how to take charge of your semester online

Last week marked my official "welcome back" to school with the new beginnings that stem from the start of the spring semester. Although things are very different this time around and it isn't necessarily your conventional "back to campus" feel and excitement, I was weirdly looking forward to going back to school to add some more structure to my day to day routine. If you can't tell by following up with me, I'm starting to believe that packing my schedule filled with commitments and whatnot to keep myself busy is just apart of my DNA haha. 

It's no surprise that most college campuses are still focusing their attention to remote learning for the remainder of the year, so I thought of some tips that have been helpful for me in this strange time. Trust me, things do seem almost not real and it could be extremely easy to neglect these responsibilities because the traditional way of going to class has shifted, so I hope these help you all take charge and crush this next semester!

1. Change out of your PJs!

Easier said than done clearly, but something as simple as changing out of your pajamas to not even something over the top but put together can really increase your mood (well, at least for me it does) and change your mindset to one that is more determined to get what I have to do done.

2. Location, Location, Location

Last semester I took the route of doing most of my work at a coffee shop down the road from me, you know very *main character* of me. Long story short, that was the worst possible thing for me to do. Low key I think I have ADD because i'm very easily distracted and it is hard for me to focus when there is a lot going on at once. So my "coffee shop study shesh" quickly turned into some very entertaining people watching but leaving me right where I started before I left my apartment; not getting a lot done. I decided to make my kitchen table my "workspace" for the time being this way there are no distractions and I can focus on getting my work done!

3. Write Sh!t Down!

I have always been great about writing all my exciting plans, birthdays, upcoming assignments, yada yada in my agenda, even insignificant things I would still jot down just to visualize what I have going on during that week, day and month. There is truly something to be said with writing stuff down. When I was stepping out of my quarantine slump, I just didn't feel the need to have to do that especially with the uncertainty of so much. It quickly started to realize that something as simple as writing down my plans or goals made it more likely for me to accomplish such things.

I hope this helps you all out and promise me that you will kill it this upcoming semester, you got it!!! Until next time!