I can’t lie; the last thing I want to be doing right now is sitting and typing this blog post. I’d rather be watching TV, out with friends, or on my phone scrolling through tik toks. But, I already put this assignment to the last minute so I guess it’s time to get to work. I mean, after all, we are all second-semester seniors.
Ahhh… the best excuses to be lazy and procrastinate. How could you expect anyone who has to go to college next year to be motivated to do any more ~highschool~ work? It is so easy to get caught up in the events and the joys of being a senior in high school but we still do have to remember (sometimes) that we are still students.
I realized that although it is great to be lazy and put off all our assignments to the last minute now, this probably won’t work next year. So I decided to make a list of habits that second-semester seniors neglect that can help out next year.
- Stay organized
Yes, it is cliché but the amount of time and energy you can save by just staying organized is so helpful. For me, this means writing everything down, whether that is in my notebook or on my phone, if I write it down there is a much higher chance of me being able to recall what I needed to do. It takes maybe 10 seconds and can help form a checklist of items to complete. Now staying organized doesn’t only help in school, it’s also great for a personal life. Making a calendar with all the events or plans you make can let you know what free time you have and what you have going on as well.
- Stay healthy
This is one I’m terrified of not being able to do next year. Staying healthy comes with two parts, exercise and eating well and with a food plan that allows you to eat whatever you want, the freshman fifteen sounds ominous. For exercise, the calendar will come into play, finding that hour of free time in your day can help but you need to find the motivation to actually leave and go to the gym. This will be individual motivators for every person but some advice I can give is that the hardest part is just getting to the gym. Once you’re there use an app or go with a friend so that you have something to keep you accountable. The next step in keeping healthy is keeping a healthy diet. Making a food plan on Sunday so that you don’t get as tempted to eat something outside of this pan. It is hard to find the motivation to do this sometimes but the more you do it, the easier it will be.
- Work ahead
Ahhhh… free time. As nice as it can be to relax, if you ever have a significant amount of free time, it may not be a bad idea to work ahead. Doing this can allow for mobility down the road in case you can’t get another assignment done. Take a look at a class calendar and see if there is an assignment coming up. It is a really simple step but being aware of it can save a lot of time. Taking even just five minutes out of your day to do a bit of an assignment can help you down the road.
- Take time for yourself
Yes, it is really important to stay on top of everything but making sure that you are in the right mindset to do this is just as important. Stretching yourself too thin can make the quality of your work go down significantly. Take at least an hour a day to yourself doing something you love for you. Ways I like to do this is by taking an extra long shower and watching an episode or two of a show (check my previous blog for some recommendations). The way you relax may be completely different than the way I do but it is so important to include it into your day.
Now by the time I have finished writing this, it is Sunday and so I clearly have not taken my own advice. But that’s ok, it will take time for me to be able to completely follow this list. The main point I wanted to prove when writing this is that it is good to have a plan to help you reach your goal. For me, these are things that I want to carry out in college and I hope they help you too!