Staying organized is easy for about a week, then I find that things get on top of me, deadlines become pushed, and I become very tired. The best-laid plans are often unraveled slowly and without me noticing. I rarely experience an epic fail in just a few hours. Here is how I became more organized in college and how you stay organized.
1 – Plan And Set Deadlines
What are you striving for if you are not setting deadlines? How are you reaching your goals without plans? The first step to becoming more organized is to set goals and create plans to achieve them, and in that way you may create order in your life that is required to become more organized in college.
2 – Distractions Are Your Biggest Problem
Go out of your way to remove all stimulus and all chances for you to engage in anything other than the job you are doing right at that second. If you are like me, then you have been in situations where you are so bored that you read the instructions or ingredients on the sides of packets? It is because there is nothing else there for you to do, and you can engineer a very similar situation when you are working. Sure, it is annoying and sometimes painful, but it is a big help in keeping you organized and actually helping you to do the work you are supposed to be doing. Sometimes a room and a computer is all I need–and maybe a child-blocking Internet program to stop my attention from straying online.
3 – Get Into Positive Habits
A positive habit is one that you engineer. It is something you do repeatedly over and over again until it becomes a habit. For example, I hate cleaning my room, but if I do it every morning as soon as I wake up, then after a while I stop noticing I am doing it. I do it on autopilot to the point where it feels weird when I don’t do it in the morning.
There are hundreds of positive habits you can build into your personality, just beware that negative habits are built the same way. For example, some students go to bed with their textbooks and fall asleep. They then find themselves unable to stay awake when they read their textbooks in the daytime.
4 – Do Things For A Timed Period
Doing this will help you stay motivated and will help you get things done. The way your mind works will make you avoid things that are unpleasant, and things such as cleaning or working may appear unpleasant. You may avoid it at all costs, but if you set a time limit and a timer, you get a feeling of renewed vigor. It is almost as if you do not mind suffering a little so long as you know there is a definite cutoff time. Once I start, I find that that time flies and then my unpleasant task is done and out of the way.
What if your unpleasant task lasts longer? You may set a timer for 20 minutes of essay writing, but it is going to take longer. What you then do is decide to set your alarm a little later and do the same thing again–thereby taking your essay writing in palatable chunks rather than big nasty blocks.
5 – Have Somebody Else Be Your Accountabilabuddy
When Butters went to straight camp in South Park, he had an Accountabilabuddy that he was responsible for, and you can do the same. It is best if your Accountabilabuddy is your romantic partner like mine was. I got to be her Accountabilabuddy and she became my Accountabilabuddy. If she didn’t do her essays, if she was unorganized, or she had a messy room, then I came down on her like a ton of bricks because I am responsible for her–and she did the same for me. If done with genuine care and love, this can be a powerful stimulant to become more organized.