Photo by Jason Lee
Even Katniss Everdeen might not want to volunteer as tribute when it comes to going to school 7:40 AM sharp. For most Ateneans, it’s more than the Hunger Games, it’s Game of Thrones. Everyone’s dead even before the semester ends. And by dying, we mean being debarred.
It has been noticeable that most Ateneans try to get rid of the 7:40 class. But [unfortunately] not everyone succeeds in changing their schedule. It’s either we accept it with contempt or we actually drop the subject and take it next semester. Most of us choose the former.
As the semester starts, here are some of the ways that might help you survive the 7:40 challenge:
1. Sleep early. Sounds impossible of course, considering how Facebook and other social media have changed our sleeping patterns. But try anyway. You do not have to change your sleeping pattern immediately. Sleep a bit earlier every night until you reached the desired sleeping time. You’ll get used to it if you do it regularly. Sleeping early will help you wake up early the next day. Also, you won’t have to come to class really sleepy. Plus, it’s a healthy habit.
Alternatively, master the 90-minute sleep intervals! One sleep cycle lasts for approximately 90 minutes, so if you wake up in a 90-minute interval from when you originally slept, you’ll be feeling fresh and ready. Master the technique and you might not need to sleep eight hours anymore!
2. Annoy your morning. An alarm does not work. Alarms do. Set the most annoying alarm you have. Then make sure it repeats three or five minutes after every alarm. Surely, this will wake you up (you have no choice). Just make sure that your anger towards your alarm clock will not be brought to school.
3. Schedule your morning. One of the best things is to schedule. Make a timetable: when to wake up, when to take a bath, when to have your breakfast. Make sure that you follow this schedule. It will help you do a certain routine strictly for a specific interval to prevent delays.
4. Prepare. It is advisable to prepare your things during the night: your books, your gadgets, your assignments. Preparing during the morning will contribute to delays, and there’s a bigger chance that you’ll come to school forgetting some of the important stuff. Of course, you don’t want that, so prepare instead.
Always running late in the morning? Take a bath the night before! No one will notice, promise.
5. Think about the advantages. Think about how 7:40 classes could help you. Remember that in the workplace, you’ll have to be early as well. Treat the schedule as your chance to be disciplined and trained. Being psychologically positive about it, and the long term effects it has, will motivate you. And motivation pushes you to do even the most impossible things (this includes the 7:40 survival).
6. Think about the disadvantages. Think about the drawbacks of NOT coming to school early. Think about how embarrassing it is to come to class with everyone else staring at you. Think about what the teacher will say. Think about what your crush will say with you being tardy. Think about the lessons that you’ll miss! Thinking about the punishment is another motivation. It increases the behavior, Classical Conditioning says.
7. Sprint, sprint, sprint. Honestly not the most advisable way, but the most used. When you’re really late, you have to be as fast as lightning when going to your classroom (just imagine if you’re classroom’s on the 7th floor!). You have to get past everyone else who is also probably sprinting towards their classroom. However, this might not work because most students who try this still arrive three to five minutes late. So you might want to consider steps 1-6.
Surely, for most of us, a 7:40 class is tiresome, annoying, and threatening. But because it exists for good, we have to try our best to survive it. Putting our mind into it, disciplining ourselves, and treating it as a motivation will help us succeed.
May the odds be ever in your favor.