Between having a busy class schedule, hours of studying to do, making time for friends and sleep, and maybe even having to keep up with a job on top of it all, it is extremely easy to get disorganized. Before you know it there are textbooks thrown in a pile on your desk, assignments and notes flooding out of your folders, and dirty dishes growing some sort of funk on them from piling up for days on end. Soon information, meetings, class times, and work schedules are all misplacing themselves in your brain. How can anyone possibly juggle it all without some sort of organization?
Although staying organized while in college seems like a tough task, it is definitely the key to not only staying sane, but also to being successful.
Here are some tips for keeping organized this quarter… and all quarters following:
#1- Use a Planner and keep it with you at all times
Write down everything in your planner; your class times, assignment deadlines, exam dates, work schedule, meetings, doctors appointments, your friends’ birthdays. Print out your class syllabi and tape each of them in the back of your planner for easy access to your professors’ office hours and any information you may need regarding course info throughout the quarter. It will be a lot easier to make a plan for assignments and a study plan for exams if you have all of the information you need readily available in one location. Aside from all of the ‘work’ you have to do, also write down any upcoming vacations or events that you have planned. This will keep you excited and motivated for what’s to come!
#2- In your planner, write down specific study plans and duties for the day (and stick with them!)
Creating a reasonable to do list is essential to staying organized and on top of all of your responsibilities. The word reasonable is key here. If you create a plan to read two chapters of your evolutionary psychology textbook, study two lectures for your statistics class and do your laundry all in one evening, you most likely aren’t going to be able to check everything off of your list. This might leave you feeling unaccomplished and perhaps defeated, which is exactly the opposite of what staying organized and creating a plan for your day is meant to do.
#3- Create your own due-dates for assignments a few days before they are actually due
This will prevent you from procrastinating until the last night and will actually enhance your work. Research has shown that procrastinators actually turn in assignments of poorer quality and are less successful in their work than those who leave themselves time to complete their assignments a bit before the due date. This task will alleviate much of the stress that comes from all of the course work that we are simultaneously dropped on by our professors during midterms and finals week.
Image Via Giphy
#4- Schedule time to do your chores
We have all experienced the day when we are sifting through the dirty laundry that’s sprawled across our bedroom floor, smelling shirt after shirt to see if any are ‘wearable’ since laundry is usually the last task on your to-do list. Schedule in time to do your laundry, tidy things up around the house, and do your dishes as you get them dirty. Now I know everyone always says oh I’ll do my chores on Saturday or Sunday morning.. However, this tactic usually doesn’t work so well when you wake up hungover or exhausted on Sunday morning. Schedule your chores to do one night after class while everyone else is laying low or hung up in the library studying.
#5-Get ready for your morning the night before
Pick out your outfit, put the K-cup in your Keurig, make your lunch, have all of your assignments (and snacks) ready to go in your backpack. This will create for a stress free morning and will help start your day off in a more positive, less rushed way.
Start off by implementing a few of these changes into your daily routine, and your stress levels will slowly begin to subside and your days will be much more successful!