Our lives are typically oriented around the start of various aspects of life: start of school, start of the new year, start of spring break, start of high school, etc. As we hang out at The Bash this Friday, we have to deal with the inevitable: school is starting on Monday whether we want it to or not.
So I got to thinking, what better time to start off some new habits and attitudes and get rid of some bad ones than when we all (including me) start back at school. So here are five tips for starting the 2011-2012 school year off right.
1. Commit to a Daily Time Spent with Jesus
Whether or not you are the king/queen of quiet times or struggle with spending consistent time with Jesus everyday, this is a good commitment to make as you start a new school year. Figure out a time of day when you can commit to spend a set amount of time in Bible study and prayer every day. Be intentional about spending consistent time before Jesus every day. Commit to work through a book of the Bible for the fall semester and to pray for specific things each day. Be intentional, have a plan, and enjoy spending time with Jesus.
2. Eat Better
We are incredibly unhealthy individuals. By and large, we don’t practice healthy eating in our culture, especially as young people. This is a huge struggle for me, and I’ve watched how some of you eat. Bottom line, we all need to eat just a little bit more healthy. Cut back on your carbonated beverage consumption, drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables, and eat less sugar and fried foods. Studies do show that when you eat healthier and drink more water, you feel better and more energized. McDonald’s for a meal more than once a week is probably a bad idea.
3. Start Exercising
As you commit to eating healthier, also commit to regular exercise. No one is expecting you to workout like an Olympic-caliber athlete, but 30 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week would greatly improve all of health overall. Like spending committed time with Jesus, be intentional here. Pick three days a week at a specific time to set aside for exercise.
4. Get More Sleep
More times than not, when I ask each of you how you are, you respond “I’m tired.” Come to find out each of you are operating on maybe 6 hours of sleep a night, often less than that. You spend all day at school, doing extra-curricular activities, working jobs, doing homework, spending times with friends and family, that you end up getting very little sleep as a routine. Lack of sleep effects all areas of life, but in particular a lack of sleep will affect your mood and your performance in school. Work hard to get close to 8 hours of sleep a day, and don’t stay up late just to stay up. Sometimes you will be unable to avoid being up late and getting very little sleep, but if you can avoid it you should.
5. Stop Procrastinating
Teenagers and twenty-somethings are notorious procrastinators. Procrastination is not busyness that keeps you from getting done what you need to, it’s a choice to “put off until later what you could do right now.” My advice to you for this new school year: stop procrastinating! Don’t make a habit of working on your big paper or studying for the big test the night before it’s due. Spread out homework and studying throughout the week, and you’ll rarely have to do it last minute, which stresses you out and can hinder the quality of your work. Don’t procrastinate anymore!
These are five things I’m going to work on in my own life as we start this next school year, and I encourage you to join me in this. The school year is coming, let’s start it off right!
