Dear “Really Need To Get Organized”:
Your remarks about when the fun stops and the work starts are being heard loud and clear! You get your schedule, memorize the map of the campus, work out a “living plan” with your new house-mates, get to a few social events, and suddenly things change! Your prof is referring to a reading from your assigned reading list – as if you have already read it! Go figure! You barely have your textbooks “cracked” open and he wants you to know information from a list buried in your first week’s pile of paper? What to do when no one is reminding you of anything? Congratulations, though, you have taken the first step…recognizing you need to get organized. There are many books and websites on organization, but I hear you – no time to read or research those! If you don’t have a favorite workable style of organization, I am going to lend you mine! Use colour. If you are taking three courses and a lab, get markers in four colours. When you get anything in your blue course, put a blue triangle in the top right hand corner, so that, even leafing through the pages, you can see its colour. Use the same colour for files on your computer or in a real folder. Get a desktop file holder to put your ongoing information into neat, retrievable order. Get, or use a bulletin board. Have a viewable calendar with every deadline written in the colour of each subject (your cell phone, or computer will tell you what day it is). Use those for your day-to-day organization and before you finish that day, transfer any deadlines to that big calendar. Reward yourself with a line thru or a big bold check mark beside – when that “work” has been submitted or that test completed! Keep it simple and up to date. University is about a lot more than just getting that degree. Value all the learning you do!
Elann
Email: dearelann@gmail.com for advice and help.