how to be the PERFECT student 📖 organization, discipline & romanticizing school for academic success

with a new semester and a new year having recently begun I feel like a lot of us have set the resolution or set some goals to become a better student have better grades maybe be more organized and so on through my academic journey I feel like I've learned a lot I've gone from being like a super overachieving student who is like involved in so many extracurriculars like Rory Gilmore type of vibe to some days honestly struggling to find the motivation to get the class so from those two extremes I've learned quite a bit and I

wanted to share some advice in this video on what being a perfect student even means and how you can achieve that so without further Ado I hope you enjoy make sure to subscribe for more videos like this and let's get right into it my first piece of advice is to have a consistent morning and night routine trust me if you're feeling lost or don't know where to start start here I know this is like a very perhaps cliche things that a lot of people talk about on YouTube but I swear by my routine and without

it I would be a completely different person I would be so lost now that I'm in University I have a very like free schedule meaning that some days I only start classes late in the afternoon or I honestly sometimes don't even have any class at all during the day and it can be very tempting to just throw my routine out of the window and just like sleep in on those days kind of like do nothing but that is when it's especially important to be consistent with my routine as you've probably heard many many times before

having a good routine sets you up for success and gets you in the right mindset that you need to be in in order to be more focused during the day and overall a more productive person and I really want to stress the importance of finding a routine that works for you and that includes both your morning and night routine so if you're like a night owl don't go against that follow that have your time in the evening that you can just like do your work or unwind and wake up a little bit later as long

as you still have a routine when you wake up and right before you go to bed and the part where this comes in in terms of becoming a better student is that just having that routine is going to set you up for Success no matter what your day is going to look like if you're staying home you're going to be more prepared and less distracted to just go ahead and get started with your work and if you're going to class it's going to have given you the time to do those habits that help you stay

productive stay grounded and just like feel better throughout the day I know there's a lot of like toxic study motivation out there that's like telling you to stay up late and like study all night to beat your enemies or whatever that is not who we're trying to be we're trying to take care of ourselves and be like well rested so that we can be better focused in class during the day and overall just like be more attentive to what we're doing if you're struggling in terms of establishing a routine the first thing that I would

recommend is to try to identify a Target wake up and bedtime now obviously this kind of fluctuates from time to time but really trying to stick to it as much as possible is going to help regulate your circadian rhythm and then in terms of actually developing that routine I really recommend trying to highlight five very small and realistic habits that you can do every day when you wake up so for me for instance in the morning that includes making my bed doing my skin care taking my vitamins drinking some water and doing some sort of

gratitude or journaling practice and those are some really like straightforward pretty small tasks that I can accomplish and take off every day no matter what my schedule looks like and then in the evening I also have been really trying to make it a priority to actually have time to unwind after I close my laptop and stop working because I've noticed that it really makes a difference compared to the nights when I just close my laptop and go straight to bed without any sort of like winding down time and I would also really recommend during your

night routine to prepare everything you can for the following morning so laying out your outfit preparing your bag packing your lunch all of those things are seriously going to help you the next morning and creating less friction in your routine so do it for your future self second piece of advice is to find an organization system that works for you I've already made a video all about how to be organized so I'll have that linked down below if you want to check it out but just to reiterate at a few of the key points from

that video I would personally recommend finding a good organizational system that you're going to be able to check in with daily and one that you can check in weekly for me I have like my daily to-do list that I write at the beginning of every day but usually I've laid out at the start of the week any appointments or any major deadlines that I have coming up so that those are already written in my daily to-do list I also think it's important to make your organizational system cute and aesthetic so that you're going to want

to use it more and you can include like little motivational quotes or pretty little Graphics that are going to get you motivated overall just like make it fun for yourself to use also in your daily to-do list try to include something that you're going to do for yourself whether that be like going on a walk or reading your book including those like personal me time tasks are going to make you actually remember that like you need to look after yourself and I feel like if you put it on your to-do list you're going to be

like more aware of it and so when you look at your list you're going to be like all right I should probably take some time for myself today because maybe I haven't done that yet to me finding a good organizational system also implies finding a good school bag or backpack situation I personally use a backpack just because my shoulders are not able to physically carry the weight of all of my belongings onto one shoulder however find whatever works for you and make sure that you're keeping all of your Essentials in there so that you know

that you have everything that's necessary for you to study and be productive at all times my next piece of advice is to show up to class as your ideal self to me this just means showing up to class mentally prepared I'm feeling awake I'm feeling ready to take mil and be attentive overall I'm just like engaging in the class and being like present and focused Studies have actually shown that the people who sit in the front row are more likely to be successful so ever since I learned that I've just like made it a conscious

effort to at the beginning of the semester and at the start of every class actually sit in the front of the class cuz even just by doing that it forces me to like pay attention because I'm right in front of the teacher so they can obviously see if I'm being distracted and it just holds you more accountable usually by now I've showed up the class a little bit early I'm sitting in my seat ideally in one of the few front rows and then I like to go through this kind of like mental checklist of things

