As senior’s high school careers at SHS are swiftly approaching the end, it is important that bad habits created in high school are left behind for the future. This new chapter will be full of freedom, responsibility and fun. Although it’s a very exciting time, it’s also important to start good habits and patterns.

Start a routine

For many students, this summer may look very different. Now kids may be alleviated from sports, Music in Motion and other school related activities, so it’s important to use time wisely. For those that may have never been able to get a job, it’s a great time to get one, not only to make some money but to gain a work ethic and find new interests.

Getting a job can also help establish a routine, having something to surround your day around can be beneficial in teaching individuals how to manage time when there is an impediment in your day to day. Having a routine can evoke a sense of predictability which can promote feelings of accomplishment.

If having a job isn’t the path for you, there are other ways to establish routine. For example, having house chores, it can be as easy as making your bed every morning– this sets a tone of order and discipline that ultimately provides a feeling of accomplishment.

Although it may sound silly and hard to believe that making your bed creates discipline in your life, starting a routine in small spaces can be a great place to start and that discipline can subconsciously make its way into more significant parts of your life.

It’s important to not belittle your routines, noting small success and large success on the same scale because ultimately both will result in a positive change. It’s important to appreciate progress rather than getting caught up in measuring success.

Stimulate your mind

Another way to create healthy routines is to find ways to stimulate your mind during the summer. It can be as simple as reading a book, but having that responsibility of a task that is solely orchestrated by one individual can be helpful. As college can be very independent, it is good to hold yourself accountable to completing a task.

Procrastination can be a common conflict for incoming freshmen so creating a schedule to do an academic activity like reading a book can help you schedule out time to complete your task. So, if you set a goal to read five books, you can then learn how to manage your time so that you can not only accomplish this goal but complete it in a way that’s stress free and manageable for you.

Learning these skills before going to college can be helpful because you can test out different methods and see what works best for you. Especially after being a second semester senior, lots of the time that time breeds procrastination and slacking, with that being said it was your time to relax and embrace that last semester of high school but it’s important to not get comfortable with that type of lifestyle.

Overall, creating good habits can not only help you in college but also in life. Starting habits at the beginning of your life will make them easier to maintain in the long run.