Being a college student, working, staying involved on campus, amongst other things sounds great; and you probably came into this semester thinking it would be great. But 3 weeks in you’re probably feeling super overwhelmed, and realizing it’s easier said than done. With the millions of opportunities in and out of school, it’s actually quite normal to have a busy lifestyle. I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way that have allowed me to enjoy my crazy life a bit more, and I thought I’d share them with you!

Prioritize

 

At this point in my life, I never thought I’d have such a massive list of to-do’s every single day, but the reality is that I do. And the even bigger reality is that most likely half of it won’t get done in 1 day. The key is to figure out what is most important, for example homework and work, then go from there. Do whatever must be done first, and try to figure out what can wait.

 

Note: I love writing assignment due dates in my agenda and highlighting it, so I can take a quick glance and see what’s coming up and what can wait.

 

Plan Your Day

 

You most likely read this tip and thought “well, duh”, but I don’t mean just write a long list of everything going on throughout your day, I mean sit down and thoroughly plan it out. What you have going on, and when you’re going to do. It’s like a class schedule but instead of times blocked off for classes, it’s blocked off for your tasks. It doesn’t have to be exact, just a guess-timate in order to formulate some sort of plan.

 

Take a Break

 

Learn when to relax. Yes it is important to take care of your homework, go to work, and do your daily tasks; however, you and your sanity should come first. Know when you’ve reached your limit, and take some time to relax or do something you enjoy.

 

Another tip is to use the site Tomato Timer, which sets a 25 minute timer in which you work on your homework or a task, when time is up you get 5-10 minutes to relax and do whatever you want. Then back to 25 minutes of your task, and so on. You repeat the loop until you’re done!

 

I also like that Tomato Timer gives you the option of a short (5 minutes) or long break (10 minutes).

 

Most Importantly: Take Care of Yourself

 

When life gets crazy, we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves, and begin to skip out on basic necessities. Unhealthy eating and a lack of sleep will sooner than later, catch up to you. A night or two of staying up late is normal in college, but it is important to not let it become a habit. Unhealthy eating is another thing that can easily become a habit, but you have to fight the urge. It can be easy to pick up fast food at first, but you’ll regret it when you tack on the ‘freshman 15’, which will take much longer to lose than it would have for you to make a home cooked meal.

 

Your mental and physical health conquers everything else. Take care of yourself, love yourself, and never let anything distract you either of those tasks.

 

If you take these tips and use them, I know you’ll rock out this semester, and hopefully with a little less stress.

 

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs…one step at a time.”

-Joe Girard

-Danielle