Organization Strategies for College Students to Help Time Management
Strong organization strategies can be extremely helpful for completing everything you need to get done and for maximizing your time. Having strong organizational skills helps maintain and support time management. Organization is very important for many aspects of your life, but particularly college. College has a lot of requirements and things to keep track of. Sometimes we may be functioning in a time crunch. Being organized can help us to make sure that we are using our time as wisely as possible. Keep reading if you are looking for some easy small steps to help with organization!
Organize Your Physical Space
One of the first things you can do to help with your organization is make sure your work space is clean and free of clutter. Having a work space that has reduced amounts of clutter can help with focus and concentration by eliminating distractions. This is both helpful for productivity and completing assignments. Having a clear desk space also helps maintain enough physical space to work on the projects you need to work on. Upon completion of working on projects, make sure to clean your space up again. Put things away when you are done with them so that your space is already cleared up and ready for the next time you use it.
Another area that can benefit from being kept clutter free is your backpack or bag that you use for classes. It is important to feel prepared for your classes, and to feel prepared, you need to be able to find the things you need for class. Making sure you have the necessities in your bag and the clutter out of your bag is also helpful for organization.
Something else that can help with your focus is to make sure you are using your workspace for just work. Try not to do homework in your bed. This can sometimes be difficult to achieve in some dorm rooms, but it is very important for focus. Trying to do work in your bed can be difficult because your bed is a place for rest, so it can be difficult to associate it with productivity.
Organize Your Notes & Paperwork
Keep class materials separate. Everyone takes their notes differently so whether you take notes on a device or in a notebook, keep materials separate. If you do schoolwork primarily on electronics, create a different folder for each class. Only save things relevant to that class there. That is where notes, syllabi, and lectures should be kept. If you keep notes in a notebook or paper format keep your notes for each class separate. Each class should have its own notebook or own section in a multi-subject notebook.
Give each class its own folder. Similarly to using an electronic device, only syllabi and other handouts related to that class should go in that folder. Sometimes color coding each class can be helpful as well. This makes it easier to find the materials for the class that you need when you need them which saves time. This applies to where you keep notes as well. Mixing notes from different classes together can become very messy and difficult to find the things that you need. This can make it easy for material and information to get lost which is not helpful for completing assignments or studying. Being able to find what you need when you need it is extremely helpful.
Get Into a Routine
Creating a routine for yourself can be a very helpful step in being organized. Having a routine makes it easier to do the things you need to do because you have become comfortable doing them. If you create a time of day for doing work each day, then you will get familiar with that schedule and doing work at that time. This will make it easier for you to find the time to work, because you will already know when that will be. Having a routine lets you know that you have a confirmed time when you will do work, so you can feel confident that you will complete it all.
College can be stressful but there are things we can do to make it feel more manageable. Organization and time management are both very important, and they both can support each other. Organization is a very helpful piece of time management and feeling a sense of control over your school work. If organization is something you feel like you have struggled with in the past, try some of the tips above and see how they work for you!
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Written by: Lindsay Fortier, LGPC
Photo Credit: Kampus Production, cottonbro, Katerina Holmes, and Charlotte May
Date of Download: 10/5/2021
