Getting to Work

Since we are all trying to keep our GPA’s above a 2.75 for our sorority, and for the pure fact that if we want to be a gazillionaire we kinda need to get in to law school to find a rich husband, sometimes you actually have to sit down and do your homework (boooo!) Now, while we all love the social life that college brings in order to keep that we actually need to do well in our classes. There are oh sooo many distractions that can keep you from doing your homework:

*looks at Michael Kors watch* oh wow I woke up early to study before my class in blahbity blah blah, but it’s almost 10:30 and Chick-fil-a won’t be serving breakfast anymore. Better go get a chicken biscuit, so I don’t die in the middle of the exam.

Well I could be doing my homework, but I just saw 4 guys from the Crew team walk in to the rec center so maybe I’ll go attempt to use the elliptical.

Chipotle...will always tastes better than an A feels.

But your Big told you how awesome the paint party was a couple weeks ago, so you just have to go tonight because you would be missing out on a college experience.

I’m just gonna watch one episode of One Tree Hill, and I’ll get right back to drawing out the molecular geometries of atoms...damn, I waited 20 seconds and the next one started already

Oops. I can’t catch a flying fuck to give to this jack-ass professor’s bs assignment…

For every paragraph I read, I will reward myself with a piece of candy. One paragraph later...or I can just eat all of the candy.

The Bring It On marathon is on abc family, and that only happens like once a millenium (basically).

We have all used these excuses before, and all seem pretty legit, but we can’t use them all the time. To get focused this semester, and actually use your monogrammed Lilly planner for more than scheduling Starbuck’s runs here are some of our tips:

Listen to the Classical or Studying station on Pandora. This sounds like some sort of boring crap that your grandma listens to, but the classical version of Black and Yellow is surprisingly comforting when trying to do homework on something you never remember the professor going over in class. Also downloading the violin or piano covers of your favorite songs is a good way to listen to your good music in a way that doesn’t distract you from your work. Because classical music isn’t too fun.

Find a hot study buddy. First of all, this shouldn’t be too hard considering your first thought upon entering your new classes should have been “Where are the hot guys??” Now that you’ve scoped them out, sit next to them and offer them food. Get their number and ask if they want to study or do homework together. You’ll get your work done, plus you are flirting with a hot guy. Better yet...if he is in a fraternity maybe he will ask you to his formal? That’s what I call multitasking at its finest.

Yes, I do approve of using your Starbucks gold card to get a venti black tea lemonade with three pumps of raspberry to go over your sociology notes...as long as you look cute while doing it. Get to work and don’t get distracted. You’ll feel so much better when you have it all out of the way.

Just try entering your library. It’s big, scary, silent, and pretty much embodies everything about college that you hoped you could avoid, but looking at focused people can make you feel inadequate and help you get motivation. Every once in a while, the library has some sort of chemical in the air that goes into your brain and causes the urge to open your textbooks and read.

Make study guides and flashcards. Any information that exists in this world can be neatly organized with color coded highlights. If you can figure out how to do this in a way that makes sense, then you most likely understand the information. Congratulations, you have successfully studied at this point if you have accomplished this. Also, if you make a study guide and send it to people in your class, you are guaranteed new friends or action from that cute guy who sits in front of you while you stare at his head as if it has the answers to life written on it.

This never works for me, but if you are one of those people with insummatable amounts of self control, get the apps on your computer or phone that block facebook and twitter. I don’t know what type of person is able to focus while worrying about all the notifications you aren’t getting. Do not disturb is a great setting if you don’t get anxious when your phone isn’t on. I am not and will never be one of these people, but some people find this works. Good luck with that shit.

Make a list. That is the lamest sentence in the history of the world, but it will definitely help you get stuff done. The best way to do this is to use white board markers and list out tasks to do on your mirror. It is so relieving to cross out or erase items from the list when you actually do them. It is a tangible way to see how screwed you actually are as far as homework goes. If you write it on the mirror or fridge you won’t be able to escape your responsibilities.

Actually write in your lilly planner. It was a great buy but it will be even better if you actually use it to plan out your schedule. If you didn’t buy a lilly planner and dont plan on it because you’re worried you will get it mixed up with another girl when you are running to chapter in your heels and you bump into her, then you can make your own planner here: http://www.personal-planner.com/US/ Its super cool and you are garunteed to like it because you designed it for yourself. We can all be like lilly pulitzer and create our own shit.

Flashnotes.com and OneClass are your bestfriends. Here students post lecture notes and exam study guides for their classes. This is basically where you can find any notes you may have missed without needing to know anyone in your class. It is perfection to say the least.