For those of you who are having issues with their student life, here is a helpful list to see what you need to focus on while at university. For those of you who believe you who have it all under control, then this is good reading to see whether you have checked all of the following steps.
1. Planning
Your student life is and will always be chaotic if you don’t get your hands on one of those nice agendas with each sheet of paper corresponding to a full day. You may not find it useful in your first year but it is a must in your following years as you will have so many tasks to go through on a daily basis. For example you may need to remember that there are some emails to be answered, an assignment to hand in, a birthday party to attend, a gift to buy, groceries shopping or house cleaning to do. You need to plan and strategize or you will just give in to procrastination.
2. Keep up with your Lectures
Go through your lectures slides on a weekly basis and keep up-to-date with the work. You have to grasp all the basics progressively this way, when the exam period comes you will only have to do some revision and not study all of the syllabus which may take a lot of time.
3. Build up your Commercial Awareness
Start watching/reading domestic and international news from various fields. You need to allocate around 15 minutes per day to this activity as it is important to know what is happening in the world. This could help you in a pub quiz or internship interview, remember that knowledge is power.
4. Eat Healthier
Eat slow-cooked food and more home-cooked food. Leave the fast food chains behind and choose to eat healthily whilst doing sports and looking after yourself. You can start by having a meat-free Wednesday or swapping those candies and chocolate for more granola bars and fruit.
5. Gain some Work Experience
It can be either a part time job, volunteering in or outside the UK, an internship or a placement year. It is important that after graduation you can prove to your employers that you have the right set of transferable skills and experience to work for them. Any activity or leadership position can potentially increase the prospects of you being selected for their company.
6. Get your CV Correct
Having just work experience is not sufficient unless you know how to sell it and yourself to your employer. Make an appointment with one of the careers’ advisers at your university’s careers service and show them your CV – they are there to help.
7. Do Something Totally Different
The idea behind this advice is to step out of your comfort zone. Therefore, if you are not good at public speaking for example – join a public speaking competition or if you want to go on a adventure then take up judo or sky-diving lessons. Perhaps you do not know how to ski, then learn how to do it properly – the choice is yours. This new wave of feelings will satisfy your appetite for adventure and will help you remain focused on studying as well.
Having done all of these you should be closer to striking that balance between study and leisure time. This will be a great accomplishment enabling you to start believing in yourself and aim higher the next time.