to do before class actually starts so I'll take out my water bottle so that I have it in my field of vision and I'm reminded to stay hydrated I take out my notebooks and all my stationary that I need so that I'm ready to pay attention and I also turn off my notifications or sometimes fully turn my phone off in my recent video All About organization I asked you guys if you were interested and learning about how I take my notes and a few of you said yes so I'm going to be diving into that

right now I'm actually going to take these off cuz the reflection is really bothering me usually I tend to prioritize and favor handwritten notes so this is The Notebook that I use for all of my like Theory courses however this semester I've switched to taking notes on my computer because I kind of figured out last semester that I wasn't able to keep up with everything the teacher was saying and I'm someone who really likes to write down as much as possible and dive into into as much detail as possible in my notes so it was

kind of frustrating me that I was having to like Rush taking notes and getting cramps and everything it was just not the most practical so now I just use this for reading notes which is essentially where whenever I'm doing like a reading assigned for class I'll copy down any important quotes or like write down in bullet points sort of summary of the reading that I can refer to to me this just ensures that I'm like being focused and engaging with the reading because I'm someone who really likes to write things down by hand and then

in terms of how I take my actual notes in class I do it on Google Docs and I don't really have that much of a method or structure again I really like to write down basically everything the teacher is saying like if you are sitting next to me in a class all you'll hear the whole time is just like that's literally me the entire lecture so yeah that's essentially how I take my notes but again make sure that you find a system that works for you for me that's a hybrid model of using handwritten notes

and and typewritten ones typewritten that that sounds like ancient and archaic like I'm bringing a typewriter to class which honestly that's probably what I sound like because I'm typing so loud and it's completely fine to switch back and forth between methods as long as your notes makes sense to you I think that's what's most important and yeah let's get back to the video my next piece of advice is to romanticize school and I feel like this is a word and a concept that gets thrown around a lot I could honestly do a whole separate video

just about this but just to talk a little bit about my personal experience last semester was my first ever semester of University and I kind of hit a wall because For the First time ever I was struggling to get to class and I wasn't feeling fulfilled just from school anymore which was like a crazy realization but it really isn't that deep when you think about it I experienced a lot of impostor syndrome and just like struggled a lot with motivation so I found that I couldn't rely on just like my natural interest in school to

feel motivated and and I sort of had the realization that life is not just about school and I think if you're going to take something from this video that would be it which might sound a little bit contradictory but the minute you start realizing that there's more to school than just grades and there's more to life than just school you're going to feel so much more fulfilled because you're going to start seeking out fulfillment in other areas of your life and it's just going to take the pressure off of school and make it more fun

for you to just like enjoy the process of learning a few little things I like to do to romanze school are to bring a book with me and just carry it around all the time to listen to Fun music and also create new playlists so that I have a new soundtrack to live my life to every couple of weeks to consume inspiring content whether that be study Vlogs Gilmore Girls or just scrolling on Pinterest getting myself out of the house and making it a goal to discover new spaces on campus I actually recently discovered that

there was a greenhouse literally on my campus in the most random place place ever like on a super high floor so if it hadn't been for this goal of mine to find new steady spots I probably would have never known about it and now it's like one of my favorite places to go to I also love putting in a little bit more time when it comes to getting ready for school and like preparing my outfit not only is it fun to experiment but it also honestly helps me fight my impostor syndrome a little bit because

it gives me like confidence and it just ensures that I'm going to school and that I'm feeling comfortable in my own skin I also do love getting myself a sweet treat with whether that be a matcha or a nice little baked good they just like make my day a little bit better and I love to reward myself with them after a long steady session at the end of the day I think romanticizing school is just really about doing whatever it takes to feel confident and just have fun because sometimes it's really hard to remember to

have fun just because we get so overwhelmed and stressed but remember that as a student you're also part of a community of other people in your program or in your University or College that are going through similar experiences and with whom you can connect and spend time romanticizing school together tip number five is to work on becoming a more disciplined person and overall just developing a good work ethic and this is really the key to becoming more productive because as many people have said before no matter how motivated you are at the end of the

day it's discipline and hard work that's going to take you where you want to be I'm also very much a believer in the concept work smarter not harder so although some people may see discipline as like working 10 hours per day and having a really strict study schedule I feel like it's actually much more important to be balanced and to make the most out of the time when you are working the brain can actually only stay in a state of deep focus like a few hours per day so first of all if you're imposing like

a 10-hour steady schedule every day on yourself that's just not like working smart because your brain isn't even able to retain information for that much and half of that time you're not actually going to be in deep focus and you're not going to be retaining information as efficiently and that's also why the time that you are working needs to be entirely distraction free so that you can achieve that state of deep focus and be productive once you're actually sitting down and ready to do some work there are different like time management techniques or study methods

to help you be more disciplined and overall just like stay focused one of the things I love to do is just turn on the study mode on my phone in the different like Focus settings and this means that I'm only getting notifications from like productivity apps or basically stuff related to school if that doesn't work and you're still like getting distracted and going on your phone I love to use the app Flora which I talk about and like show in my Vlogs all of the time but you basically just set a timer for however long

