourself in a productive environment. Turn off your phone, lock yourself in an empty classroom, and disable all notifications on your computer. You’ll accomplish so much more than you anticipated and you’ll be relieved from the constant battle for your attention.
5. Make Yourself a Priority
It can be so easy to play the role of the people-pleaser in college. However, when trying to accommodate everybody often we forget about ourselves. It’s important to remember that college is the time to be selfish and we can’t please everybody all of the time. It’s okay to say “no” to getting dinner off-campus with your friends when you have assignments piling up. It’s okay to only join a select few clubs you seriously enjoy instead of trying to juggle five or six different organizations on top of schoolwork. Ultimately we have to put ourselves first and it’s easy to lose sight of this when others want us to be available at every hour of every day. When you prioritize yourself, you can conquer the most daunting of tasks at the busiest of times.