Ah, college! The amazing four years of parties, sporting events, classes, and responsibilities? Getting caught up in the whirlwind of college life, while thrilling, can be exhausting and overwhelming at times. When it feels like the world has given you hundreds of hours of work even though you’re stuck in the confines of a 24 hour day, staying organized may make the “0-100” transitions a little easier, and can keep things simple so you can get back to having fun! Here are a few short snippets to help get you started:
1. Get a Planner: When life hands you plans, write them down! If you keep track of what you’re supposed to be doing throughout the day, getting those things done will become effortless as they’re all lined up neatly in front of you. Whether or not you chose to buy a color coded, hourly planner or write everything down to-do list style instead, you will at least be reminding yourself of your schedule, interests, and responsibilities so you don’t miss out on anything fun!
2. Meal Prep: Cooking meals and cleaning up dishes is not only sometimes boring, but it is also extremely time consuming. Instead of continuously stacking your dirty dishes on the right side of the sink and cooking cups of ramen to save fifteen minutes, dedicate a day to meal prepping and store your meals in a plastic container! That way, you’ve eliminated cook-time, clean-time, and thinking-about-how-or-what-you’re-eating-today-time.
Even grabbing and packing a fruit can give you a burst of energy! Image courtesy of StockSnap.com
3. Do not over-commit: While this seems counterintuitive, over committing can actually make you less productive. Saying “Yes!” to everything/everyone (even if you don’t really want to) can actually prove to be energetically taxing and will limit your abilities to have meaningful experiences as you decide to jam-pack your schedule with random events just for the sake of it. Try not to bite off more than you can chew and you’ll better avoid burnout while giving yourself ample time to finish everything up. Which brings me to my next point…
4. Make time for “Me-Time”: Me-time is so important! The only way to get everything you plan to get done is to make sure you have all of your bases covered before you try and cover anything else! News flash- You can’t hit the party you’ve been eyeing if all of your clothes are dirty. You can’t have a productive day at work if you’re too hungry from a missing pack-lunch to function. You can’t excel in school if you don’t set aside time to study! Make sure you focus on your own goals and needs before heading out of your dorm and you will thank yourself for it!
Take a second to breath and de-stress, you’ll feel better and be more productive! Image courtesy of StockSnap.com.
5. Sleep!: After a day full of running spot to spot, catching a nap or a full-night’s rest is key to giving yourself the energy to complete the next day’s agenda of activities! Nodding off throughout the day and carving out the time for ANOTHER Starbucks run will take you off target and is no fun when there are a million other things you could be doing. So, get rested, get focused, and make this year one to remember!