You know what guys, life is hard. Balancing school, extra-curriculars, work, and social life is such a struggle and its super- duper easy to get stressed and worked up about it all. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are many ways to get everything together and still have time to do some stuff that you actually want to do.
The easiest way to go about balancing everything in your life is to keep some kind of planner. It doesn’t even really have to be a planner, it just needs to be a place where you can write down what you have going on. I suggest color coding events that have to do with different things you’re a part of. Like all schoolwork is underlined in red and highlighting your hours for work.
If you use your computer as a planner/calendar be sure, again, that all of your different events have different colors to go with them, that way you’ll know what’s up. No matter what kind of planning system you decide works best for you, be sure that you plan out your weeks and months as soon as you can, that way you know everything you’ve got to do as soon as possible and you’ll be better able to make to-do lists and you’ll be more prepared for everything overall!
Also! If you’re using technology as an organizational tool be sure to have notifications on for that device, that way you’ll be notified when different things are going on.
Speaking of notifications, emails are very important. If you can, turn your email notifications for your phone and computer. That way you’ll always know what’s going on, and you’ll never end up going to your canceled class ever again.
Another tip for getting your life a little more together is to keep your space clean. Your mood and productivity will reflect the space that you live in, so you need to make sure that your space is something you want to emulate. A cluttered living environment makes a cluttered brain and that is not fun for anyone.
When it comes to clutter the same can be said about technology too, so be sure to get rid of anything on your computer, tablet, or phone that you don’t use regularly.
Writing down your ideas is a good way of making them happen, so try to make to-do lists daily. Also, write down a long-term goal and keep it somewhere you can see it, whether that means putting it up on your wall, writing it in your planner, or even making it your wallpaper on your phone.
This might be a no-brainer but when you’re trying to do work turn off your phone, or put it somewhere that you can’t mess around with it. Phones are super distracting (surprise surprise) and this way you’ll get your work done sooner because you’ll be procrastinating less.
If you’re working on your computer and don’t trust yourself with the wonders of the internet (and you’re working doesn’t involve the internet), you can put it on airplane mode or just turn the wifi off, and get your work done without any distractions.
Going to sleep at a reasonable time and waking up early also helps, but I totally understand that sometimes we can’t help going to bed later than we intended. If this happens, and you can sleep in, please do that. It’s super important to be well-rested so you’ll be able to get some things that day.
Being productive isn’t easy because life isn’t easy, but soon you’ll be able to be the kind of person that gets everything done and that is always on top of everything and that’s the kind of life that you deserve!