You know that feeling when you’re a few weeks deep into the school year and all of your assignments begin to pile up? Then you’re stressed because you can’t stay organized and can’t keep track of all of them? Let’s try and avoid this nasty feeling!
The key to success is to stay organized. Organization is very important, because the more unorganized you are, the easier it can be to fall behind in your schoolwork. So, Buffs, stay tuned and follow these six helpful tips that will allow you to succeed and stay organized this semester.
Create a to-do list
First off, if you don’t own a planner, I recommend investing in one. This is an extremely helpful way to keep track of all of your assignments in one place.
Then, start with your first class of the day. Immediately after your professor has assigned you homework, a project, a test or any sort of deadline, jot it down in the planner. If you do not have a planner, you can still use a scrap piece of paper.
The times where I have forgotten to write an assignment down, I have come so close to forgetting about it—so use your planner!
Set up a daily routine
Believe it or not, our brains are hardwired to love routine. During the parts in your week that are slow, take advantage of this downtime and devote a few hours to do homework and study time, versus watching Netflix, even though this may be so tempting.
For example, my Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are relatively slow because I only have one class, where my Tuesdays and Thursdays are jam packed with classes all day. Since I know that I won’t be able to get anything done on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have set aside a few hours before and after class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to do homework and study.
This way, I’m not stressing myself out to cram everything in on Monday and Wednesday nights. It’s very important to set up a consistent routine for your work—that way you won’t get caught up in all of the chaos trying to pull all-nighters!
Break up intimidating tasks
This is an important one! Breaking up large projects and assignments is key to not having to pull an all-nighter. Because let’s be honest, who wants to do that?
I previously took a class called the History of Advertising (a very interesting class, which I recommend taking!). On the first day of class, we were assigned a semester-long project, which consists of a large presentation due at the very end. My partner and I decided to do two PowerPoint slides each week, so that we aren’t struggling to cram the whole entire project into the last second when finals roll around.
Prepare the night before
This one is my favorite. Getting your stuff in order the night before will definitely help you stay organized! A great way to do this is making sure your backpack is all packed and ready to go. Once you are finished with all of your homework, put everything that you need for the next day back into your backpack. This will ensure you are not going to forget anything.
By packing your backpack the night before, you don't have to worry if you have everything the next morning, which will save you time to get ready, and you're less likely to stress!
Get good sleep
What does sleep have to do with organization? Rather than hustling and bustling to get your work done and pulling those all-nighters, make sure you are getting an adequate amount of sleep. When you get seven to nine hours of sleep each night, you can avoid feeling lethargic and unproductive the next day. You will regret it if you get nothing done and feel very unorganized.
Separate your work into different colored folders and notebooks
This is something I actually have done for years. It’s an organizational method I like to call color coordinating!
Every year before the semester starts, I take a look at my schedule and see how many classes I am taking. This then determines how many folders and notebooks I buy. I buy one folder and one notebook per class, and separate the subjects by color. For example, my accounting class is blue and my marketing class is orange. It's a great way of staying organized and staying in line with all of your classes.
