6 Tips To Stay Organized
Busy schedules, deadlines one after another, social commitments… These are just some of the things that I have to train myself to stay on top of as a college student. After reading countless (kind of unhelpful) articles on this very topic, here are 6 tips that I’ve gathered from personal experiences on how to stay organized
- Your calendar is your best friend
As a senior, I have learned my lesson for the past 3 and a half years that I can’t simply rely on myself to remember every single thing that I need to do in a day. Apart from classes, there are other commitments and activities including your social life (duh~), that are essential to one’s college experience.
We’ve probably all been in situations where we need to cancel plans when we double-book ourselves. This is why I now put EVERYTHING on my calendar. It doesn’t matter how long or short the events are, I love to put them down and give myself enough time to get from one location to another. As an added bonus, at the end of the day, you get to look at all the things accomplished, going to sleep knowing that you are on top of everything.
2. Morning meditation (trust me on this one)
I get it, you might look at this and think “What does meditation have to do with me staying organized?”
The way you start your day sets the tone for, quite frankly, the rest of it. I like to start my day by mentally drawing an imaginary schedule, and going through all the classes and meetings that I am going to attend throughout the day. Establishing a relatively general mental schedule gives me a rundown of the day, which help me immensely with my 9 to 9 schedule.
3. Organizer (it’s literally in the name)
For the number of classes one takes as a college student, even though most of the contents can be found online, there are many times when handouts and paper copy exams or notes are readily used. It is easy to go home every day and just pile them on top of the stacks of paper you already have on your desk. What makes it worse would be trying to find that one question from one exam that you know is somewhere in there, but the stress of going through them is what gets to us at the end of the day.
This is why getting organizers is my best way to ensure I know where the materials I need for each class are located. It saves the hassles I would have to go through down the line. And honestly, they also just look so much better.
4. Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready (especially in a hurry)
Getting ready for the next day of school the night before will save you some last-minute stress. If you have morning classes that you struggle to wake up for, then the last thing you would want is to shove your folders, laptops, and whatever you bring to school in a rush, because you never know if you are going to forget something.
Packing your school backpack the night before is the perfect remedy for it. Two minutes of organizing before you go to bed would not only make sure that you get everything you need for the next day but also establish a routine that you can develop over time to be on top of your organization skills.
P.S. I also love packing little kits ready to go for traveling or emergencies, the same trick applies to lots of different scenarios.
5. Set some time aside regularly to do a deep clean
Sunday is my laundry and vacuum day. Every Sunday I set aside 2 hours when I can do my laundry and vacuum at the same time. Multi-tasking is key. If you can get 2 birds with one stone, why not? I personally feel like doing laundry and organizing my wardrobe is the most soothing time because I don’t have to worry about anything else. Giving yourself a designated time to clean and organize relieves the stress to do those chores during weekdays. Save that for classes and homework, not for busy work.
6. To-Do lists (sometimes you gotta go back to the OG)
We sometimes forget how hectic our days could be. Whether it’s taking self-care time (because that is important too!), or an academic-related heavy workload, they can very much be overwhelming at times. There are many due dates for projects from different classes, and it’s hard to keep track of them all.
I love using sticky notes on my laptop to list all the upcoming homework that is due, and even projects that are due in the near future. I like to sort them by dates and priorities, that way I can get whatever is due the soonest done to avoid late submissions. Checking each item off the list is maybe the most satisfying thing. It’s these little things that give me the motivation to keep going and remind myself that I am staying on top of everything I do by being organized.