you want to study and then that just helps me I guess kind of do the Pomodoro method but more Loosely because it also allows you to keep the focus going longer than you set the timer for so for instance if I set a timer for like 45 minutes but I end up working for like an hour 20 it's just going to stay in like Focus mode whereas if I get a notification by like the 45 minutes that the timer is done I might be more inclined to like take a break and check my phone so

yeah I love to use this whenever I feel myself getting distracted and I just need to like set a timer and sit down to get work done it's also helpful because it allows you to kind of evaluate how much time you'll need for a task so for instance if you're a perfectionist like me and you tend to spend way too much time on like small assignments that are honestly not that much work you can set yourself like a 25-minute timer and force yourself to basically be done with the assignment by the time the timer runs

out if you still get distracted even when using this method I would honestly recommend fully turning your phone off and just like eliminating distractions called turkey so highly recommend doing that there are also a lot of like resources online I love to watch study withm to just like have a virtual study buddy and I find that that often helps me be more productive when I'm just like working from home and I'm feeling like kind of unfocused or distracted one thing I try to avoid as much as possible is to to go on my phone during

my breaks because obviously the way social media is designed it's just to keep you on there for as long as possible and to keep you scrolling so I've noticed that when I do reach for my phone during my break it's easier for me to get distracted and to get kind of like sucked in now I do however want to mention that I love to use my brakes to just like watch productive study Vlogs or scroll on Pinterest and look at like inspiring study content because that just gets me feeling like inspired and motivated to get

back to work so that's something that really works for me and it just keeps me inspired but again like I try to avoid going on platforms where I know it's easier for me to like get sucked in such as Instagram or Tik Tok for me being disciplined honestly sometimes looks like going to the library directly after class to get my work done because I know that if I go home I'm not going to be like inspired or motivated to do it a lot of the time a different environment will immensely benefit my productivity because I

only allow myself to leave that environment once I'm done with my task and it just like becomes this kind of game of like okay how fast can I get this done and how fast can I go home sometimes studying or working with other people is going to like hold you accountable and make you more productive whereas other times you honestly just need to work alone and that's also completely fine I feel like I need to become better at admitting that I am not always the most productive when I study with friends and although I can

be sometimes there are days when I honestly should just get my work done alone because if I study with a friend it's going to take me twice as long now because this video is all about becoming the perfect student I do want to talk about how being disciplined doesn't only relate to school because again the perfect student is someone who's balanced and who's taking care of themselves and like who is a well-rounded person so for instance being disciplined about the time that you're going to turn your laptop off and get ready for bed is super

important because again as we talked about earlier in the video it's going to allow you to like regulate your circadian rhythm and just overall reap the benefits of a good night's sleep so be disciplined also about when it's time to stop working and it's going to force you to make the most out of the time when you are working because you also have to make time for all of those other areas and aspects of your life this is honestly something that I am still like adapting to and still trying to get used to and it

requires a lot of trial and error so be gentle with yourself be accepting that you may have setbacks we are almost at the end of this video my last piece of advice is to acknowledge when you feel burnt out and to allow yourself the chance to bounce back there is a difference between procrastinating and resting because you feel burnt out and it's really important to acknowledge that and to me this includes asking for extensions when you know it's going to be necessary for a really long time my ego like got the best of me and

I wouldn't let myself ask for extensions so I would just end up rushing and submitting something that I knew wasn't my best work then over time I actually allowed myself to ask for extensions and notice that it's not the end of the world and that everything's going to be fine obviously that isn't a ideal scenario I know that some teachers are like really strict about deadlines and that is unfortunate but even then like make sure that you're taking the time that you need to rest because when your body and your brain is like shutting down

and unable to focus because you've just been pushing yourself too hard it's no use to keep going because your body's already shut down like it's not going to be able to work at the end of the day we are humans above anything else and it can be really easy to lose perspective when you're in school and just feel like everything is a life or death situation but usually if it's not going to matter in 5 years it's not any use to worry about it now and although it's healthy and okay to let yourself feel that

stress or emotion it's also super important to find a way to deal with it and to like get it out of your system I feel like it's also important to understand that not every day is going to be super productive and coming to terms with that has just helped me honestly take a lot of pressure off of my shoulders last but not least I wanted to end this video by mentioning the importance of taking baby steps and just setting small achievable goals for yourself these types of videos can be a little bit overwhelming because it

can feel like there's a lot of things that you have to do to get to where you want to be but just take it one day at a time there's also a lot of pressure put on us from a very young age to figure out exactly what it is we want to do for the rest of our lives which is just not really realistic for most of us so remind yourself that it's okay to take a little bit more time to figure it out or to take longer to complete your studies I feel like there

is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it's what's going to improve your well-being and your over all happiness in the long run so everyone is on their own Journey feel free to subscribe I try to post a new video around every week and yeah I hope you have a lovely rest of your day or night wherever you are thank you so much for hanging out with me and I'll talk to you guys in my next video [Music] bye