Following on from yesterday’s offering, here are five more ‘M‘ things that matter for students. And all because the word ‘matter’ begins with the letter M. Crazy, eh? Anyway, here we go:

MANAGEMENT MATTERS
You are your own boss. Nobody can take that away from you unless you let them.

Productivity is only possible if you manage what you’re doing. So here’s how to briefly manage any aspect of your life (include your life as a whole, if you like!):

• Make a plan
• Edit/Revise the plan if any changes arise (if you can’t fit things in or get it to work, you need to cancel something out, even if you really want it)
• Keep reviewing the plan (if you don’t keep on top of a plan once you’ve written it, why on earth did you write it in the first place!?)
• Stick to the plan

This is very basic, but it works this way. If you know HOW to implement this, you can’t go wrong.

MIND/MEMORY MATTERS
I’m not about to give you loads of special ways to remember stuff. Neither am I going to explain how to study effectively.

All I want to say here is that you needn’t give yourself too much work. It’s best to work smarter, not harder.

This is explained well in detail at Gearfire Student Productivity. So I’ll shut up with this and let you check that link out instead!

MODERATION MATTERS
Obession and addiction are just around the corner. It doesn’t matter what the subject is; if you are going overboard with something, you risk losing focus on what’s REALLY important.

The word ‘moderation’ is used for alcoholic reasons a lot of the time. “Enjoy your drinking in moderation”, is the kind of thing you see placed at the bottom of an advert for vodka, or a poster for a drinks promotion in a pub.

But it’s wise to do ANYTHING in moderation. Most things are fine on the odd occasion, but are best left in with the mix of things, rather than taking up too much time. The important word to note here is BALANCE.

Get your balance right in day-to-day business and you’ll benefit from a much better day. Everything from your leisure time right through to your study time will pack a bigger punch if you do each thing in moderation.

MOOD MATTERS
Over the years, we have become freer to choose our own mood without caring what others think. There are fewer social repercussions then ever. So if we want to have a stinking mood, who’s to stop us?

But this is rather missing the point. Now we can act however we want, we stop trying to improve our mood. If anything, the mood is allowed to magnify and cause even more problems.

Ultimately, the person who benefits least from this is you. What a surprise…

When you next find yourself in a bad mood, there’s obviously nothing worse than bottling it up. But once you’ve let off some steam in whatever way you wish, it’s then time to take your mood in a different direction. No use dwelling on it, you’re better off dealing with it.

Now then…this isn’t a cue to eat handfuls of chocolate or find someone to punch. It is a good cue to do something like this:

• Clean around your room
• Move to a different environment (if you’re at home, go for a walk; if you’re on campus, go into town and take in the vast number of people around you; if you’re in a large group, go and find a peaceful place to gather your thoughts)
• Change your clothes just to get a different feel for the day

These are just examples. Anything that changes the situation should help. It doesn’t really matter what you do, so long as it’s not a quick fix of eating badly or damaging something. You’ll either cause some other problem or be on a real downer later.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
We all like to belong. From a single close friendship, to a subscriber of a worldwide phenomenon, it’s always great to feel like a valued member.

All too often, the focus on membership is sometimes left to one side. If a particular relationship breaks down or you’re not picked for a team, that immediate membership appears broken. It’s at this point that reality melts away, leaving your focus unnaturally on that single issue alone.

To give yourself a boost, always remember your solid memberships elsewhere. When one thing collapses, it rarely takes everything else with it. No matter how difficult a break is, we can get up and put the matter behind us.

Yes, getting over a knock is easier said than done, but you belong to your own special club and you owe it to yourself to make the most of it. And more importantly…to stay a member in the club. Look around you, take in the view, and with a little bit of personal positivity go out there and conquer the world, no matter what’s just happened!

This week, I’m starting with a two-part series.  The series is brought to you by the letter M.  Five M’s that matter today, another five tomorrow.

I’m tempted to do the whole alphabet, but we’ll see…Anyway, what matters for students?

MOTIVATION MATTERS
However taxing a task, however dull a duty, however awful an assignment…you can succeed when you’re motivated to do it.

• Set out rewards for yourself
• Prepare clear goals and tick them off when you’re done
• Focus on your mental attitude and MAKE your time enjoyable
• JUST DO IT! Dwelling on how terrible the job is just makes things worse. Procrastination feels good at first, but it doesn’t solve anything. Once a job is done, it’s done. Getting it out of the way is a great feeling, especially when most other people around you won’t have got their work out of the way!

MONEY MATTERS
When you get that wonderful money deposited into your account, do you get the urge to spend it? Do products suddenly become more easily affordable in the short term?

This might be the first time you’re used to seeing such amounts of money available to you. So instead of going mad on purchases, step back and make sure you realise where that money needs to go.

You’ve got rent, fees, books, stationery, (the occasional) drinks, food, phone bills, other utility bills (if you’re not on campus), and probably other things that you have no choice but to pay up for.

DO Budget
DON’T impulse buy
DO consider purchases carefully
DON’T think about what others are doing with their money
DON’T listen to peer pressure about what to do (and if you can’t afford a round of drinks, don’t get involved in having drinks bought for you in a round…being upfront is not a crime)

MADNESS MATTERS
For all those crazy students who never seem to stop having fun, there are students who want to knuckle down on the work and ignore all the other aspects of university life.

Having a few mad moments should add to your experience and open you up to even more happiness. If you don’t have that work/life balance due to excessive study, it’s just as bad as those people who never seem to do any work.

ME ME ME Matters
It’s okay to be selfish sometimes. Pamper yourself, consider yourself, love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, how can you love others? If you don’t care about your own interests, how can you achieve the grades and experience that is right for you?

You might think about yourself more than anyone else, but you have to go a little bit further and be happy in your own shoes. Because you’re not in anyone else’s, are you?

MUNDANE MATTERS
Excitement is a boon to student life. Always finding something different can spice things up no end. Constantly changing your focus can expose you to goodness knows how many different situations.

But deep down, we all crave routine and recognisable scenarios just as much as we want a difference.

Never neglect the mundane issues. If you don’t keep on top of these little things that happen every day/week/month, there’s a danger of losing all focus. In the end, you face a confusion of ideas that all lead to nothing.

By all means add some variety to what you do, but don’t go overboard. Just remember, the sea can drown you just as easily as it can take you on a cruise and ride the surfing waves…