How To Organize Your Way to Success
To organize your way to success, you need to make a plan. It’s simple as that. I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have time for a plan!” And I’m not going to lie, it can be a bit time consuming at first. However, once you get started and see how much better things run with a plan in place, it will become a part of your routine and will become much easier.
1. Make an appointment calendar
This is the most important part of any organization system! You must write down everything that has to be done on your schedule or else life just kind of happens without structure or goal setting. This is also useful for scheduling study time or meetings with friends/family/etc., so keep this up all year long! Once it’s set up initially, it becomes pretty simple-fill out the days until finals week (when my schedule is so packed with schoolwork), then simply erase the previous weeks’ activities and start over again with two-a-day soccer practice starting back up!
2. Create categories for each day (and stick to them!)
Some days are extremely different than others; some days I’ll only study (and maybe watch Netflix later), while others involve waking up early for my internship followed by soccer practice then working on homework later in the night after dinner into late hours of the night. I love keeping everything in order this way. I don’t have to worry about what I need to get done for the day, because it’s already written down.
3. Prioritize your tasks, but make sure everything gets done!
It is SO tempting to do all of the easy things first (ie: cleaning my room) and leave the more difficult tasks (like studying for a test) for later. However, this NEVER works out in my favor! So look ahead at your schedule and figure out which things you absolutely must do that day, then prioritize them accordingly. You can always go back to an easier task before moving on if you run out of time!
4. Do not procrastinate
This is so important! The worst part about procrastinating is that eventually I feel like I am stuck in this never-ending cycle where it feels like there are too many things left on my plate for me to function properly without some sort of break or stress relief/etc., so instead of working through it all at once, which would be manageable and probably even fun (because doing work = getting closer to finishing school!!), I just kind of put off all work until the last minute when stress levels are high and no one wants me around because they’re stressed too…so instead i’m sitting alone in my room stressing over nothing :/ Not good times…So how do we stop procrastinating? Well. it’s hard, but you need to get used to it! I know it’s horrible, but try starting with baby steps. Don’t start your work five minutes before the deadline; instead, give yourself a day or two (or even a week!) to get ahead of schedule and use that time to remind yourself how much better things will be when you’re making progress rather than scrambling at the last minute!
5. Be organized outside of school work
Always keep your schoolwork in one designated spot (for me, this is my desk) so that when it comes time for an assignment you know exactly where everything is. This makes organizing so much easier-you can just pull out your homework folder and go through all of the materials for each subject right away. And when each subject is done, put them back in their folders! Your desk will stay clean without taking up too much time because what needs to be done is already laid out for you!
6. Create a home organization system too
Organizing my schoolwork makes it SO easy for me not only during homework sessions but also when doing extra credit projects or studying outside of class…but there are times where I have down time at home between classes or on days off from soccer practice…which means I have no plan-I mean literally nothing planned except maybe Netflixing after dinner. I need to improve my personal organization skills, and this means creating a home organization system too. I have a few ideas for how I want to do this, but I want to share two of my favorite organizing tips:
Finally: Clean up as you go
his one should be self-explanatory, but it always amazes me how much faster something can be accomplished if the mess is cleaned as its being created! For example, when you’re working on homework and your room is messy because you haven’t cleaned up after dinner…it’s hard to study in the same room where there are dishes from dinner still sitting around or clothes strewn all over the floor from changing out of your soccer gear.
If you follow these steps, you will be able to organize your way to success! It is so worth it. You’ll feel so much better once you get the hang of it, and I guarantee life will go much more smoothly!