How to use your planner
A System for Success
In high school and college there’s a whole lot to keep track of. It can be overwhelming! If you don’t have a plan, it’s easy to forget things, miss deadlines, or find yourself running out of time.
You need a system to keep track of everything to keep stress low, achieve academic success, and enjoy school and life!
What does your system need? All of your commitments in one central location. By putting your assignments, activities and projects into your college assignment planner you can easily see what your week or month holds.
As a student you know that school work is just part of the big picture. You may have jobs, sports, clubs, and volunteering, as well as hanging out with friends. By adding all of these extracurricular and social activities to your college weekly planner, you can see how it all works together. With the full picture you can effectively manage your time.
Ready to master your planner? Here’s how to use a planner effectively it in four easy steps.
Master Your Planner in 4 Easy Steps
1. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS
Studies show that people who write down their goals are much more likely to achieve them than people who don’t. Take a moment at the beginning of the year to write down what new habits you want to form or things you want to achieve.
2. SEE YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Write down your schedule for classes, work, sports and any other regular activities and commitments. This lets you quickly see when you have unscheduled time and allows you to block time for studying.
3. MAP OUT YOUR SEMESTER
Transfer the deadlines from your class syllabi into your monthly views. This is also a great place to record other big commitments (sports or extracurricular events) or fun activities (formals, football games, etc.).
With everything laid out in your monthly view you can start to see which weeks are going to require extra work and when you will need to get started early on assignments when you have multiple deadlines in the same week.
4. PLAN OUT YOUR WEEK
Use the different sections of the day (Remember to, Quizzes/Tests/Projects/Papers, Assignments and Activities) to write down your schedule and to-do’s for each day in your college weekly planner.
Pro tip: fill this out on the weekend to give you a sense of what your upcoming week looks like. Some people plan as far in advance as possible while others do it week to week. Whatever you decide, make it a habit.
Set a reminder on your phone (like “Plan your week!”) and you’ll be a planning pro in no time.