One of the greatest tools at your disposal during your college career is the use of organization. Organization is the key to being able to get all your work done while still having free time to do things you enjoy, like hanging out with your friends. I'm going to lay out a few quick and simple tips that will get you organized and well on your way to having much more free time to spend however you please. One easy way to get organized is to start using a planner, and that will be the focus of the 3 steps in this post.
1. Get a handbook or planner.
Most incoming freshmen will receive a free planner from the college or university, so make good use of it! Electronic planners work wonders as well. Have it handy at the beginning and end of each class, as these are the two most likely times for your instructor to lay out their class plans and assignments for the week. Try not to get into the habit of waiting until later to fill in your planner, because you will be likely to forget some important detail about the next class or an assignment.
You can also jot down any social events or plans you make with friends in the planner, this will actually help give you some idea (when you review your planner later) about what activities will be feasible with your work load for a certain day or week. After you are done with classes for the day, take a few minutes to review what you have written down in your planner.
2. Check your planner regularly.
Your planner will do you absolutely no good unless you check if frequently! Try to get used to checking your planner often, and once you do this for a while it will become habitual and you'll check it without even thinking. Ideally, you should check your planner first thing in the morning (to make sure you didn't miss anything you were supposed to do before class), then give it a quick glance when you add things to it at the start and end of each class (this will help you keep the agenda fresh in your mind throughout the day), and finally check your planner one last time before you go to sleep each night (again, making sure that you have gotten everything done that you had planned, and that you haven't missed anything).
However, the most important time to check and review your planner is after you are done with classes for the day and have a few minutes to get your plans in order. Get out your planner and a scrap sheet of paper, and you'll be ready to do the most important part of planner organization, making a priority list!
3. Prioritize your list of tasks for the day.
When you are reviewing your planner, it may be a good idea to get out a separate sheet of paper so you can actually write out how you want to go about doing everything. The best way to prioritize your assignments and tasks is to consider the obvious factors, such as how long will the assignment take, how difficult will it be to do, which assignment is worth the most credit, the least amount of credit, and so on.
The assignment that is worth the most credit or is the most difficult should usually be done first, even if they won't take the longest to do. The length of time it will take to do an assignment is more of something to consider when thinking about how long it will take you to complete your tasks as a whole, not really in whether or not it should be done first. And if you find yourself running short on time and don't have an assignment quite finished when it's time to turn it in, keep in mind you will be much better off losing a few points on an assignment that is worth 10 points than one worth 100 points! As hard as this may be to do sometimes, you should ALWAYS place social events and plans with friends at the bottom of the list! If an event takes place at a certain time, factor that in to your priority list, and try to have as much done as possible before that time, with your least important assignments to be completed afterward.
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