As a community college student this may be the first time you have had to really take responsibility for yourself. For many new students this can be a challenge that if not properly addressed usually leads to bad habits and failing grades.
Christ Brogan, a popular social media expert, wrote a great little article about how you are the president of your career. Likewise, you are creating your future career with your college education and there are a few important things you must understand:
- You must take responsibility for yourself
- Nobody can do it for you
- You are the CEO of your own education
Time Management
You must manage your time well. This may be the first time that you’re away from the shelter of your parents. You need to get to class on time. That may not sound like an eye opening revelation, but college classes move at a much faster pace than high school. Missing the first 10 minutes could mean you just lost 7 percent on the next exam because you didn't hear a critical bit of instruction from the professor.
Nobody is going to wake you up or push you to start that huge writing assignment. Successful community college students use their time wisely. They study first and play second. You have the same amount of time as everyone else at school. What you choose to do with that time is going to define your success.
Find Ways to Motivate Yourself
It can be a challenge to attend a dull class, let alone do well in it. It can also be difficult to study when there are so many extracurricular distractions. You need to find ways to motivate yourself. Without motivation you will end up procrastinating assignments and failing classes. Once you fall behind it’s extremely hard to catch up.
One simple tip that works for many students is to have a list of daily goals. Don’t make it too long. It needs to a list that can be realistically done in one day. Check off the goals as you do them, but be careful of a common trap that involves adding items to your list that you accomplished because you became sidetracked.
This just moves your important goals or assignments to the next day. It’s a form of rationalization where you’re getting things done; they are just not the important things. Finally, do not go to bed until you have crossed off all your daily goals.
Organize Yourself
There is an entire industry dedicated to bringing organization to peoples professional and scholastic lives. The reason this industry exists is because most people are unorganized which leads to poor time management, missed assignments, procrastination and in the case of students, failed classes.
At the very least you need to keep your paperwork (or files) organized. A common approach is to use a one inch binder with dividers separating each class. Put any handouts into the side pockets and keep notes on the lose paper in each section. When you get home remove the handouts from the pockets and put them in the binder with your daily notes. A simple method like this will keep all your assignments, notes, thoughts and teacher handouts in a single, organized location.
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