Keep a calendar and stay on top of your schedule!

Make a timetable of your classes/seminars

Check emails often

Don’t skip lectures!

Sit in the front row. This will make you focus and help your lecturers remember you - which is actually more important than people think

Build a good relationship with your lecturers AND peers

Visit your professors’ office hours regularly and have catch ups

Go to the library to study! You’ll be more distracted trying to study at home/in your room. If you have to study in your room- turn your phone off

It’s okay to not want to party like everyone else :)

Write down your notes in lectures and type them up after

Join a society/club! This will make sure you have a great work-social life balance, and give you the opportunity to learn something new at least once a week

Colour code notes

It’s just as important not to overwork yourself as it is not to procrastinate (too much)

Keep your desk clean and organised! 

Try to get a good night’s sleep the night before lectures and have a good breakfast in the morning. You will be more focused for it

Keep a journal of your experiences and ambitions

Go to counseling services. UK Universities will have counselling services that can tackle anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Your well-being is as important as your grades

Your degree doesn’t define you. You still have time to explore your options. You don’t have to know what you want to be right now. University is about developing yourself as it is finding a career.

Don’t burn bridges with your friends/loved ones at home. They will be there for you should you need to go home

Live on or near campus. This will save money and give you a sense of belonging

I noticed I get stuck in my head if I’m not doing anything, so I compiled a list of things I do to give my brain something else to focus on. I drew from multiple areas of things because some of these things might relate to your obsessions. In that case, don’t do them. Do something else. There are a lot of options here.

Listen to music– I recommend a coming of age movie soundtrack to feel simultaneously like you are infinitely small and part of something bigger

Bake chocolate chip cookies (put music or a podcast on in the background, sing along to Disney music! Occupy your thoughts with lyrics instead)

Look into how to make your own indoor garden!

Make a terrarium

Play a video game – Minecraft is good and the music is soothing. Play a podcast in the background. I recommend Dear Hank And John because I am vlogbrothers Trash

Read a book

Write a book

Moisturize your body

Paint a sheet of paper with watercolor, let dry, then write on it.

Start a bullet journal

Go on a run. I hate running but I can’t think when I run.

Learn Sign Language. If you have BFRBs, this helps so much to distract yourself. Learning just the alphabet is really easy and insanely helpful

Try to dance, even if you suck at it. Turn off the lights in your room, close your eyes, just dance.

Play Just Dance™. It’s a great game! Get ya exercise on!

Go to an animal shelter, look at cute animals. Local ones sometimes have meet-and-greet days, so I always go when they have a bunny run and I’ll just sit with rabbits. Very cute, bring a friend.

Text someone to tell them that you need a distraction. You don’t have to tell them what.

Poptropica

Make a blog and write a post about what you do to get your mind off things (haha… this is meta)

Watch old Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes and try to solve them.

Do a face mask. I use this when I need to not pick at my skin. Get free samples at Lush! Get a free sample of Cosmetic Warrior you won’t regret it.

Go Thrifting and listen to music/podcasts while you do

Bring a friend over to do ANY of these things with you. Especially if you have a talkative one. Maybe you can’t speak much because you’re in your head, but they usually can.

Try (and fail, probably) to make bath bombs. Idk why but they’re hard! maybe only for me bc I never have any of the ingredients so i just wing it

Go to the Dollar Store, try to find the weirdest product

Play the Sims, make at least one person in the family complete their ambition without cheats

Learn how to sew

Make your bed and clean your room while listening to the Tangled soundtrack

Try online therapy. This isn’t “get your mind off of it” as much as work through it, but it’s important. If you can’t see a therapist in your area, online therapy is great too. Therapy is important to help you be able to do these other distractions.

And that's not a joke or an exaggeration.

If criminals don't have rights, then all the government has to do is find some excuse to label people as criminals, and those people will no longer have rights. It's what literally every tyrannical government in all of history has done.

Perfect spot