This is especially geared toward anyone who's making a school-adjustment, like if you're a high schooler for the first time. I can give you a personal testimony by pointing out my freshman year--goodness, what a nightmare. Okay, in some ways it was fun, but in other ways...let's just say the tips I'm giving y'all are from bitter experience.
#1. Organize yourself as soon as possible. When you're making an education leap, all of a sudden this stack of textbooks is thrown in your face and you find yourself splashing around in the deep end of the pool. With your crowded schedule swimming around in your head, you need to get it in a form that you can remember it painlessly. A list might work best for you--maybe a to-do list of all your commitments for the day (or week). Or perhaps a full-fledged schedule is best.
This is what I like to do for schedules. First, I take a piece of paper and draw a line horizontal-wise. Next, I add notches on that line for however many hours I need schedule-ized in that day. Usually I have a 15 hour schedule from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Then, over the notches that signify the hours, I write the commitment for that time. It's probably not the most common schedule outline, but I like it because it's easy to read and not very confusing. And if I say something is not confusing, you can believe it. =)
Anyway, finding a way to organize your events is crucial--crucial with a capital C--to getting through a crazy school year.
#2. Prioritize all your activities to get the most out of your day. Honestly, there are just some days where you have so much to do you just need to sit back and think about what's most important. A general rule of prioritization is to figure out which one needs to be completed first. Say that you're really stressed about an upcoming math test, but you also have a Spanish test that's due two days before. You may feel the strong urge to plunge into your math test because it's really wearing on your nerves, but the wisest thing to do is focus on the closest thing at hand. If you try to do everything out of order, you're just going to end up going absolutely bonkers before three weeks have gone by. Trust me.
#3. Don't push yourself past your limit. Yes, we've all heard about how young Benjamin Franklin spent hours up at night studying and hardly ate anything...but not all of us are Benjamin Franklin. If you wear yourself down trying to check things off your schedule without taking care of yourself, you are going to crash and burn and dissolve into flames. It's a huge temptation to stay up until midnight studying really hard. But what's better for you--a late night of study or an alert and active mind after a good night's sleep? This was a huge mistake that I made in my freshman year. I am not a science person, and my gigantic biology textbook with the towering stack of flashcards to memorize daunted me severely. I spent many a late night grinding down my brain trying to push through each lesson. In the morning (as my family can testify) I was a real grump. My worst days were the ones following late study nights. Do not make that same mistake.
I hope this helps you all, particularly those who might be overwhelmed at this new school year.
See ya round!
Izori
EDIT: You know when you make a post draft and then you finish it and publish it, it automatically is posted back on the date that you made the draft? [does that sentence make sense?] Well, that's what I did. Sorry for any confusion!
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