7 LIFESAVING TIPS FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS (or just about anyone)

Hi, everyone! It's mid-January, which means two things: the first month of the year is halfway over already (exCUSE ME WHAT), and a lot of students are preparing to or have already started a new semester. My first day back is the 19th, and I'm already trying to re-organize my life and reset myself for success in the next five months. (the last sentence actually reads: help)

Last semester I found some tricks and things to help me get through my classes with minimal stress and disorganization. (be assured, there was still a lot of it.) So, I thought I'd share some of them with you guys! (because I LOVE posts like these. and I KNOW some of y'all do, too. xD)

Though I used these tricks primarily for school, you could certainly adjust most of them for other areas of your life! Writing, chores, pretty much anything that could use a little more organization. That being said, onto the list! (this post is kind of long be warned)

Get a planner (and some colored pens!) JUST FOR SCHOOL. 

This was a l i f e s a v e r for me last semester. Unless you have organizational skills to rival the best of them, you're not going to want to depend on your bullet journal, or your calendar, or even your regular daily planner. I've never really been a planner person (though I guess bullet journaling could be considered a type of planner), but having one just for college helped SO much. Here's how: 

• I used colored pens to color-code each class. Green = macroeconomics (because money), purple = psychology (because alliteration), and so on. 

• I wrote the tasks I wanted to complete for each class into the day-by-day sections using the respective colors. (more on those lists in a bit)

• I wrote due dates onto the monthly calendar spread (again, using the respective colors for each class). That way I could see when things were due the entire month with just a glance.

Of course, y'all know I depend on my bullet journal for accomplishing just about everything. Adding on a list of homework things to my daily spread would get quite cluttered. By keeping ALL my goals and assignments in my school planner, I had a little more freedom. I would just add a general "homework" goal to my bullet journal and check it off whenever I completed all the tasks in my planner. 

Complete your daily goals no matter what.

Even if it means staying up later than you planned- you'll be glad later that you took the extra time! Making the effort to stay super on top of things is 100000000 times better than letting little things add up to one big ball of "oh my goodness I'm behind on so much" later. So, when you make your list, finish it!

NOW. That being said. You know your limits. Losing a little sleep to finish something up is one thing, but if you're dead-tired and literally falling asleep into your notebook? GO TO BED. College takes a lot out of you, including lots of energy and sleep (I know I make it sound so inviting), but know when enough is enough. You likely have other responsibilities, too- a job, family, whatever. So, don't push yourself over the edge! (friendly reminder that running on dangerous amounts of sleep and caffeine and never giving yourself time to rest is extremely unhealthy and shouldn't be made light of)

Adjust your work schedule however you need to.

And without guilt! If your job allows you to change your hours for school, take advantage of it. Your boss should understand that going to school and working at the same time is HARD, and you NEED to adjust as necessary. Within reason, of course. Working two hours a week probablyyy won't be well-accepted, and if you're like me that's not an option anyway. But in general, whatever will get you through the semester, do it. Last semester I had to cut one of my regular days down to three hours to go to a class at 11 AM. Since my next semester's schedule is different from the last one, I considered extending that day's hours again. I felt like since I didn't strictly need to be off work so early in the day, I owed it to my job to work those extra hours. 

But I decided to keep them the way they were, and I'm already glad I did. Working and going to school was really hard on me last semester. While I have a slightly less demanding class schedule this time, I have no idea what the homework will be like, or if the classes will run the full time they're supposed to (which is after 9 PM -_-). So, having a little extra time off work to account for that is going to be very valuable to me. Remember, just because you can handle something doesn't always mean you should try. Only you know your limits, and if you need a little more time, that's okay. Don't push yourself to the very edge of your mental and physical wellbeing. We all need time to breathe. 

If you can, set aside a specific day or time for completing big assignments. 

I had an online class last semester, which basically just involved reading through the textbook and taking tests. But those chapters were LONG and took at least a couple of hours to read, take notes on, and answer the questions. I wanted to get it over with as early in the week as I could, so I picked a day when I had the whole afternoon and evening free to do it all in one go. Since I knew that class took time, it was nice to have pretty much a whole day to commit to it. 

