Finally, you have done it. You have successfully spent your days in school learning how to make slide-shows in Powerpoint, memorized the dates when monarchs went on a war with each other and almost busted your heads trying to remember SAT vocabulary.

Now what? You have gotten into college and a whole lot of it has changed. You don’t have parents to keep you in check anymore neither you have teachers running behind you for your homework submissions. There are no curfew times to get yourself back home on time and no one to get your laundry done for you. Instead, you have piles of homework to submit under the tight deadlines, a room to keep clean, a stomach to fill and your grades to keep from spiraling down. 

Besides cracking your heads to manage all of this, you also have to fit in and be accepted while keeping yourself away from influences. College is different, and nailing the college life like a boss needs different sets of skills altogether. In this article, we shall discuss five effective and easy ways for students to become self-dependent and swiftly transform to the next phase of their life.  

Plan a schedule: Prerequisite to guilt-free partying. 

Learning to plan a schedule and sticking to it is an integral part of growing up and a prerequisite habit to gain independence. To be truly independent you have to stop relying on people and circumstances to push you into doing things on time. You have to develop a conscious mechanism to stick to your schedule.  

A checklist might come handy to help you stick to your daily tasks. Ensure that you can access your checklist everywhere and all the time by installing a to-do app on your phone. As you breeze through the day, you can just start striking out the tasks that you complete.  It might sound counter-intuitive, but if you stick to your schedule daily, you will find more time to socialize and even party guilt-free. 

Choose Your Friends Wisely

It is a common saying that a man is known by the company he keeps. It is very natural for a human to shape one’s self according to one’s surroundings. If you surround yourself with the bad company, it is likely that you’ll pick up a few traits from them along the way. In college, one is exposed to a variety of people. Studying in a diverse community helps you grow your perspective and learn about different cultures. But at the same time, if you are not mindful about your peer group and don’t choose your friends wisely, you may end up exposing yourself to unprecedented situations due to peer pressure. People move out of their homes at 18 to the universities thinking they’ll find independence. But is it really independence if you stay prone to being enslaved by peer pressure every now and then? 

Learn to Introspect

Once independent, you become your own master. There wouldn’t be anyone to guide you with the rights and wrongs. You’ll have to be your own guide and figure out things for yourself. Introspection is an art, mastering which would help you attain clarity about yourself and would let you be your own person. 

All of us have to go through a journey of self-realization to actually become an individual. Very few get it in high school itself, and they go on to become the Bill-Gates’s of the world. The rest eventually figure out their path and go on to do wonderful things with their lives. 

Introspection helps you become self-aware and stay true to yourself. It lets you evaluate your circumstances without any biases and thus, truly liberates you from pretence. With an unbiased vision, it becomes easier for you to decide your own path.

Track your expenses: Gain financial independence. 

Financial Independence is an imperative necessity for one to thrive and grow. But it is also one of the toughest parts to manage in college. While it may be difficult to control your expenses when you are socializing, you can make it a thumb rule to not spend on things that are unrequired. If at all you find some people forcing you into making such decisions, you can decide on maintaining a healthy distance from them. While you are planning your finances, these thumb rules might come handy

• Cut down on loaning out your money to people who don’t pay back on time. 
• Keep a track of your daily, weekly and monthly expenditure and figure out the wasteful patterns. 
• Start saving with a little amount daily and keep increasing the amount gradually. 
• Don’t spend money on things that you are not sure you would use again. 
• Keep a buffer or a safety amount that you would be able to use at the times of emergency. 

Study Smart 

Another aspect of Independence is academic independence. Are you truly an adult or an independent individual if you depend on others to gather class notes or make assignments? While a little help from peers and classmates is a necessary part of student life, it shouldn’t be the case all the time. 

Not all of the information that is vital for success would be covered in the lecture notes to their depth. The stuff that makes the classroom discussions adds on to it and makes a crucial part by far. It helps you aggrandize your intellect and broaden imagination. Try to be attentive in lectures and participate in all the discussions so that you don’t miss out on anything. 

The most important part of academic independence is to learn concepts on your own. If you missed a lecture, conduct rigorous research on the topic and attempt to read from the book before you seek someone else’s help to understand the topic. Get into a habit of self-study and learning by attempting. 

That was all for this article mates. Glad you followed till here. Now we have done our part. We brought you some insightful techniques to truly be independent and liberate yourself. Now, it is your turn. Make the best use of your time and the opportunity you have. 

Author Bio:

Koby Mahon is an experienced academic consultant and is working in a multi-national based out of Syndey, Australia. His primary role is to gather and share valuable reports with the team that provides university assignment help to students. Koby also contributes blogs and articles on education, assignment help, mental health, and more to authoritative websites.