Staring at a computer screen for hours on end, day after day, week after week, has become the new “normal”, making life more difficult for the majority of people. It is undoubtedly strenuous and tough to force yourself to muster the discipline to stay organized and be able to work in that position. That being said, we at Her Campus ASU are here with you and we’ve come up with a few tips to help you.
- Get. A. Planner!
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A planner is crucial when it comes to organizing your academic assignments, daily activities, and any other events that may come up in between. uch as, student organization meetings or even a family dinner. While your planner could be expensive and come stocked with the prettiest stickers and colors, it does not have to be that way. Many planners are affordable, under $10 that span the entire academic year through the summer, and can be found at your local drugstores. Such as, CVS, and grocery stores, like Walmart or Target. It is time consuming to go through your entire syllabi or Google Calendar and rewriting each and every date and task by hand, but it is satisfying to be able to look at those tasks daily and feel pride at the end of the day once you have completed as many as you could to the best of your ability.
- Schedule Your Day
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In college, it is harder to schedule your day when you may have 3, or even 4 hour breaks between some of your classes. This is just another reason why you should try to schedule your day so those 3 or 4 hours are still productive or are allotted for valuable self-care time. The night before, you could write in your planner how you plan on scheduling the day, or you could even write it on a post-it note and keep it in a place where you know you will look multiple times a day, so you can be reminded of what you should be doing at a certain time. Schedule in time for meals and relaxation like that afternoon nap after a long day of classes. Make sure you allot time for your classes, as well as ample time to attend office hours and study outside of class. Lastly, make sure you schedule time for yourself, such as working out or catching up on Netflix shows. You do not need to schedule every single minute of the day, but a general idea, such as “12 pm – 2 pm: Laundry!” is sufficient and will help you continue to stay organized.
- Understand when the Workday is Done
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Lastly, it is so easy, especially as a collegiate during a pandemic where everything is online, to forget the difference between work and play. Studying at all hours of the night when you don’t need to, responding to work emails past 8 pm, or even staring at Canvas assignments after you have turned them in and there is nothing due for days, is detrimental to how you will stay organized. Organization is simply moving on from one task to the next seamlessly and not going back once something is finished. If you spend your entire day working, that is not organization; you need to find a time when you are truly done for the day, and stick to it. This time may change daily, and that’s okay, but once it’s done it needs to be done. You should have time for yourself, your loved ones, and the things that bring you the most joy. Working all day is not the answer, and understanding when that time is truly done is important and key to organization.
We at HerCampus hope your first week of the new academic year went well, and we continue to wish you the best of luck in the coming days. Make sure you try these organization tips and let us know if they helped you, or you have any to add that we could also try!