It all starts at the beginning. Redundant? Maybe. But, I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve thought “Well, it’s syllabus week. I should relax now while I have the chance. It’ll all get hectic and then I won’t be able to kick my feet up.” So, I sit back and wait for the chaos to hit me head on, instead of diving into it on my own. And I know I’m not alone.

The first week: the one with nothing to do but read ratings on ratemyprofessor and get to know your roommates. We might say finals week is crunch time, but that first week is a make-it-or-break-it time. How we approach it decides the fate of the rest of the semester. Oftentimes, skipping responsibilities at the beginning means they pile up and instead of having a normal amount of things to do, there’s a backlog.

So, how can you make the beginning of the semester worthwhile?

1. Get ahead of the reading for the semester.

It sounds boring. But, as a current graduate student, this is really one I wish I had listened to this past semester (aka my first semester of grad school). Getting through at least part of the readings listed on the syllabus - anything available on PDFs, if you don’t have the textbook yet - can save you during a hard-pressed deadline. Even skimming the readings you have access to can help.

2. Make To-Do Lists.

The hail mary of time management. To-do lists are essential. Think you don’t have anything that needs to get done at the beginning of the semester? Chart it out. Personally, I have 3 different types of to-do lists. Here’s the breakdown, and where the magic happens:

A weekly to-do list. White boards are best for this one. The trick to this type of to-do list is to compartmentalize. Have a million things to do this week and don’t know how to make sense of them? This can be one way to. Divide your whiteboard into sections - school, life, work, whatever sections you need. Give yourself a week to complete all the tasks on the board. Write in deadlines. Each item crossed is a brick off your shoulders.

Daily to-do lists on post-its, random papers, a dedicated notepad, a planner. What has a deadline of today? List them in order of priority. I typically write times on them and make a full itinerary on particularly busy days.

A semesterly to-do list. This one comes in the form of a planner. On a calendar, write out every deadline - each paper, reading assignment, scholarship and job application, project and work deadline, birthdays, all that jazz.

3. Use Asana.

If you have a university email, you can sign up for this. Asana is meant to be a project organizer for teams, usually used by businesses, but I use it for my everyday life. Asana lets you put in “projects,” tasks for each, and has a calendar view. My sections: each class that I have with all my deadlines as tasks, meetings and events (all of my social life), each major application with components that I’m working on, any other side projects. The best part of Asana is that it celebrates with you when you complete a task with a little flying unicorn!

4. Do some errands with your free time.

Groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, applying for that thing that isn’t due until next month, getting your passport that you won’t need until the end of the semester before your study abroad trip (not speaking from personal experience there…). They’re things we’re continuously doing, and it adds up. Starting the semester with as much done as possible might free up some time down the road. Clean the whole apartment and have everything tidy at the beginning. Then, those weekly cleanings will only take 30 minutes. Stock up on everything you can (all frozen foods and non-perishables). Get the application that’s due next month out of the way, even if you don’t send it yet. Go to Walgreens and take that passport picture. Anything you can while you have the chance.

I know I’m breaking hearts out there. Yay get ahead on reading? Not exactly what I’d want to hear. Syllabus week is the one week we can all breathe easy. Prepping isn’t really needed, right? But, doing all you can now clears your schedule for other things later. That regular standing appointment you’d like to have with your bottle of wine and a terrible movie? That spontaneous party invite? You can accept both when you get ahead.

The true and tried college method--all nighters and Redbull--can only go so far sometimes. As someone that has stayed up for 48 hours straight during finals wishing I had prepped better, sometimes that one week is all you need to get it together.