We all live busy lives, but how do we keep everything in check? How do we make sure that we finish our research paper, attend club meetings, get to work on time, and go to class all on the same day? Luckily, there is a solution to help you stay on top of everything: a daily planner. It may be one of the best investments you make.
Here are five reasons that using a daily planner could not be more helpful in keeping our lives organized and reducing the stress we face as college students living in fast-paced New York City.
1. Time Table
The most important feature of a daily planner is the time table. This feature may not seem like it adds a lot of value at first glance, but you will likely find yourself relying on it constantly throughout your jam-packed day. Being able to quickly jot down everywhere you have to be at each hour of the day ensures that you will never miss a meeting or forget a deadline. The time table can also help you improve your time management skills: you can allocate certain segments of the day to studying for an exam or beginning to chip away at a big project. Plus, you’ll soon find yourself being on time, or maybe even early, for almost everything!
2. Monthly Calendar
While this may sound obvious, utilizing the monthly calendar to fill in major events and important due dates ahead of time allows you to truly see the “big picture.” It will give you a sense of the times of the month and year when you are either busiest at work, or need to devote the majority of your time and energy to schoolwork. If you tend to be forgetful, marking down events that will happen three to four months in the future will help you remember them later on when you flip through the monthly pages. You can also try color-coordinating the events or using stickers to make certain ones stand out on the page.
3. Extra Space
Most daily planners come with extra writing space at the bottom of the time table or in the back of the agenda. Don’t forget to utilize this free space to your advantage! You can write down assignments that need be submitted each week, create to-do and grocery lists, keep track of your spending and budget, or jot down anything else that pops into your head during the week. This extra space can truly be used for anything. Try outlining your academic and personal goals for the semester, or start a bucket list. As the old saying goes, “no time like the present!”
4. Being Organized
The true purpose of a planner is that it keeps you organized. Yes, there is Google Calendar and countless other apps that help people with time management and productivity. But, interacting with paper and pencil and actually writing everything down by hand will help you to better remember all that you need to accomplish.
5. Expressing Yourself
One of the most enjoyable aspects about keeping a planner is that you can personalize and decorate it to express your unique style. Try writing in different colored pens, creating your own system of symbols to represent certain types of tasks, or purchasing some fun stickers on Etsy. It’s totally up to you! Plus, there is absolutely no limit to how much you embellish it. Adding your own flare to your planner is not only something that you can’t do on an app, but it also will make you smile every time you reach for it.