11 tips on how to stay organized in college
When you are a student, you have a lot on your plate. There are too many responsibilities and academic obligations. Obviously, you need to spend some time with your friends without any harm to your grades. Efficient time management and personal organization can help any student succeed academically and socially. Learning to be organized is essential for any student who wants to have good grades and excel in the chosen field. Here are some tips on how to stay organized no matter how difficult a certain period of your life is.
1. Get a daily planner
It is almost impossible to keep all important and mundane tasks in your head, so using a daily planner will help immensely. Choose a planner that you like and spend some time working out your own system of noting things down, so that you do not miss any deadlines and do everything on time.
2. Organize your studying materials
Having separate folders and notebooks for each subject can be quite helpful, especially if they are color coded and labelled. Make sure you write clear headers for each lecture and put a date of every lesson to save time when you search for a particular material. All data on your computer should also be in order, so try to delete duplicated files and arrange your documents every week putting them into the corresponding folders.
3. Learn to manage your time
Knowing how to manage time wisely is a vital skill for a student. You need to know how to balance and prioritize your tasks in order to handle your heavy workload effectively. It takes some time to find what strategies work best for you, but with time, if you keep improving your time management skills, you will be surprised with the results.
4. Declutter your desk
If you spend more time studying at home than at the library, make sure that your desk is decluttered and nothing distracts you from concentrating on the material. For that reason, it is advisable to have less than seven items on your table when you work. Also, try to have your mobile phone out of your reach for the whole period of time when you are busy with studying.
5. Figure out your most productive time
This is very important advice as some of us are productive in the morning, some prefer to study in the evening and some students know that their results are the best if they can work on the material at night. It is very unwise to schedule an exam preparation for the morning when you are usually sleepy, or for the evening when you are already tired.
6. Adjust your schedule
It is very helpful for many people to divide their time in such a way that 8 hours of the day are used for working, 8 hours for sleeping and the remaining 8 hours for other essential things in your life such as eating, doing chores or meeting with friends. Also, it is advisable to go to sleep and get up approximately at the same time. This will positively influence your productivity.
7. Plan your day the night before
Listing what you want to do the next day is a great way to be productive and organized. Planning your day helps you not waste your time in the morning thinking where you need to go and what to do. Having a clear idea of what needs to be accomplished this day makes everything much easier and definitely less stressful.
8. Control usage of gadgets
Modern technologies eat out a lot of our time and energy, so wise and strict control of the gadget usage is extremely important for staying on track. There are many apps available which can help you regulate the time spent on the internet. Also, you can temporarily block access to different social media websites using various applications and software.
9. Deal with the most important tasks first
We all tend to procrastinate at times and choose to put off important tasks to the end of the day. However, completing tasks of high importance in the first half of the day will make a huge difference. After the main assignment is dealt with, the rest of the day you will feel free and proud of yourself.
10. Get a tutor
It is very likely that there are subjects which you do not like to learn. Also, there are topics that are too difficult for you. In such cases, a help of a tutor may be handy. Mentoring can save your time because very often figuring out the issue by yourself can be time-consuming compared to individual or group tuition.
11. Allow yourself to be imperfect
Trying to be organized is not an easy task. The worst thing that you can do is to be harsh with yourself if something goes not as you planned. If you have just started learning how to manage your time and keep everything organized, allow yourself to be imperfect. No one is flawless and understanding that everyone makes mistakes at any point in their life can help you move on.
We have listed some of the general tips that can help any student stay organized in college. You do not need to implement them all, but choosing those that fit you can help you stay focused and organized throughout all your college years.
