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Today, January 9th, is National Quitters’ Day—AKA, the day that absolves folks who got a little too ambitious with their New Year’s resolutions and reminds them to at least try and get back on the horse. If you’ve reached today and decided that your New Year’s resolution actually isn’t for you, that’s totally fine! You’re allowed to acknowledge that you may have given yourself an impossible task or to change your priorities. But if you’re not quite ready to give up, check out some tips below for sticking with some of the most common New Year’s resolutions among college students—at least for a little longer.
Stop Procrastinating
Congratulations on choosing perhaps the most difficult resolution on this list. Procrastination isn't a college problem; it’s a life problem. Tasks are always going to feel so overwhelming that you avoid them or seem so inconsequential that you end up not doing them at all. Personally, I suffer from ADHD-related executive dysfunction, which is inherently different from procrastination, but they share some similarities. Something I’ve adopted is the “five-minute” rule. If something will only take five minutes (renewing your car registration, signing up to attend your school’s career fair, things like that), I find it’s better to just do it when I think of it. I almost always have five minutes. I also use this rule for bigger tasks. Like promising myself that I’ll read, or fold laundry, or brainstorm article topics for five minutes. I set a timer (or pick a song that’s approximately that long) and tell myself that when time’s up, I have full permission to quit. If I quit, that’s fine—I still did more of the task than I would have if I’d done nothing. But I often find that the five minutes were enough to get over my initial “I hate this” reaction, and now I’m okay with finishing the task. It’s the transition that’s hard, not the actual task. I find that allowing yourself some grace and forgiveness when it comes to getting things done or not does a lot in the way of helping both procrastination and your mindset regarding it.
Get Organized
This is a really common New Year’s resolution, but allow me to prod at it for just a moment—where exactly do you feel unorganized? Is there a specific thing, like your dorm room looks like an exploded dumpster or opening your computer is like opening Pandora’s box, or is it that you feel overwhelmed by everything you’ve got going on? Because if it’s the former, my advice would be to start small and find a few places you can tidy up with minimal effort. Got shoes all over the floor? A shoe rack can help. Bathroom overstocked with hair/skin products? Maybe an over-the-toilet shelf will work for you. But if you just feel like your life is spiraling out of control, and if you can just “get organized,” that feeling will stop, that sounds like a different issue.
Take a good, hard look at all your various obligations: is there anything that perhaps feels more mandatory than it actually is? Is there an extracurricular that’s starting to feel more like a burden than a joy? Or perhaps a regular hangout with folks that you aren’t as close with as when you started? These might be things to consider nixing. And if you’re unable to edit down your obligations, then maybe it would help to have someone to talk to. Your school’s counseling center or student health center may be able to hook you up with a therapist or a therapy group who can provide a helpful ear and community.
Save More Money
To be quite honest, you probably know more about saving money than I do just by virtue of having less of it in college than a grown adult working full-time. You likely already get your books used/rented, know every ramen hack, and have heard the “skip the latte” spiel so many times that whenever you hear it, you want to make a coffee run out of spite (just me?). But you may be able to save more cash if you think about increasing your income, rather than limiting your expenses. If you qualify for work-study, that’s a great way to ease the pressure of tuition costs. You could also look into internships, either summer or year-round—while some are still unpaid, most are paid, and some pay quite generously. And if a traditional part-time job is more your speed, retail or food service are typically pretty flexible for students with varying schedules—in my experience, retail is easier but waiting tables pays more, particularly if the establishment has a liquor license.
Get More Sleep
There’s an old saying that when it comes to good grades, a social life, and sleep, you can pick two—double majors, pick one. It’s only sort of true (though my condolences to the double-majors out there). The first two, grades and your social life, will almost always feel more important than getting a good night’s rest, but not getting it will absolutely make you miserable in the long term. If you’re able, try and keep your social engagements to weekends and during the day on school days. It doesn’t have to be a hard and fast rule, but if you start suggesting to meet your friends for coffee instead of drinks (if you’re of age), or moving your study time to after dinner so you’re at home or in a quiet library instead of a loud common room at night, you may find it a little easier to keep the balance. If that’s not working for you, I’m a big proponent of naps. Set an alarm so you don’t miss class or anything, but taking an hour after lunch to doze is, technically, getting more sleep than if you doom-scrolled for that same time.
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