College is hard. Way to state the obvious Emily. But it is, and I think us, as students, sort of complicate our academic experience sometimes by not taking care of ourselves and taking control of our activities on a day-to-day basis. I have never been one to need control over everything, but going into my third year of college, I have adopted a few tips to help this school year be a little smoother than the two previous years. I don't always follow these six tips, but when I do, the difference is astounding.

1. Sprint Studying

Especially with a language, it can make things easier when you study for short periods of time and then take break and then study again. My one poetry class is insisting that I learn and recite a poem, which if you know me, you know that I’ve acted before, so it shouldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong. Poetry is more difficult to remember because of the odd spacing and rhythm of it. It’s been easier with this method though.

And also with taking a French class, or any language class for that matter, this method can really improve your foreign language skills. Cramming with this sort of stuff will not aid you in any way. Trust me, in high school I crammed so much, and the next day I remembered nothing.

2. Exercise

Trust me, this is not something I even wanted to cram into my already air tight schedule. In fact, I initially started with simply eating better and seeing if I felt any better than before. Truth be told, I did definitely feel less bloated once I was eating healthier and smaller portions, but it wasn’t enough for me.

I got myself into exercising daily, not necessarily lifting and running every day. Somedays I just go for a walk or do some short online videos for my core one day or my arms the other. Please do not read this as me ready to start my own exercise blog or something, because I am so unathletic and so not even close to being in shape yet. Literally, if you saw me out at the gym, you’d see a tomato face in sweats and an old t-shirt. No Nike shirt and colorful bra to match and no trendy white hat covering my perfectly straight pony-tail. Nope, that’s not me.

After adding some physical exercise, not even heavy duty sprinting or lifting, I feel ten times better. And, yes, maybe I go to sleep earlier than normal now, but I feel more energized and I don’t want to sit around as much, which for me is something I really needed to get over.

3. Eat All Day

Here’s one everyone can get on board with. I can hear my five readers now, Ok, Emily, this I can do.

Do not just eat three meals a day. Eat five. Smalls meals, light foods, small proportions. This will keep you full and never feeling actually ‘hungry’. Plus, it’s more of a schedule than just three meals and it will train your body in a way.

I bring small snacks to class, because as we know, the college system does not care that we need food to live and our classes are always scheduled during prime lunch hours.

4. Drink Water

Stick with me, and after this I won’t mention anything food or health related! As a coffee drinker, I never want to substitute my caffeine for water, because that had never and will never sound appealing. However, I’ll start the day with coffee and then drink water all day, before grabbing another coffee or two on my way home and for the afternoon/evening.

I’ve noticed that water also curbs my hunger just in general and I feel more energized.

5. GO TO SLEEP

As a college student, I know that sleep seems impossible to reach and who wants to sleep when you finally get done with homework at 10:00PM and can watch some Netflix and chill (and I mean actually chill).

But, hear me out, get Sleep Cycle on your phone and start tracking your sleep. I am now obsessed with my sleep. I make sure I get at least 7-8 hours a night and the alarm that wakes you up on it is so gentle and relaxing. I used to be a ‘throw my alarm clock at the wall’ kind of morning person and now I welcome it like fricking Cinderella.

6. Scheduling

This one I’ve noticed to be one of the most helpful tools for myself while in school. I always laughed at those people who wrote everything in their planner as if that would make them do it and spend more time on their work, but now I’m one of them.

I write down everything that I am doing every week. I even schedule my exercising, whether I’m going to run for twenty minutes and then do some abs or go for a walk and stretch and it actually helps me stick to a schedule I never would have before.

Also, I forget a lot, and so using a planner for my day-to-day activities really helps me stay on track and I make sure I have at least one day where I don’t do any work or any exercising. I think it’s really important to treat yourself and have a day all about you. There are some positive ways to be selfish and so I usually pick Sundays for my relaxing day. I don’t worry so much about what I eat and I try to get massages as my own little treat to myself. So, find something that relaxes you and pick a day or time to let yourself recuperate, because if all you’re doing is going, going, going, and never stopping to catch-up, then you’re going to struggle in school.