21-year-old final-year student Martin Hrnjak shares his words of wisdom on five habits to form during your time at uni that will help you to develop as a person and, when you graduate, ease the transition into the world of work…
I am in my final year of university, and yet again face a turning point in my life (these things seem to appear more often than when I was a teenager). Soon I will be exiting student life, and will be entering professional life.
Now those of us students (must make the most of being able to say I’m a student!) who have had internships during our education are fortunate in the fact that they will not be completely without experience. Experience is good, but as somebody who is moving from being an intern to being a part-time and later a full-time employee myself, I can say that the transition is not all smooth sailing.
As all of this information is very fresh in my mind, I thought it might help any students who are just beginning their university years to hear about some habits that they can begin developing ASAP, that will help them later on to ease the move into work life…
1. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy
That’s right folks – this is a very important point to remember. If you don’t make time for yourself, getting burnt out is not a question of if but when, despite it going against what just about everyone thinks, more is not always better.
By resting and giving yourself time to recover from stress, when you do work, you are more efficient, relaxed and your productivity is higher; this also falls in line with the next habit.
2. Manage your time
So many times I hear my peers say that they ‘do not have time’ for something. Yet whenever I ask them what they do in their free time, most don’t know what to answer, and the honest ones answer ‘I browse reddit, Facebook, Tumblr, etc’. Think about it… how many hours a day do you spend on sites like these? A lot of the time it is out of sheer boredom that we visit these pages. Now imagine if you used all that time to get your homework done, or work a part-time job – or anything else that is much more productive than endless scrolling.
3. Handle your feelings
And no, that doesn’t mean keep them bottled up inside until you explode; this means you should take the time to reflect on yourself. Let’s face it, his time of your life is turbulent – you’ve probably moved out of home for the first time, if you’re not living in halls you’ll need to learn to take care of a flat or shared student house, deal with bills, take care of yourself, cook, budget and, of course, find time to study and socialise. There’s no doubt it can get overwhelming, but instead of giving up and living the life of a slob, take the time to work through your problems and feelings and chug on. I promise if you keep moving forward, you will look back at one point asking yourself why you were even worried.
4. Surround yourself with the right people
It is said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with, so make sure those five people are the kind of people you would not mind being yourself. This also involves networking – university is not just about studying, that is not the ‘main course’ so to speak. University is just as much about meeting people and becoming a person worth meeting. The more people you know, the better off you will be both in the present, and also down the line when you are in search of a job.
If you’re shy, this can be hard, but always keep in mind that everyone is in the same boat as you and that nobody worth knowing will judge you for wanting to meet people.
5. Take care of your fitness
If you don’t make time for fitness now, you will regret it later. Instead of worrying about how long a journey you have ahead of you, think about the last time you said just that; if you had been pursuing your goals since then, you would probably already have met them.
Fitness will keep you motivated, and keep your mind right – this is scientific fact. The more driven and confident you are, and the better your outlook on life is, the more likely you will find yourself in a situation that will benefit you down the line.
The sooner you build these habits, the more enjoyable your time at university will be. Of course, there are more than five habits that will benefit you, but these can be considered as the first drop in the water to create a ripple effect of good habits and effective work.
Martin is currently studying in Denmark, where he is in the final semester of his Marketing Management Bachelor’s degree. He recently began a new job as a marketing executive in a small fashion start-up Trendhim. During his studies, he worked as a fitness instructor, and strongly believes university is a time where there are lots of opportunities to grow and develop yourself.
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