I really couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten a textbook, lost an assignment, or totally misunderstood a teacher. In my three years of high school, though, I’ve managed to develop various habits that help me be more successful and ultimately more productive. This article is going to include several helpful tips that hopefully help you get organized!
1. USE A PLANNER: You wouldn’t believe how much this changes things. Physically writing down your assignments helps you not only remember them better, but also helps you mentally budget out the time needed to complete everything. It also centralizes all of your important due dates and such in one place so you don’t have to continuously check the calendar for each of your classes. Besides all these reasons, it’s just super satisfying to make little checkboxes for yourself to cross off when you’re done with an assignment.
2. DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE: This is a really important one. Doing things the night before they are due, especially big projects, is usually a bad idea. The quality of your work is going to decline if you have a million things to do all in a short time. Doing things ahead of time is going to improve both your grades and stress levels. Set deadlines for yourself! Make sure that you block out enough time in your schedule so that everything isn’t having to be crammed into one night. The best way to avoid this is to do one assignment at a time, sometimes earlier in the weekend than you may like.
3. STOP TRYING TO MULTITASK: Your brain literally cannot focus on two things at once, so doing homework and watching Netflix is not the way to go. As much as you might think you can multitask, you really can’t. Focusing on one thing at a time will allow you to work quicker, more effectively, and more accurately. So, try to make time for things to be done separately, which will ultimately make homework go a lot faster.
4. START A ROUTINE: Everyday when you get home, you should immediately fall into some sort of pattern that will allow you to be the most productive you possibly can be. For me, this looks like doing my homework the second I arrive home. For others, this might be having an hour of destress time before completing everything in a timely fashion. Sometimes, even napping is a great way to create a routine. Whatever your routine is, stick to it because it is one of the best ways for you to constantly be efficient in school.
5. DECLUTTER: Taking the time to clean out your backpack, desk, and room at least once a week is a huge help with stress. It isn’t necessarily school-related, but it can make you feel much better. Organizing all of your stuff creates a feeling of peace and control, which will really help you be successful in your academic pursuits.
Being organized, ultimately, is a big part of being happy and healthy.
Hopefully applying some of these approaches to school will help you get there!
Photo Credits: mylearningspringboard.com
