Living on my own has been a big change, and I’d say I’ve, for the most part, handled it pretty well. I’ve completed my required assignments, eaten a decent healthy diet, and kept my room surprisingly tidy. But I decided last week that a lot of my habits need to be stepped up.

My sleep schedule, for example, has been completely mutilated. I sometimes get to bed sooner on the weekends after parties than I do on a weekday after homework. It’s not uncommon for me to finally decide to hit the hay at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday night, knowing that I need to wake up about five hours later. Part of this is a high level of activity. (As much as I hate to admit it, taking 18 hours isn’t quite as easy as I expected.) On top of studying, I spend a lot of time with my fraternity: either hanging out, volunteering around town or studying more. Add in two-hour Skype conversations at all kinds of times of day with friends back home, you can see why organizing my time is a challenge.

But my self-inflicted sleep deprivation is the result of more than just a busy schedule. I had pretty poor time-management. Between checking Facebook ten times per day, researching conspiracy theories and spending time blogging, I wasn’t devoting nearly enough time to my studies. This really hit me hard when I took my first Calculus II test and I realized that reviewing material might actually be worth my time.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been redesigning my study habits. This has been a gradual process, and I admit that I’m still not a perfect student. (Last night was another late one, and my intake of this morning’s Calc lecture suffered because of it). But I’m slowly finding out what works for me. I’ve found that it’s really nice to get out of my quite room and overly-stimulating fraternity house, and do my studying in coffee shops and other stereotypical places. I’ve also started writing out a daily schedule next to my to-do list, which has helped much more than I would guessed.

I’m glad to have all of the necessary resources to make this transformation. Iowa City has a plethora of intriguing venues for studying, and my fraternity brothers have been helpful in improving my habits. I can’t imagine trying to make these changes without them.