Happy Blogmas day 10! Again, I apologize for the absence of day 9, but finals week is always quite stressful. Today I will be discussing important things I have learned in the first semester of my junior year of college. This year has already been tricky because I am almost done, but not quite, and I am an adult, but not quite.

1. Always be thinking ahead.

While it is important to live in the moment, do things for fun and make those memories that college promises you’ll make, you need to think ahead. Plan out your semester and your days. Do assignments as early as possible when you have the time so you can say yes to those spur-of-the-moment plans. Now that I am so close to graduating I am constantly thinking about what I can do next that will benefit me in the long run. Is it more worth it to me do this or that? What will look better on a resume? What can I bring up during an interview?

2. Always have an updated resume on you.

I cannot stress this enough, no matter what grade you are in. But, as a junior, I am constantly searching for internship opportunities as well as contacts and networking. Always have an updated PDF on your phone that you can easily email someone who is looking for your resume and always, if possible, have a paper copy on you. I keep one in my purse and one in my backpack and it has paid off because I have been asked for it twice and it is right there and ready.

3. Dress for success.

I still wear sweat pants and hoodies to class, don’t get me wrong, but a majority of the time I like to put effort into my appearance. I feel like it is important that if you want to perform your best, to dress the part. Your professors will appreciate you not showing up dressed like a bum to their office hours, and again, you never know who you’ll meet.

4. Hard work doesn’t always pay off.

Honestly, this is always a hard pill to swallow. Our whole lives we’re told that hard work will always pay off, but it doesn’t. Sometimes you can study as hard as you want and still not get the grade you are aiming for. You can be the most prepared candidate for a job and still not get it. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Failure is so much easier to cope with and learn from if you understand that you did everything in your power you could, but it just wasn’t meant for you.

5. Get some sleep.

I have never appreciated a good night of sleep as much as I did this semester. I am not the kind of person that can thrive off of minimal sleep, and now that I know that, it is much easier to be productive during the day and stop trying to stay up and be a night owl. I found that nights I barely got any sleep, or even just an hour or two less than i usually did, it significantly impacted my performance the next day and screwed with my sleep schedule for at least a week. Get to bed early guys!