Back to School: Getting Into the Routine

Written by: Radha Gawarikar (‘30)

September is over, and we are now moving into the crisp, autumnal month of October. Although many of you have likely settled into your school routine, the transition from summer break to going back to school still proves to be quite difficult, so here are some helpful tips on how to get back into an efficient and productive school routine.

1. Get enough sleep!

You are likely tired of hearing this, but it is actually a very important factor in your routine. High schoolers are teenagers with developing brains and deal with very busy school days. If a student consistently gets little to no sleep, it can cause serious harm to their mind and body. In general, you should aim for at least eight hours of sleep per night. Getting any less can negatively affect you during the school day. Some beneficial suggestions to help enforce a healthy sleeping routine include stepping away from any screens around two hours before bedtime and having a dedicated time at night to wind down for sleeping.

2. Stop procrastinating!

Many students, including myself, have fallen into the trap of procrastination. It is an endless loop of doing assignments at the very last minute, then doing even more assignments at the next very last minute. It is stressful, inefficient, and very counterproductive. As easy as it is to write the words “stop procrastinating” on a piece of paper, I understand that it is certainly not easy to do in real life. However, that can be quickly fixed with the implementation of a few new strategies. Firstly, you can use the countdown rule. This means that you think of a small number in your head, such as ten, and count down that many seconds. Once you reach zero, immediately get up and start the task that you were procrastinating. This is difficult at first, but with practice, your body gets used to it. Another strategy to stop procrastination is to tell yourself that you will only work on the task for five minutes. Our brains hate unfinished tasks, so usually, after the five minutes are up, you will continue working on the task.

3. Plan, organize, and create a structure to your day.

Having  structure to your day makes tasks and events much less overwhelming and can help you to keep track of everything and ensure that all your tasks are finished. A few examples of helpful tools include maintaining planners, to-do lists, and calendars. If you are the type of person who prefers pen and paper, you can use your school agenda, a personal planner, a wall or mini calendar, and/or a paper to-do list. However, if you prefer being organized digitally, you can use an online planner, the calendar app on your device, and/or a to-do list on your notes app or an online spreadsheet or document. It is not just limited to those options, though! There are many online apps and other tools you can utilize to organize your day. Overall, these tools can help you stay organized and keep up with all your daily tasks and events.

Using these tips can be very beneficial as you transition back to your school routine. However, it is always important to remember that not every day is the same. Although using these tips will be very beneficial for you, it is normal to not be extremely productive and organized every day. We as students and humans require breaks - and that is perfectly fine. Taking a day off does not mean that you are not productive - it means that you have been working hard and your body is naturally ready to take a break. So, moving forward, I hope these tips will help you in getting back on track with school. It is certainly difficult - but not impossible!