Tips for School, or Life really

Hi guys! So my friend Van Nguyen wrote these great tips in a collaboration with her friend Janice Lee. All credit goes to her. I think it's a great little post that let's us think about our life in the long run. Read the whole thing because it gives us tips for the bigger picture rather than just specifically for certain classes.

1. Start out on the right foot. It’s kind of like starting out your day with a nice breakfast and a good night’s sleep - you just feel good and you stay energized throughout the day. You’re less likely to dread the day if you start off strong. Similarly, if you start off the year strong, you’re bound to do well. Starting out strong gives you a good foundation that you can continue to build upon as the year goes on.
2. Stay organized. Make use of that crappy planner your school gives you. Keep a checklist in the planner of what you need to do that day so you don’t forget to do anything. (What I do is I keep a pad of sticky notes that serve as an everyday to-do list. I write down what I need to do for the day, and as I go through tasks, I highlight or cross them off. I start a new sticky note every day and I keep dates on them.) Keep a strict schedule of when to do homework and when you can relax. This will help you stay on task so you won’t be able to procrastinate! (I have such a terrible habit of procrastinating). Have a friend come up with small punishments that you have to do if you go off schedule. Pick a day each week to organize your binders and papers. Keep tabs in your binder so you can organize your papers by period. Being organized will save you so much time. This way you won’t be scrambling to find that homework you did last night or the paper you were supposed to get signed.
3. Don’t let the bad days define your year. One day is actually ridiculously long and you’ll be surprised how many good things can actually happen in 24 hours. Be thankful for what you have and even if school treats you horribly, just know that you’ll feel relief once you step through your front door. With 24 hours in a day, bad things are bound to happen to you. Just don’t dwell on them. If you had a bad day, take a step back and look at the big picture. Just because you had a bad day doesn't mean it’s gonna be a bad year! Don’t feel bad if you’re unproductive and tired. There will be some days where you can’t do anything but mindlessly go through your whole day. It’s okay. We all have our off days. Tomorrow’s a new day, so take advantage of the second chance.
4. Try hard when you can. You’re not going to be in school forever and realize that even if the work seems completely pointless and just there to torture you, all of it is going somewhere. Imagine getting that A in a class or getting a score you’ll be proud of on a test. It pays off in the end and when college app season comes around, you’ll be thankful you worked hard. Habits stay so it’ll benefit you in a number of ways. Just remember that even though slacking off seems harmless for the day or even for the year, you’re gonna end up paying for it when college comes around. If you try your hardest, you’ll know that you truly deserve the grade you get. 
5. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Take a break when you need it and just try your best. If your best is a 89% in your class, you should be proud because you tried your best and actually earned your score. Just remember that your grades don’t define you as a person. A personality cannot be defined in simple letter grades or percentages. 
6. Don’t forget that school can be fun too. There are a lot of clubs on campus. There are bunches of sports to join. There are new friends to make. Join clubs that you’re passionate about. Join a sport if you like it. Even if you think you can’t make the team, try out anyway! At least if you try out, you won’t spend the rest of the year wondering if you would've made it or not. Don’t forget that your teachers are people too. They have their own lives and I’m sure there’s something awesome about them if you look hard enough. Do things that’ll make you look forward to school.
7. Learn to love what you’re learning. People interpret the universe in so many different ways. Some people can make sense of the universe through math, history, science, art, literature, or computer science. Don’t judge someone just because they love that subject that you hate. Go to school to learn not for the grades. Your grades don’t mean anything if you didn’t actually learn something from the class. Most people go to school, ace a test, then they forget everything they learned. Don’t do that. The way I see it, the point of school isn’t to get a good grade. It’s just to try and make sense of your life. All the knowledge you learn from school can be applied in real life. Of course, I can’t expect you to retain all the knowledge you’ve learned. You’ll find interesting things in every subject. If you learn to love knowledge, you’ll learn to love school. Don’t call someone a nerd just because they’re enjoying school and getting good grades. It’s great that they’re doing that! (Of course, this is coming from a fellow nerd).
8. Live in the moment. You’re not always guaranteed a tomorrow. I have this philosophy/theory/way of thinking of how no one should think about any more than 100 future days. In 100 days, you will be an entirely different person because things are constantly changing. You won’t have the same worries as before. You will have different priorities and you will have met more people. No one should worry about the future that much. You’ll get so much anxiety if you spend all day worrying about the future. The best plan is always just to wait it out and see. Take things as they come. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. Planning for the future is great! Just don’t obsess about the future. 
9. In the beginning of the year, come up with a list of things to accomplish by the end of the year. This way you’ll have a list of things to look forward to. You’ll feel so proud when you’ve accomplished them. It gives you a reason to live because you’ll be thinking of that moment when you’re finally there where you want to be; it’s just like a reason to live when things get really bad, you know? It will give you a sense of direction. (I did this for summer and even though I crossed like 5 things off, I felt so good knowing that I actually did something with my summer. I know that I didn’t waste it, which made this summer worthwhile.)

Bottom line is there are a countless amount of things you could do to make your year better. You’ll find them as you go along. You’ll learn year after year what works for you and what doesn’t. Learn from each year. Make each year better than the last. 

Last of all, JUST RELAX (but not to the point where you slack off). You’re gonna be fine. People will love you. Stay on top of things. You’re the only one you can depend on, so don’t let yourself down! Just remember that some things will be out of your control. There are some circumstances that you cannot change no matter how hard you try. So just relax and make the best of what you have. Stop worrying so much. :)