That being said... 

Work on assignments a little at a time.

Yeah, I know- I literally just encouraged you to do big projects at once. But here's the thing- I figured out that the way I was doing it just wasn't working for me. I would sit down about halfway through the day with visions of completing my online class obligations, then having the rest of the day to catch up on some smaller things (and maybe do something actually fun at some point). Here's what happened: I spent two or three hours just trying to finish the online class. (it was macroeconomics, extremely difficult to comprehend, and b o r i n g. oh, and I didn't have lectures to listen to, so my entire understanding of the class was dependent on what I got out of the material.) I got burnt out, frustrated to the point of tears, and often didn't do anything else for the rest of day. (sometimes I took a nap. those were nice.) Eventually, I started spreading out what I had to do for that class throughout the week. And although I definitely enjoyed getting it all done on Tuesdays and forgetting about it for a week... doing it a little at a time worked SO much better for me.

So, I advise that you just test the waters and figure out what works best for you. If you're one of those people who can power through and knock things off your to-do list in a few hours, go for it! But if it's healthier for you to sprinkle those assignments in smaller increments throughout the week, do that. Because there's nothing worse than having a whole big intimidating (and did I mentin b o r i n g) workload in front of you when you're already ready to give up for the day.

Make a to-do list every day according to what you know you can accomplish.

This is kind of an add-on to the last one- basically just an explanation of how I spread my work out. Once I fell into a groove with my planner and daily lists, I would write a very specific to-do list for every day. Assignments due first have higher priority. Days that I knew I would be busier have a less demanding list. (don't overcommit yourself!! 90% of the time, you'll just do less than you wanted to do and end up feeling awful. if you make realistic goals, you'll be much more likely to finish them, and you'll feel accomplished!)

Here's what made this effective for me: being specific. When you have a 50-page chapter of a gigantic psychology book to read every week, adding "read some psychology" to your to-do list just doesn't cut it. So, I calculated how many pages a day I would need to read to finish on time. (sometimes I would even plan to finish a day early so I'd have some wiggle room.) I did that with most of my classes. It might sound like more trouble than it's worth, but trust me. Making a specific list and sticking to it helped me a TON. (Sometimes I wrote the lists out day-by-day, sometimes I looked ahead and made the daily to-do lists for the whole week.)

Pick a day to be completely free of any schoolwork.

This is HUGE. The work just doesn't stop in college, and even if you make the most detailed, productive lists, do your assignments a little at a time, and get eight hours of sleep every night, you're probably going to get tired. So, if you possibly can, designate one day of the week to be intentionally schoolwork-free. For me, that's Sunday. I definitely didn't stick to this all semester long, because sometimes you have things that are due and you forgot about and your "day off" turns out to be the day that you PANIC AND DO EVERYTHING. (right? not just me?) But when I was keeping up with my work and could afford to take a day off... goodness, was it beneficial. So, do your best to plan ahead according to your due dates. Work ahead a bit the day before so you don't have anything to worry about on your "off" day. Trust me, it does wonders.

Okay. Well. I have rambled on quite long enough, so while I could probably come up with a few more things to share with you, I should stop and let you go on with your life. xD I hope these tips are helpful to you, if any of you give them a shot! Just remember- they may not work for you at all, and that's okay. Everyone has their own methods for doing things. Whatever gets you through the semester, honestly, just do it. xD But you should definitely feel around and figure out what works best for you! I for sure had to do my share of experimentation before settling on a routine that worked. Now, hopefully, I can apply those tricks from day one of this new semester and save myself a whole lot of stress. Hehe. (Also I just picked up my books this week and can I just say that college textbooks are OUTLANDISH?? like, besides the ridiculous prices, the sizes of those suckers. just... the only book that should be that big is an epic fantasy, thank you very much.)

ANYWAY. That's more than enough rambling for today. I hope you all have a lovely Saturday, and if you're about to start a new semester- good luck! ♥

So, who else is gearing up to start a new semester? Do you have any classes you're excited about? AND whether you're in school or not, did any of these tips sound like something you'd want to try? Also, share one of YOUR favorite productivity tips! (heaven knows I need all the help I can get xD)