As a college student, living an organized lifestyle is key to being successful. If you’re like me, trying to stay on top of my academics and all of my other non-academic obligations is no easy feat. Life in college is difficult enough, but when you add the challenge of multiple due dates, maintaining a social life, and trying to remain active in campus organizations, can seem overwhelming and undoable. For some, the responsibility of keeping a planner may seem overwhelming. However, after considering the various benefits of planner-keeping one can easily see that time used to organize a planner is far greater than the burden of maintaining it. Here’s a few of the many benefits to keeping a planner.
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Planners keep all of your obligations are in one place
When you’re in college, having different schedules for different days of the week can be challenging to keep track of. Add on top of that, different meetings, appointments, birthdays, get-togethers, holidays, ect. To put simply, trusting your memory to keep your schedule in order. With a planner, all you’d have to do is turn to today’s date and see that you have a lecture at 2:30 and that you should call and wish your aunt a happy birthday. Also, depending on the planner you decide to use, keeping track of weekly, monthly, and yearly goals, as well as plans-of-action, and daily to do lists is easy an can even increase your productivity.
- Writing in a planner makes it harder to miss due dates
Have you ever lost points on an assignment because you turned it in late? How about forgotten about an assignment until just after the due date has passed? If these things are happening to you, you would definitely benefit from using a planner. Not only does having a planner provide a visual reminder of when your assignments are due, but it will also help you keep those due dates a priority. According to organization expert Daniel Levitin using techniques like bullet journals to plan your life externalizes your memory; taking the details of your mind and applying them to something visual allows you to clear your mind of unnecessary details and keep in mind the important information.
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Planners allow you to enjoy your free time
By organizing your life via planner, the time you have to do nothing and the time you have to relax becomes clearer. This year, I changed my planner from a daily planner to a daily planner that allows for hourly entries. Some people might think this is obsessive, but for me it keeps me ahead of my goals and lets me know exactly how much time I need to dedicate to working, and how much time I have to socialize. Setting realistic time management goals allows to get ahead on my work and truly enjoy my free time without an assignment or task looming over my head. Even if using a daily and hourly organized planner isn’t your thing, setting aside time on a certain day or during the week to complete a task/assignment verses simply remembering that it is due increases productivity. Greater productivity means more free time and less that you have to worry about doing during your free time.
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Planners allow you to manage stress
When you’re in college, not managing your stress can be detrimental to your academic success. During the first couple of semesters in college, the multitude of my stress originated from poor time management skills. Like I said, going to college is difficult enough, you can make it so much easier by simply keeping a planners. Not only do planners make it easier to keep a record of your due dates and appointments, but they also allow you to break down your work and make it appear more manageable and overall less stressful.