I hope you had a pleasant winter holiday break and are well-rested. For most students, the new year is the start of a new school term, which makes it a great time for a fresh start and to take inventory of your accomplishments last term.

 

What were the most memorable things that happened since the fall term started? If your initial reaction is to say “nothing happened,” resist that urge because something had to have happened in classes, after school, on weekends and during vacations. What stood out in the last 4 months? What did you learn? What did you accomplish? How are you doing in your classes and activities? Have you made improvements in some of them? Just taking an hour of your free time to jot down your thoughts will be invaluable for your own reflection and goal-setting.

 

Whether or not you had a good fall term, think about what you could have done to do better or get more accomplished. Before you too get busy with school, homework and activities, now is a great time to think about how you can improve on your accomplishments last term.

 

When you consider the next school term, imagine how you would like it to play out. If you are struggling in Math class, how will you catch up and bring up your grade? What will it take this term for you to reach your goal? Have a chat with your teacher after class about your desire to improve and how your teacher can help. If it will take getting tutored once a week to better understand concepts then seek a tutor. If you need to spend 30 minutes each day doing practice problems to solidify those concepts and to make studying for exams easier, then do it. If there’s an extracurricular activity you want join, find out how to join today. Visualize how you will reach your goals and plan out the steps to get you there.

 

Don’t procrastinate. Do what you can now. There is no better time to start doing what you have to. It will pay off at the end of the school year when you’ll be able to reflect back and be proud of what you’ve accomplished!