Did the summer really go by that quickly?!  It’s already August and that means “back to school…” but also back to dance!  Heading back to your regular school schedule and activities can be an exciting—but overwhelming—whirlwind.  Here are our organizational tips to help you stay on top of your game this fall.

1. Write everything down in a paper planner.  Keep your schedule straight by jotting down all your classes, rehearsals, auditions, and competitions.  Make sure to write down due dates for big projects or assignments for school, too.  Color coordinate your planner—dance, school, special events, and hanging out with friends—so you can get a visual sense of how you can best balance your time and energy.

2. Download a distraction-blocking app.  For at least a few hours each day, lock yourself out from social media so you can focus your full attention on your schoolwork.

3. Set a consistent sleep schedule.  With your academic workload and all your dance classes, it can be difficult to prioritize sleep.  But teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep each night to function at their best.  And for an athlete like you, that rest and recovery time is extra important.  Determine your wake-up time (aka when you’ll set your weekly alarm) and subtract 8-10 hours from that to plan out when you should be hitting the hay each night.

4. Set yourself up for success the night before.  Pack your backpack, make your lunch, lay out your clothes, and get together your dance bag before you go to bed so you don’t have to worry about these tasks in the morning.

5. Ease yourself back into dance class.  Besides a few summer intensives, you probably took a bit of a break from dance…and that’s okay (#vacation)!  Don’t dive back in full force without taking the time to warm-up, fuel your body, get adequate sleep, and stretch after class.  The worst thing that could happen is an injury at the start of the season.  Listening to your body will be the key to bouncing back carefully and efficiently.

Heading back to school (and back to dance) sometimes feels like New Year’s Eve.  It’s exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time.  Take thirty minutes out of your day to write a little journal entry listing your goals for the new (school) year.  Tape this list on the inside of your planner as a daily reminder to stay positive, motivated, and organized!