It’s the start of a new semester, and syllabus week is already far behind us. If you’re starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the hundreds of assignments and textbook chapters you must read, then maybe it’s time to reevaluate your organization system so you can stay on top of your work.
Here are a few tips and tricks I use to help organize my life during the school year.
- Customize your calendar.
-
Whether it’s an online calendar or a physical planner, make sure to utilize a scheduling system. I recommend Google Calendar, as it can be linked to Apple’s calendar app. By simply recording the times of classes, events, and commitments, you’ll be able to visualize how much time you have available in a day.
Color coding is also important when it comes to planning. Categorize calendar items into separate colors. For example, all my classes are listed in shades of red or pink, my workouts are blue, and miscellaneous events are in green. This allows you to see at a glance the amount of time you dedicate to each category.
- Notion.
-
If you haven’t started using Notion, you’re missing out. Notion enables you to create your own organized, digital workspace. It’s highly customizable and easy to navigate. I think of Notion as the home for everything I do on my laptop. I keep my to-do lists, due dates, mood boards, yearly goals, and important links in my Notion setup.
Notion also has its own calendar, which can be linked to other calendars as well. Overall, it’s an extremely useful tool to keep track of your everyday activities.
- Customize your canvas.
-
Canvas can get crowded and messy without proper organization methods to help you stay on top of your assignments. Multiple browser extensions can assist with this, including Better Canvas and Task for Canvas, found on the Chrome Web Store.
Both are free to use and declutter your canvas page so you can focus on completing everything you need to before the deadlines. You can also color-code the cards that correspond to each class.
- School day = Workday.
-
If you find yourself struggling to find time to complete everything you need to in a day, try scheduling each school day as if it were a workday. Add together your class time and your homework time to create a 6 to 8-hour workday. At the same time, make sure that you also include time for yourself, including downtime without a screen, and enough sleep to get you through the day.
- Keep physical materials consistent and simple.
-
Stick to a few notebooks, a selection of pens, and organizational folders. Try to choose supplies that you will actually use during classes and while working on assignments. Don’t overdo it with thousands of fancy writing utensils that will only weigh down your bag.
During my freshman year, I made the mistake of buying too many highlighters and colorful pens that I barely touched. Since then, I’ve paired things down to 3-4 pens, a pencil, an eraser, and a mini stapler to carry in my backpack.
- Make a mini self-care bag for your school bag.
-
Keep a small bag of self-care items in your school bag! I tend to keep a smaller bag with gum, period products, band-aids, a granola bar, hair ties, a few dollars, and some nail glue in my backpack. Choose items that you’ll be grateful to have, especially when you have a bad day.
- Keep your schedule open!
-
All this talk of organization and scheduling may make you feel as if you need to be perfectly organized all the time. However, I encourage you to keep your schedule open. Be flexible! The best events are often the impromptu ones!