Back to school is not just a question of school supplies, it is also the time to set up an organization that allows you to work in good conditions while enjoying your student life.
Léna, who runs the YouTube channel Lénadorable and who throughout the year offers tips to students "so as not to struggle" like her, has expanded our advice with hers.
1. Set (Achievable) Goals
“Before the start of the school year, the first thing is to define your objectives.
Often we start the new school year thinking that it's a new start, but we don't manage to keep a routine: why would we do it if we don't know why?
Then, once they are fixed, we must remove the obstacles that prevent us from reaching them.
“If my goal is not to be late, I prepare my things the day before.
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Léna, who runs the Youtube channel Lénadorable
The goal is not to give up the sports session at the last moment or to be under pressure even before having crossed the door of school or university for your first day.
Also, we do not cross a mountain after a single training.
If you want to improve in a particular subject, the best thing is to plan a time slot to work on it as you go along: you don't start at the last moment.
“Working under pressure is not the best solution, and setting up small slots allows us to form good habits.
“In prep, I had a lot of vocabulary to learn in English.
Nearly 500 words per week, so impossible to do at the very end of the week, you have to do it step by step.
I have systems in place to avoid stress and pressure at the last moment.
What works for studies, but not only: it works for everything in life.
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2. Get to know each other to… get organized
To fully understand the year, reassure yourself and be ready to start this adventure, set up a well-established organization.
When ?
"The best thing is to try to get started a little before the start of the school year", especially to get back into a rhythm.
“Going to bed early is not the day of the new school year that you have to do it, but getting organized concretely in terms of the schedule can wait until the timetable is available.
No need to stress too much either and for all that can be prepared, “the earlier you start, the better you get there.
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How ?
Thanks to three important principles:
by getting to know each other: “It was in prep that I started to organize myself and that I tried to get to know myself better in order to learn and work.
I realized that I worked better in the morning, so I decompressed in the evening, whereas before I did the opposite, I worked in the evening.
I was tired so far from effective!
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by determining how you remember things, because some have a visual memory, others rather auditory.
“I have an auditory memory: I realized that I didn't retain people visually, but their voices!
Collecting lessons on slides is mission impossible for me.
While listening I do most of the work: I learned my lessons by reading them aloud while in high school I persisted in making cards, something that did not serve me at all.
“Morality, do not insist on re-reading your lessons in your head if you need to declaim the whole thing.
by being benevolent: “It's not just a question of ticking the boxes of your to-do, but also of telling yourself that you are proud of yourself, even grateful.
Ticking boxes over the long term is not enough.
In the same way, "you have to do things for yourself, not for your parents, not for a ranking, but for yourself": "I stopped comparing myself to others in prep and I especially tried to put in perspective my evolution in relation to my own grades over the year, because we are all different with different backgrounds and it is often more unhealthy than anything else to compare ourselves”.
3. In practice, we sort, tidy up and settle down
At home, we take stock, we sort: our course stuff, our pens, but also our outfits (and we sell on Vinted or Le bon coin or donate to associations).
No need to go so far as to apply Marie Kondo's method, but in 2017, almost half of student accommodation was studios and 42% measured less than 30 m2: the more you separate yourself from the superfluous, the more space you gain. .
Read alsoVIDEO.
“It will be stressful”: with inflation, families and students fear the start of the school year
Once everything is sorted, it's time to set up a dedicated workspace according to what suits you best - in small spaces, you have to compete in ingenuity, but it does exist.
And on a daily basis, we are flexible.
Léna remembers: “I worked on my history or literature lessons on my couch, I was more at ease and I recited them aloud.
But in school, when I had finance lessons, I worked on a table.
What I liked above all was to vary the work environments: at home, at the café or even in the library.
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4. The choice of tools that suit us
On a daily basis, once the start of the new school year is behind you, certain tools should help you get organized.
“I use Notion a lot to organize myself on a daily basis and have my to-do lists for the day, or my goals for the month.
Also I put all my notes, my classes and my schedule for the day.
To plan appointments, there's nothing like an online agenda like Google Calendar, where you can add "things to remember like deadlines for classes or exams."
Also, organize your files well on your computer or in your folders/binders if you take notes by hand: one folder per subject, one folder per subject, in different colors if you wish.
And to mix according to needs: “In prep, I did everything related to learning languages by hand on notebooks, then in school I took everything on the computer.
I could link my courses on Notion, courses that I took on Word or Drive, with a tree structure first by semester, then by subject.
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Whatever the tool, list the tasks you have to do, while avoiding it putting too much pressure on you.
Spread over the day for example and prioritize them.
“In the morning, I make things more complicated, so it's done.
The simplest afternoon!
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Léna, who runs the Youtube channel Lénadorable
5. Get your body moving again
There's nothing like physical activity to get back into the right rhythm - while remembering to adjust your sleep to schedules that allow you to stay awake in class.
Yoga at home or with a teacher, running, cycling that you can also use to get around on a daily basis, climbing, everything is possible!
“The most important thing is to take it step by step,” advises Léna: “Otherwise we won't last.
If you want to run, you have to run 10 minutes first, then increase gradually.
You have to be kind to yourself and sport in the morning allows you to start your day well because you start with the most difficult.
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6. Demonstrate lucidity
Two last principles to remember: no need to spend your time working, at some point if the boat is too loaded, you crack and that's normal.
“When you feel that you can't hold on, you have to break this routine and take time to decompress.
Also, differentiate between laziness and the need to breathe.
It comes with time, reassures Léna.
“Sometimes I have no balance at all, but that's okay.
You have to avoid feeling guilty because the most important thing is to put in place good habits to feel good and therefore sometimes say to yourself 'I'm not going to be productive, too bad, I need time to get better' " .
There are days with and days without, but you have to distinguish between procrastination and the need for air.
Instagram, Youtube, Facebook or even Twitter, Lénadorable has invested in the networks with one idea in mind: to offer its many subscribers (110,000 on Youtube) videos filled with practical advice for enjoying their studies well.
For six years, she has published on various subjects such as exam survival guides, quick and inexpensive meal ideas for students, but also interviews with other students who talk about their daily life at the Ecole du Louvre, in law school, studying jewelry or journalism.
She also launched Dimanche pépouze, a podcast "to fulfill your studies and lead a trouble-free pépouze student life", in which she receives students "passionate and fulfilled in their careers who have encountered moments of doubt and failure and deliver everything to you without any filter".
