School is approaching sooner than we all may have anticipated. My summer has been going at a pretty fast pace, and realizing that I only have less than a month left until the next school year begins. The most we want to do is make sure we start it off right and strong without any mistakes. Developing good habits is crucial to becoming a successful student in anything and everything you want to achieve. Here are a few things that can help you become the best student you can be this year.
- Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
A lot of us may find sleeping an issue, especially during school time, as you have a lot of homework with extracurricular activities. I find that the main reason you may be losing so much sleep is not being able to divide our time right, you have too much on our plate, or might just tend to procrastinate. In every way there is a solution, but sleep is necessary. Statistics show that 7 out of 10 high school students are not getting the average amount of sleep they need or even less. This has a huge toll on grades and how you may perform on tests and exams. You may find yourself content with studying for hours, but with less sleep is that information really sinking in your head or are you just reading words. This is super important to consider, yet as well as understanding that not sleeping can affect your mood and how you behave with those around you. Respect is key, and it’s important to try to be kind to everyone. Even if you might not mean it, with the lack of sleep you may say something out of anger that you may have not meant to say.
2. Practice Good Study Techniques
Schedules are keen to make sure you divide your time just enough to make sure you are able to complete everything within a certain amount of time. It’s the stress that allows you to finish the work, if you have a busy schedule. You could also use the pomodoro technique, which is a technique where you make 25 minutes of dedicated study time and have a 5 minute break. This goes in repeat until you have your work completed. Your mind is relaxed and you’re able to focus with the breaks that you take during your study time, and scientists have found that there have been more memory retention in students who do take a break after dedicated study time. This way you have the ability to complete your work without feeling burnt out, and find yourself more relaxed than usual.
3. Clean Space, Clean Mind
We all may have heard that quote that goes, “clean space, clean mind”, but do we all really consider that into our lives? I’m sure some of you reading this may find yourself to be organized, and please continue doing that. On the other hand, some of us may tend to find ourselves with a messy room. This is very common, but studies show that the more messier your work area may be the more it affects your thinking and your work. I find that I personally get distracted very easily, and it was mainly because of the environment I created for myself. Organizing your space can help you find the things you need quicker, and sometimes makes it easier not to lose your homework, especially if it’s on paper.
4. Exercise/Stretch Everyday
Finding ways to stretch and get your body moving is super helpful when we look at memory improvement, concentration, etc. Becoming a part of sports teams can help you do this, or just stretching on your own time can make your body feel more ready and motivated to learn. Studies have shown that people who are engaged in any sort of exercise or sports teams increase performance in grades. This is again because of the improvement in memory and concentration we have discussed earlier. Not only that, individuals who play sports are more likely to be competitive (this doesn’t mean that people who don’t play sports can’t get high grades or be more or less competitive), due to how they have learned to play that sport. Winning is sometimes considered the main factor, and that could drive someone to do better at another subject with the same competitive mindset.
5. Change Your Mindset
I’m a firm believer that in whatever you want to strive for it comes with mindset, and how your look at the situation you are faced in. Even if you might find yourself in a situation where you think you can’t do it, tell yourself you can. This can help, make yourself believe you can, and it will allow you to achieve it. A lot of people tend to believe that you have to be talented or born with an ability to achieve something, but creating an optimistic mindset in a situation that you think you can’t achieve can make life better than you may anticipate.
*Note*: Having a mindset towards something does have some extent. If you are performing an activity and you are in a sort of pain that doesn’t seem right, please try to be safe during those situations.
– Have an amazing first day of school!
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