It has come to the attention of every entering wide-eyed freshman that college is a game where you can never truly win. Any student must delegate between academic failure, loneliness, and/or delusional sleep deprivation. We are told there is NO WAY to step around these boundaries, that we must choose and we obey the rules college society has set aside.
But, seriously? Who even came up with this load of bull? A message to future freshman, do not heed this “warning” that some unorganized student came up with in his boring Chemistry 1 class.
Thousands of students every day are fully equipped to participate in not one, not two, but all three S’s. It isn’t hard, but it may seem so to a new incoming student. How can I possibly sleep when Vicky invited me to Shawn’s to party from Friday to Sunday?! I guess I’ll just shimmy in some studying between shots.
Do not let this happen to you because then you are falling into the trap of 2 out of 3. You do not want 2 out of 3. You want 3 out of 3. And here’s how you do it.
The Golden Rule: MODERATION
Ok, do not misunderstand. Sleeping in moderation is not 2 hours a night. That is physically and mentally unhealthy. SLEEP MORE THAN 2 HOURS. Just don’t sleep until 2 pm on a Saturday. By the time you’ve taken a long hot shower and put some nice sundress on and flat ironed your hair into nothing, it’s time for dinner and then it’s going out time. Suddenly, you’re like “Where did all my time go?! I have to write that paper and study for those 12 tests next week!” So, wake up early (well, at least before noon) and get stuff done. You’ll be great.
This leads us to the next point, go out in moderation. This does not mean never go out or go out once a month. That’s social suicide. Don’t do that. But when you have a billion tests or 3 thousand papers, just take a night off. It’ll be rewarding in the end because when Katrina goes out and fails her history test and you ace yours because you didn’t, you can shove it in her face.
This brings us to the third point: study in moderation. No, that does not mean study for 5 minutes and then toss your textbook out the window. It means study a little bit every night. You’ve heard it a thousand times and you’ll hear it again. Do not procrastinate. It may seem like you accomplished a lot by studying for 15 hours the night before a final. But truthfully, you didn’t. One or two hours a night is just awesome. And by doing this, you’ll have more free time to do fun things like watching your friends procrastinate.
In conclusion, moderation is the key to success. Also the other golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated. But moderation is just much more important.