10 Tips to Make Spring 2024 Your Best Semester Yet

The Spring 2024 semester has begun for NCU students, making this the perfect time to develop new goals and habits for a holistically healthier lifestyle. 

If you are wanting to set goals for yourself but don’t know where to begin, if you want to choose health but are not sure how to start, or if you want to remove distracting or toxic things from your life, this list is for you! Here are 10 tips to make Spring 2024 your best semester yet!

Set Achievable and Specific Goals

What are some things you want to start (or stop) doing this year? Don’t simply set your goals, but come up with action plans on how you will achieve your goals. For example, if you want to become more dedicated in your devotional/prayer life, what are some specific steps you can take in order to accomplish that goal?

Begin With the End in Mind

Don’t put pressure on yourself to achieve your goals right away! Many people get discouraged and stop chasing their goals when they no longer seem attainable. Instead of focusing on making changes at the beginning of the year, think about the end of the year. What do you want your life to look like then? 

Create a Vision Board

What do you want this year to look like? What quotes or images represent what your 2024 will be?

Choose a Word to Focus On

If you could choose one word that you want to represent your year, what would it be? How could you set up your goals to revolve around this word?

Invite God Into Your Year

What do you want your relationship with God to look like this year? Take active steps to make him part of each day. Try the Bible in a year reading plan, or joining a life group at your church to keep you accountable. If you aren’t plugged into a church, make it a priority to find one that works for you. 2024 will be better because of it!

Prioritize Your Health

What are some changes you could make in order to make 2024 a year of holistic health? You could take advantage of our on-campus counseling team, choose to go to bed earlier, drink more water, or spend time being active in NCU’s fitness center. 

Each Day is a Fresh Start

If you lapsed on your goals yesterday, don’t worry! Instead of getting discouraged, remind yourself that you can start fresh every day. But, on another note, make sure you aren’t putting things off for tomorrow that can be done today!

Spend Less Time On Your Phone

Delete apps that are taking up too much of your time, begin your day with devotions instead of scrolling, or end your day with journaling instead of spending hours on social media. Whatever works for you! The less time spent on devices, the happier and healthier you will be.

Replace, Don’t Remove

In order to successfully break old habits, you need to replace them with a new habit. For example, if you begin to spend less time on your phone, what will you plan on doing during that time instead?

Gratitude is Powerful

End each day reminding yourself of all the blessings you received during the day. Even if you had what felt like the worst possible day, there was something (even if it was small) to be thankful for. If you absolutely can’t think of anything, start resolving to look for those small blessings throughout your day! Looking at life through a lens of gratitude is life-changing. 

Starting a new semester can be both intimidating and exciting! This can be a time of reflection, goal setting, and habit creating, and it is important to do these things with intentionality and grace for yourself. Ask yourself what you need to prioritize or remove. Take that step and reach out to the on-campus counselors. Begin each day with the Lord. Choose gratitude. Get your steps in, and delete those apps that are taking up so much of your time. Your future self will be so thankful!