Winter semester is in full swing, and I would be impressed if you weren’t at least a bit overwhelmed. Suddenly, we’re being thrown back into rushed deadlines and overflowing to-do lists, and somehow, you’re already behind.
If you fell off track towards the tail-end of last semester, don’t fret! You don’t have to let that define the schedule you settle into for the rest of your academic year.
Here are three habits you can incorporate into your daily routine to get your life together this semester.
Sincerely, a digital calendar enthusiast.
- Even Eating Breakfast Should be on Your Digital Calendar
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I don’t know about you, but if I have nothing planned on my day off, I will rot in bed for the entire day. Having an endless void of free time might sound nice in theory, but is it really what we need to get stuff done? Not exactly.
Try creating “events” for individual assignments or activities throughout your day — even for the little things. Your breakfast, your makeup and hair routine, even your pilates class, everything should be accounted for. Now all that’s left to do is to stick to it!
It’s difficult to see such a large chunk of time and divide it up in your head. That’s where a digital calendar comes in! By blocking out bite-sized chunks of time for each task that you want to get done, a whole day becomes much more manageable.
- Notion is Your New Best Friend
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If you’ve never heard of Notion, I’m about to change your life. Notion is a customizable digital workspace where you can organize everything. To-do lists, note-taking, journaling, you name it! Even if you’re not naturally an organized person, this app will make it seem easy.
Notion is the foundation of everything I get done on a daily basis. For my university work, I track all of my assignments in a to-do list, take all of my notes on personalized pages, and keep all of my professor and syllabus information handy.
Don’t know where to start? Luckily, Notion has a variety of free templates to get you started with AI suggestions. I’ve included an example page of how I like to organize my classes!
- Nothing Due? No Problem
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Imagine: you’re looking at the next few days of your schedule and you have nothing due. That means you shouldn’t work on anything today… right?
If you’re guilty of this mindset, you might actually be setting yourself up for failure. Just because something isn’t urgently due doesn’t mean that you can’t get a head start! Those miraculous days when you have nothing to hand in are often the best times for quality work. There’s no imminent stress to complete projects at break-neck speed and, on top of that, you’re saving future you a last minute cram.
Hot girls meet deadlines and working in a consistent flow rather than alternating between constant cramming and recovering is the key to being that girl.
Pro tip: keep your to-do list in chronological order so that you can simply move down the list as you go!
While productivity is great, it’s essential to make sure you save a little time each day just for you. No one works efficiently when they’re burnt out, no matter how many organizational strategies they use.
The rest for me looks like going to yoga class, journaling about my day, or watching my favourite YouTubers. Find what works for you and hey, you could even put it in your calendar.