With the fall semester starting soon, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what this year will be like for me. I have also been reflecting on the things that I did last year. During the 2015-2016 school year. some of my routines worked and brought me success, while others turned into bad habits. Now as the new semester starts, I want things to be different and I am hoping to break the bad habits that I formed last year. I hope that addressing these problems and making goals to combat them will help me be a more successful student.

Here are the big things that I hope to do differently this school year:

1. Be more organized.

I found that when I made to-do lists, wrote down my assignments in a planner, used sticky notes and stayed on schedule, I was more successful than when I just kept everything in my head. However, to get organized took more time than I thought. During some parts of the semester, I felt I did not have enough time to even get organized so I skipped the organization step and most times, ended up forgetting something and rushed to get it done last minute.

Hopefully being organized will help me become less of a procrastinator. Procrastination was my main problem last year. I would literally read the text for the lecture on my way to class. This made me stressed and obviously reading while walking isn't the best for comprehension. If I actually take the time to do the work beforehand, I am sure that my grades will improve as much as my stress levels. My goal this year is to always make the time to stay organized.

2. Study more.

Every professor tells you that you need to study for tests and quizzes. They also suggest that you do this prior to the night before. I did the first part most times, but what I never did was study in advance. I liked to pretend that I was smart enough to just wing it. My grades from last semester proved that to be incorrect.

I have two goals for studying this year. The first goal is to study multiple times before a test. To aid in accomplishing this first goal, I came up with a second goal: To put study times in my schedule. Like, actually write studying into my planner.

3. Be healthier.

To me, being healthier starts with eating better and getting up and moving. This means no more candy as my lunch on-the-go, no more late-night pizza and no more sugary, caffeinated drinks to get me through homework. This means no more sitting in my bed watching Netflix all day, no more sleeping all day on Saturdays and Sundays and no more saying, "I will go work out tomorrow."

This all is easier said than done, but I hope to slowly cut down on these bad habits. Each week, I plan to replace some unhealthy food that I have been munching down on with a fruit, a veggie or a healthier alternative. I plan on drinking more water during the day so I snack less. This helped last year, but I did not stick with it. My goal is to make better choices when eating and to make exercising a part of my schedule every week.

I hope that acknowledging these bad habits and making these goals will help me become a more successful student and a healthier person. It is going to be rough, but maybe with a lot of hard work, determination and support, I can accomplish all of my goals throughout not only this semester, but the rest of my college career. Wish me luck, because I am going to need it! And if you have goals of your own that you are working on, I wish you the best of luck! Just remember to never give up, because failure is part of success!

And for anyone who needs even more encouragement like I do, here is a little extra Ryan Gosling encouragement to accomplish your goals.