You’re heading back to school, maybe starting up new AP or IB courses, juggling test preparation and/or college applications, and you probably wish you had more hours in the day.
I still remember my first semester transition to college, where it simply did not seem possible to complete all the work that was assigned to me. Luckily, I got in touch with an organizational coach who completely changed my relationship with my work and learning using strategies I still use today.
Here are my top 4 tips:
1. Progress, not perfection.
While it’s tempting to aim for perfection when starting your journey with higher level academics, the additional pressure you place on yourself can cause undue stress that undermines your ability to engage thoughtfully with your work.
Take a step back and focus instead on finishing as much as you can in a day rather than staying up all night to “perfect” an assignment. This will always be better than sleeping 3 hours the night before taking a test or turning in an essay (studies have shown for years that cramming is not an effective long-term study method).
This isn’t to say not to try your best, but more of a reminder to be kind to yourself when you feel overwhelmed.
2. Check in with yourself to understand how you work.
This tip really changed everything for me.
At the beginning of the school year, spend a week checking in on yourself: your energy level, stress level, and clarity of thought throughout the day. Write down how you feel so you can map out how your brain operates throughout the day.
For example, my brain functions best in the early morning and for a three-hour period after dinner, but in the afternoon I am exhausted and foggy. Learning this allowed me to approach more difficult or thought-intensive tasks like essay writing in the mornings and the evenings, and I could spend the hazy afternoon hours doing light editing or skimming articles for class. It also helps know when to step away from work for a snack, a workout, or any form of light activity to reset your brain.
3. Make a calendar.
This may seem obvious, but visualizing due dates helps our brains anticipate big deadlines or squeezes of work.
My advice: as soon as you get your syllabi for a term, map out large assignments, smaller daily or weekly tasks, study time, and club or extracurricular commitments. This will allow you to see which weeks are going to be extra busy, allowing you to plan and prepare in the weeks ahead of due dates.
4. Team up with a friend.
In college, my friend and I were “accountability buddies”.
This meant we would set earlier deadlines for each other for things like outlines, rough drafts, and study guides, then require ourselves to email them to one another by those deadlines (well before the actual due date).
This created mutual accountability without the real pressure of having a completed, polished assignment. It also meant we completed our outlines and rough drafts with plenty of time to edit and revise them.
If you have a friend that wants to get organized this year, work together with them!
These are just a few of the tips I learned from my organizational coach that I still use while working at LogicPrep.
I am now an organizational coach myself, and I love helping students reimagine their relationship to work and learning so they can get the most out of their education.
If you’re ready to make a change, you know where to find me!