It’s Time to Make a Change
The start of the semester is like New Year’s Day; it’s a time for people to reinvent themselves and put their best foot forward. Hopefully, you’ve taken the summer to reflect on your past semesters and set some goals for the future ones to come.
The easiest part of the school year is dreaming up a semester bucket list. This is your opportunity to procrastinate less, manage your time better and maybe even get more involved or make some new friends. But as the semester marches on, it becomes harder and harder to actually hold yourself to these ideals. Life just gets in the way, you know? Every semester inevitably ends with a handful of what-ifs and should-haves. It's time to make this semester different.
Take this new beginning to sit down with yourself and be realistic. What did you do well last semester? What didn’t go so well? What can you do this semester that your future self will thank you for?
Okay… now comes the hard part: actually holding yourself to these standards. There are two tried-and-true ways of integrating a change into your life.
The first comes from establishing a routine. This should be easy enough since the semester is just starting up and we’ve barely gotten into the swing of things. To make a change is to know ourselves, and most importantly, know that we are creatures of habit. It takes 21 days to make a change. If you started right now, that would get you to about October. These changes may be challenging to make now, but if you stay consistent, they will become a lot more manageable in time. Who knows, maybe this change will be so integrated into your routine that you can’t picture your life without it.
On the other hand, there are some goals where it’s important to take things one step at a time. For some of those bigger changes, try easing your goal into your life bit by bit. That way, it doesn’t feel so overwhelmingly different from the life you’re currently living.
Often it is said that “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” But sometimes that journey is really long and hard. In industrial and organizational research, psychologists have concluded that motivation is often driven by reward. It’s important to set little goals and celebrate when they are accomplished. If your change isn’t rewarding enough, how are you going to motivate yourself to keep going?
There are days when it may be hard to hold yourself to that high standard, and that’s okay. But remember: growth isn’t linear. Perfecting skills takes time. Give yourself some credit. And most importantly, don’t throw in the towel after one bad day. Let’s take care of our future selves by laying the groundwork now.