Dear College Students,
Happy New Year! Or should I say “Happy New Semester?” I probably should. Because we’re well enough into January so the whole “New Year” grace period is wearing short. And we all know that in your world, New Year’s Eve was just another day during winter break and you probably didn’t do anything because you weren’t on campus and/or you’ve lost touch with your old high school friends and/or you’re broke and/or you were still tired from fall semester. For you, the launch of 2017 is really just a backdrop for the spring semester, where you have another opportunity to get that premium GPA, enhance your social life, join a new club, and get the whole college thing right.
So now, the important question: how? How will you upgrade your classroom experience and academic outcomes, or continue building on your success from last semester? What’s the best plan of attack to get this win?
The answer is systems. You have to create a structure that will enable you to make steps toward winning every day. Because, to use a sports analogy, you can’t just enter into the playoffs (final exams time) and expect to shine without having gone through the regular season, which includes a whole lot of practice and conditioning. Practice involves coaching, peer leadership and mentoring, studying film and techniques, motivational speakers, drills, endurance activities, strategy and more. It’s a comprehensive system. It enables athletes and teams to develop sound habits and mindsets to effectively compete in their sport.
As I discuss in my book Higher Learning: Maximizing Your College Experience, students who win in college employ systems techniques in their approach. They build solid teams: faculty and TA office hours, tutors, advisors and mentors, strong study partners and accountability groups and more. They structure and manage their time so that they know where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to be doing (responsibly building in social time and downtime rather than allowing that to dictate their schedule). They study the game and develop solid preparation and work techniques for each of their courses. They practice regularly, staying on top of their readings and assignments, previewing and reviewing material daily. And they properly prepare for game time (exams) by creating game-like opportunities beforehand to test their knowledge, their ability to answer questions in a given time frame and their performance under pressure.
They carry these same tactics in their broader campus life. Whether it’s regularly getting to the gym, being a part of a time-intensive organization, doing service work, holding down a research fellowship, working part-time, running their own side hustle or some combination of these things and more. They create and thrive off of as much structure as possible. They keep a regular schedule, delegate tasks and build strong teams and prioritize balance and self-care. They understand that college success is holistic:managing their time and stressors outside of the classroom empowers them excel academically.
Finally, and most importantly, the person in charge of all of this is you. It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have to have some tough conversations with yourself to analyze how you spend your time, how you prioritize, how strong your skills are, and how to boost your commitment to improve. Even if you’re doing well already, you’ll need to keep at it, especially as classes get harder or you take on more responsibilities on campus. And if you’re not where you want to be, making the change is going to require daily recommitment, beyond that New Year’s list of goals you made. If you make excuses, cut corners, talk yourself out of getting help, overload your daily schedule, or put yourself in bad situations, it’s going to be extremely challenging to create a sustainable and successful system. You have to decide daily to work toward the things you want. Creating an effective system that builds in resources, support, and a structured schedule will help keep you focused, but again, you have to stick to the program. The ball is always in your court. Start today, and stay on your game throughout the semester.
