“New year, new me,” you don’t say to yourself as you get ready for the first day of class. It’s not that you don’t want to improve in your academics, extracurricular involvements, romantic and platonic relationships and generally as a person this semester, it’s just that no one says that anymore. It’s a new school year, and you’re leaving your lamest hashtags behind – along with that twin XL bedding from freshman year.
Staying organized can be tricky, though. School picks up quickly, and before you know it, you have twenty assignments due by midnight on Friday and you can’t even remember the names of the classes you’re taking when someone asks. This year, you can beat the confusion and stress before it begins by staying a bit more organized than you have in the past.
1. Invest in a planner. A good one.
If you didn’t know, there’s actually a virtual world out there of people who are really into writing in planners and agenda books. There are stickers and colors and fancy pens and people encouraging one another through platforms like Instagram to be as motivated and organized as they can. While that might be a little intense for the average student, the takeaway here is that planners can be more useful than you’d realize. This is your lifeline. Write down exam dates, meeting times, assignment deadlines, work hours, and social events. There are lots of more involved planners out there, too, if you’re interested in varied weekly spreads and monthly calendars or opportunities to reflect on your accomplishments with pen and paper. Choose what works for you!
2. Accept online organizational tools as your best friend
Google Calendar and iPhone reminders will only help you in the end. Worried about losing your planner or forgetting to write down a meeting? Mark it in your calendar and set a reminder. With a foolproof backup plan, you’ll never miss a beat. Look at you, you young professional!
3. Color code and label. This is college: being dorky is cool when you’re trying to get a job after graduation.
Optional, but helpful. Coordinate the colors of notebooks and folders, designate different class papers with different colored dividers, write vocab words for each unit in different colored pens and label your coursework and due dates on papers. It’s super nerdy, but now, it’s super you. Be proud.
4. Keep your room clean
Some people argue that you’ll be able to spot someone who really has their life together by whether or not his or her bed is made in the morning. That might be a bit extreme. Maybe your bed isn’t made because you’re taking 25 credits and have more meetings and classes than you have time for sleep. Maybe it’s unmade because you’re too busy out there seizing the day and making opportunities for yourself. But there is something to be said about someone who can be doing the most for themselves and has the ability to make time for the things they feel need to get done. If you’re waking up two minutes earlier so you have time to make your bed and take out the trash on your way to class, you’ve got it together. While this isn’t really a true judge of your organizational skill or put-togetherness, keeping your room clean in general can help you declutter your mind and overall stress load.
5. Designate days for your most mundane tasks
Got laundry, dirty dishes or a bathroom that needs cleaning? Turn Sunday into your cleaning day to start your week off right. Routines might be boring, but laundry was never that fun to begin with.
6. Learn what works for you and stick to it
People will swear by the best tools that helped them organize their lives, but it all comes down to what works well for you. If you hate writing down your schedule, or you prefer to clean a messy room at the end of the week instead of making your bed each day, you probably know best.
Staying organized is one of the strongest moves you can make in terms of self-improvement and personal maturity. School can be stressful, and being a teenager or a twenty-something is far from a forgiving time. This year, take a deep breath, tackle a little at a time, and power through. With the organizational aspects already done, you’re already halfway there; at the very least, you know what you’re doing when you wake up in the morning.