Submitted by Samuel Coble, VP of Competitive Events
As the second semester draws to a midway point, the school year’s end is in sight. This can mean a push of encouragement to finish the year off right with high involvement and stellar grades, or a high-paced low motivation drought. Whether you’re finishing this year off strong, or barely making it through the week, here are some helpful tips to end the year right! Now that my junior year is finally drawing to a close, and senior semesters are approaching, I know that my grades and extracurriculars need to be successful to end this school year. Unfortunately, I’m taking this semester week by week. Not looking ahead or planning out my months as I would have in the fall. This poor habit leads to procrastination, weak time management, and high stress. Lucky if you’re in the same boat I have some helpful habits to get you out of this academic fog.
Step one: address the time. For most schools, the end of the year brings banquets, award nights, induction ceremonies, and community service. This along with semester final tests, book projects, and summer internship applications, this can be a crazy time of the year. One easy way to combat this is to use a planner. You can print free monthly planners for the internet or invest in a planner from your favorite office supply store. By simply writing down the important dates of tests, presentations, and events you can find time to study and prepare. This can help prevent dreaded last-minute test cramping or overlooking an important meeting.
Step two: put down your phone. If I had simply put my phone down, shut off, and focused on writing this article I would have cut the time it took to write this in half. Our phones are constantly ringing, buzzing, and telling us to give our cellular devices attention. Trust me, if you turn that phone off for an hour and set it on your dining room table you can avoid the unnecessary distraction.
Step three: use all of your class time. You know the last three minutes of class when everybody pulls out their phones? Well, I’m guessing if you’re still reading this then you probably pull out your phone at the end of every class. Next time you have a few moments, finish some homework. If you simply use the time more constructively, you will be amazed by what you accomplish.
Hopefully, these three simple tricks will help you finish this year strong! I know from personal experience that putting the phone down can help me be so much more productive and get things accomplished on time rather than the day before they are due!