It’s a new year, a new semester, a new YOU! The year 2013 is a fresh start for you no matter what has happened in the past. It is time to tackle your new year’s resolutions whether that may be to improve your grades, make new friends or hit the gym more often. Yet, how are you going to make time for resolutions on top of school work, social gatherings and naps (let’s be honest, we all take hour naps a few times a week)? The answer is organization! In a few simple steps, I will show you how to organize all of the things that are going on in your life onto a clean, structured schedule…
Build a structured schedule: No more mental notes or writing down last to-do’s on a random post-it. Everything that is going on in your life should be recorded onto your schedule. My suggestion is to buy yourself a big monthly planner that gives you a visual of how busy your day may be and when deadlines are approaching. In your planner, it is best to write down every assignment you may have for class, deadlines for projects or applications, practice and/or club meeting times, social gatherings and any errands you many need to run. In doing so, you are able to prioritize what needs to get done and how much down time you have.
Highlighters: When organizing your schedule in your planner, you might as well make it look pretty and festive. To be completely honest, my planner looks like the inside of a piñata. Using highlighters allows you to organize your to-do’s by color-coding them. Usually, I find it easy to color code it by categories such as; academics, work, sports, applications, etc. In my planner, for example, RA events/meetings/duty times are in pink, swim club meetings, meets and practices are in blue, and teaching assistant assignments are in purple. All deadlines are starred and highlighted.
Deadlines: Deadlines are probably the most important thing to have recorded and highlighted in your schedule. They should be starred & highlighted in order to make them significantly stand out when skimming through your planner. To best complete an assignment or application before its deadline, I find it helpful to give yourself two reminders: one on the day of the deadline and the other a week before the deadline. In doing so, you will never find yourself say “I forgot that was due so soon…how am I ever going to finish this in time?” When you give yourself a warning a week beforehand, you are motivated to complete the task before it is due. For example, I found this method extremely helpful when applying for internships. I was able to see what time I was able to fix my resume and complete my application before the internship application closed out.
And that my collegiettes are the three easy-peasy ways to unclutter you schedule and mind! If you follow these steps, I am sure you are able to have a successful semester and achieve your new year’s resolutions. Happy spring semester!
Love and Luck,
Jacque