The end is a great time to plan the beginning

It is the end of the school year and you are barely hanging on. Exams are brutal. Your brain is exhausted and summer is calling. All of these and many more are the reasons to make your new school year resolutions now. 

 Missed opportunities

Now is when you remember how much you wished you had studied a bit harder for that test so that your average going into the exam would have been a strong B rather than barely a B. Now is when you remember that homework does impact your grade so you should do ALL the assignments. Now is when you remember that you start the week strong but are worn out by Thursday, or maybe, you are exhausted on Monday but find your second wind on Wednesday. Now is when you remember that games on the weekends mean you need to allocate time for school work during the week. 

Change what you can

All of these memories will fade in the summer sun. Take a few minutes, literally 15 minutes, and write down what you thought your greatest successes and your biggest hurdles were this school year.  Take a few minutes to set some goals for next year. Make sure your goals are things you can control like: keeping a calendar, setting aside specific times for school work at the beginning of each week, assessing your grades every week or two to make sure you are where you want to be. Avoid things you can’t control like making all A’s or getting the highest grade in each class. Remember, you can’t control the outcome but you can control your effort. Pull that list out in late July or early August and plan your year. You’ll be glad you did.