Good habits are a building block of success at any age – and maintaining them during your college years is important! It can be all too easy to let them slip, especially when schedules are packed full.
When it comes to college life and grad school, you’re juggling your studies, your personal plans, and everything in between – so getting (and staying) organized is key!
To set yourself up for success in the school year ahead, follow these five tips.
1. Get Prepared
Before your big “first day,” it’s important to get prepared – one of the most important building blocks of an organized life!
What are the aspects of life that you are trying to manage this year? How are you going to stay organized? What tools do you need?
As you reflect on these questions, gather your schedules and invest in the tools you need for success, such as a daily planner.
2. Set Your Goals
To prepare for the new school year, whether it’s your freshman year of college or your final year of graduate school, it’s important to identify your goals.
What are you trying to achieve? Where do you want to be a year from now? What micro-goals will help you along the way?
3. Record Key Dates For The Year Ahead
Once you have selected the perfect planner for you, flip it open to the monthly calendar. Our Academic Year Flagship Planner offers a two-page calendar spread with plenty of space for notes.
Before we jump into class schedules and test dates, consider the big picture and your life outside of school. Record the first day of school, last day of school, and all of the breaks in between. Add in any big events and personal trips. Note the holidays you’ll be celebrating, and mark the special occasions you’d like to remember, such as birthdays and anniversaries.
4. Map Out Your Schedules
Map out your classes, due dates, test dates, and events on the monthly calendars for the semester ahead. Consider color-coding by class, and add projects and reminders to the notes column along the left side or in the blank space across the top.
This is also a time to layer in your other schedules, such as work and extra-curricular activites.
5. Plan Each Day
While filling in your planner for the year and semester ahead is essential to your success, regular planning habits are just as important!
The weekly and daily pages throughout our planners are perfect for visualizing each week and designing each day.
We recommend a weekly planning session to kick off each new week and a daily planning session at the start of each day (or the night before). If this sounds like a lot, don’t fret! When you’re short on time, these sessions can be reduced to a matter of minutes – and spending your time in this way will actually help you save time each day.
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Congratulate yourself on getting a successful start this school year. We’d love to hear about the schedules you’re juggling! Share with us below.