Organise Your Life
Organisation is going to be a BIG part of your time here at S6F, and if you are not one of those naturally organised types then spending a bit of time developing this skill will really help you. Juggling college, work and social life can be challenging, especially if you are holding down a job or caring for others at home at the same time. Organisation skills can help you manage this, and as a bonus, research shows that being organised is beneficial to your happiness too. Among other things, being organised helps us to feel in control when life is busy, and it makes us feel less stressed too.
Research shows that those who develop and use effective organisation skills get better grades, have advanced planning skills, can manage their time effectively and are more likely to be offered a job.
Being organised will mean that you are making effective use of your time, which means that you will have more time to do the things that you want to do. So, you can see that learning to be organised is going to make you feel a lot happier.
The big question is, how do you go about doing it? Below are some top tips to follow that should help. The most important thing is that your organisation strategies do 3 key things;
- Work for you
- Save you time
- Are easy to do
TOP TIPS FOR GETTING, AND STAYING ORGANISED!
- Make use of a calendar. Put in homework deadlines, work schedules and social events all into one calendar. This will stop you having to look in several separate places and streamline the process of keeping up with schedules, making sure you never miss a deadline or meeting.
- Save your work with a meaningful title. If you are saving multiple documents a day, it can be stressful when you waste time trying to find that one document you need right now. Make sure you save all your work with a title that will help you find it quicky and efficiently.
- Make use of folders. Organise the documents into folders (also with a meaningful and useful folder name!). Colour code the folders so that it is easier to find the right one.
- Prioritise urgent work. Create a checklist (paper or digital) and colour code it green, amber, or red in order of urgency and importance. The most urgent (those tasks coloured in red) items on the list get done first.
- Throw stuff away! Spend 10 mins a week, reading your notes for each subject, and delete or throw away anything that is not going to be useful to revise from in 2 months' time.
- Get into a routine. Work when you are most productive, whether you are a night owl or an early bird, make the most of it. Block off time in your calendar and stick to it.
- Back up work. Back up any digital work so that you have another way of accessing it in case of an IT failure.
- Stay connected with classmates. Although you new organising system should mean you are up to date with work and homework deadlines, it is always good to have someone else in the class to ask as a backup!
