Coming back to school after break is always bittersweet.
It is always nice throwing all of my stuff in the backseat of my car and driving the hour back up to Claremont. As I get off on exit 47 for Indian Hill, it begins to settle that all the work is going to start piling up along with the usual stressors and fun of college. I am really excited to see all of my friends again and rev up for all the wild adventures that the semester has to offer. On the other hand, it is hard not to think about the huge piles of reading and papers waiting to be written that lie at the start of the semester.
Think about it:
The blissful experience of that first week of classes. For each class, your professor passes out the syllabus for the semester and once that’s over you can leave. You and your friends are pretty rested and think about how difficult the previous semester was while laughing about all of the free time you have right now. The campuses are all bright and cheery as everyone continues riding that after vacation high.
Suddenly, the first assignment is due.
Somehow all of the study tips that you perfected at the end of last semester seem to have flown out of the window. As much as I tried to convince myself that I was completely ready for this semester, it certainly proved me wrong. This is not something that should make anyone feel bad about themselves. It takes time to get back into the semester and reflect on what worked and what did not work in the previous semester.
One thing that I am really focusing on this semester is my productivity. I started reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg when it was given to me over winter break. Duhigg confirmed everything that I learned in my Organizational Studies class from the fall semester, specifically about the ways that habits appear in institutions. However, this time around I focused on the individual level of how habits and productive strategies impact your entire life. Procrastination is an enemy of mine and this book really shows how you can turn your bad habits into good ones.
Hopefully, I can apply all of the lessons from that book into the second semester of sophomore year because so much is expected of you.
- Turning in your coursework
- Applying for more scholarships
- Applying to Internships
- Declaring your major
- Extracurricular Activities
SO much to do and so little time.
Don’t have time for extra reading. I get that because anything separate from my Mount Everest stack of articles is not happening anytime soon.
BUT
Good thing there are free events on these very campuses. This last Monday I went to an event at SCORE about Time Management where passion planners were given out to the first 30 people. Time management is something that seems self-explanatory, but it is actually really hard to apply to your life. Aranya Huour, the academic coach at Scripps, told us that we just have to start.
Nothing is going to happen if you don’t just start making the changes or practicing the habits you want to have in your life. I’m ready to take on this semester geared with my google calendar, passion planner, and my intentions for this semester.
May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor