Looking back on high school, I would say that I was somewhat organized with my work, school events and social life. Some may argue (usually my mom) that I was anything but organized which led to her practically begging me to use a planner. She would randomly buy different planners for me, every color and style imaginable, just to try to get me to use one. With that said, it’s not like I didn’t want to try or wasn’t grateful for the planners she gave me, just the same thing would happen every time I attempted to use one. I mean, I definitely can say that I liked to argue that I didn’t need a planner and that I had this special ability to remember everything I needed to. Although the times I would try to change my habits and attempt to use it, I would put my best effort and write very detailed notes and events in hopes that would be the year, or even the day, that I would actually be successful in using it. However, the same thing would happen… I wouldn’t look at my beautiful and detailed notes, let alone even open my planner. It’s like I had short-term memory loss when I wrote the important things in my planner and didn’t even remember it being in my backpack later in the day.
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Fast forward, I’m in college and I realized very quickly that being organized is very crucial in maintaining both your grades… and sanity. For the first time in my life, I actually had an urge to use a planner, and of course, after feeling this I immediately had to call my mom and tell her the good news. Along with wanting to get more organized (hence using a planner), I also just really wanted to figure out how to “college.” In other words, my semi-average grades started flooding in and I realized that I needed some help on not only how to get organized but to figure out how to maximize my time and study skills. My friend mentioned to me that the campus learning center offered a ‘jump start’ course followed by a few one-on-one sessions with an academic coach. So I hopped on the bandwagon real quick and signed up for a jump start course, and it happened to be the same day. The jumpstart session was great and taught me some skills that I will definitely hang onto, like studying a subject for an hour at a time. A week later I went to the academic coach individually and I was so surprised how much I enjoyed it. Coming from a girl who would’ve never have thought she would want or need an “academic coach,” I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed talking through everything school wise with someone. It was so nice to have someone listen to what subjects I enjoy and which ones I’m struggling with, and then help me devise a plan in order to do better. All in all, I think that everyone should see an academic coach (if possible) because it’s such an amazing feeling to know you have someone on your side when it comes to academics because the workload can get so overwhelming, and you deserve to have a support team!
Happy studies!