As a retired procrastinator, I know how hard it can be to stay organized, especially when you’re trying to balance your mental health, your social life, and your academics as a college student. Here are some steps that you can take to make sure your 2025 is just a little bit more organized than last year.
1. Investing in a Planner
Planners are an easy way to organize your year, week by week. They help you keep track of your ongoing assignments in various classes and improve overall time management skills. It took me a while to finally invest in a planner, but once I did, I was pleasantly surprised. It 100% helped me stay on top of my schoolwork during my freshman year.
2. Journaling
Everyone always claims that journaling is the key to self-expression and emotion regulation, and though that is very true, it can also serve as a tool to express the goals that you want to achieve in the new year. I started journaling in high school, and it truly helped me navigate those four years both emotionally and academically. As I go further into my sophomore year of college, I still heavily rely on journaling to help me stay on point.
3. Creating and Maintaining a routine
When you create a routine for yourself, you are creating a mental checklist for your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Maintaining a routine can eliminate stress and increase overall productivity. I can’t lie, in college it is very easy to lose sight of your routine. There is always a new event to attend or something new to do. But I promise that abiding by a set routine will be rewarding in the long run.
4. Using Pinterest
By using Pinterest, you can create different boards, by accumulating pictures, or pins, that are categorized by various ideas or topics. Many people have various boards with inspirational quotes, their desired future careers, or what they want to achieve in the next 5 to 10 years… This app is a very underrated tool for organizing.
5. Having Friends that Hold You Accountable
As a college student especially, it is important to surround yourself with people who have similar goals as you, so that you can work towards those goals together. Friends who motivate, graduate!!!! My roommate and I do a good job at making sure the other stays on top of their school work because we both know how badly the other wants to succeed. This is a great way to ensure that both you and your friends stay organized.
At the end of the day, we are all just trying to get this degree! By employing these basic tools, you can make that journey just a little bit easier.