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Organize Your Life
Getting your school supplies, schedule, and personal space in order is easier than you think. And the payoff? Massive.
1. Post your schedule everywhere
Stay on top of where you need to be during each period by printing out multiple copies of your class schedule. Then put a copy of your schedule in as many spots as possible. For example:
2. Give everything a home
You know that feeling when you can’t find your calculator for a math quiz? Or when your soccer cleats are playing hide-and-seek and you’re already late for the game? Here’s a quick fix: Give your stuff a home where it lives when you’re not using it.
You might keep your calculator in a math pouch along with your ruler, compass, and other geometry supplies. Or stash your cleats in a bin with all of your soccer gear. Now you’ll always find them when you need them.
Important note: This system only works if you return your stuff to its home when you’re done with it. At the end of that math quiz, put your calculator back in its pouch.
3. Get colorful
“The brain loves to organize around color,” says Anna Levy-Warren, the founder of a company that teaches teens organizational skills. Try coming up with a color for each subject (say, green for science). Use the same color-coding for your notebooks and binders (bio notes in a green notebook; bio homework in a green folder). This way, when you’re at your locker, you can look for the color green to quickly grab the supplies for that class.
4. Lean on labels
Even the most organized mind can forget what goes where, which is why labels are great. They’re like a personalized map of your school supplies, showing you exactly where everything belongs.
Use a label maker or a strip of masking tape and a marker to add labels to, well, everything!
When it comes to labeling your digital files—a lot! Naming your files with the right amount of info will make them easy to find later. The key: Think about what you’d search for. So if you write an essay on To Kill a Mockingbird, for example, save it as “To Kill a Mockingbird essay,” instead of something too vague (“essay #3”) or too specific (“Significance of Boo Radley’s gifts essay”). The same goes for the subject line of important emails to teachers. You’ll have better luck finding your email later if the subject line is “question about the To Kill a Mockingbird essay” than if it’s something vague like “hi,” or “quick question for you.”
5. Use the “keep, stash, trash” system
Avoid paper pileups in your backpack or on your desk by organizing your work according to what you need now, what you’ll need later, and what you can get rid of.
6. Chunk out your planner
The next time you get an assignment like an essay, break it into parts based on what you have to do and how long you’ll need.
Monday: 5-6 p.m.
Outline the essay.
Tuesday: Study Hall
Write essay intro.
Wednesday: 4-5:30 p.m.
Finish the essay
Thursday: 5-5:15 p.m.
Spellcheck and make final tweaks.
Friday: 9:00 a.m.
English essay due!
7. Do p.m. prep work
Gearing up for the school day the night before instead of rushing to get ready in the morning makes life much less stressful. Each evening, prepare what you’ll need the next day. That way, you’ll be able to roll out of bed and move through your morning on autopilot.
Make sure all your supplies are where they should be.
Clear out any clutter that accumulated in your backpack through the week.
Review your schedule for the upcoming week and check that you don’t have any conflicts (for example, a movie date with a friend at the same time as your sister’s b-day party!).
Go through your homework assignments and upcoming quizzes and tests and double-check that you scheduled enough time to complete or study for each one.
Make note of any tasks you need to do in advance, like washing a shirt on Wednesday so it’s clean for Friday’s concert.