The New Year is upon us, and many of you may have been pondering the time-old tradition of Resolutions. Sometimes they seem a little pointless: you make the same promises to yourself every year and they never come to fruition. It’s an endless cycle, but with these tips you might be able to break out of the habit and find success with some of the most popular resolutions among students.
One of the most common resolutions has to be going to the gym. Returning to University with a little added Christmas weight, January is a popular time for signing up at the local gym to get some exercise. Some might claim that it is pointless; we should be going to the gym all year round, not just in January! However this is arguably the opportune time to start as there are often deals on to help burn winter weight and encourage new customers in the resolution rush. The other bonus is that you definitely won’t be the only one joining. Going to the gym in the January period gives you the opportunity to meet new people at the same stage as you: it will be a lot easier to keep it up if you’re sharing fun and motivation with other people. Make it a group effort!
The next resolution (and one that I really need to work on myself) is to improve on organisation: every student’s downfall. After a hectic first term the New Year often inspires a wish to reorganise and get a handle on work before exams and deadlines start to build up. If you’re anything like me you’ll be having extravagant daydreams about perfectly ordered folders and colour-coded notes written neatly in preparation for revision: but these dreams seldom become reality. Everyone begins with the best intentions – but how can we keep it up? The trick is deceptively simple. Come up with a timetable for all your work and set time aside for organisation: writing up your notes etcetera. It takes determination at the beginning, but if you incorporate this into your routine it eventually becomes normal. You’d be surprised how much easier this makes your workload – this resolution is really worth sticking with.
The third and final student-friendly resolution is the wish of every student: to save money. With temptation in every trip past Sainsbury’s and every party-happy housemate, scrimping on your pennies seems an impossible task. A little here and there adds up to a lot, before you even notice it’s gone and you’re fasting on plain pasta. But there are some things you can do to help keep positive numbers in your bank. The first, and most important point, is to fix your budget: figure out how much you need in correlation with how much you have. Once you have figured that out and covered your essentials, allow yourself one or two activities/outings a week – depending on your budget. Don’t splurge every night, your bank and your work will suffer for it! When it comes to food, make meals for more than one night or freeze extra portions to avoid waste and save. It doesn’t all have to be counting pennies and boring nights in: cooking is fun and if you run out of money for a night out there are plenty of free opportunities to take advantage of. Join your friends at the pub but stick to water, or attend society events at the Uni. There are so many ways to enjoy yourself without spending too much money.
So there we have it – the three top New Year’s resolutions for students, and some tips on how to keep them. It’s not too late to give one or all of these a try and optimise your University experience.
