Navigating College

Stay Organized, Stay Motivated

November 2, 2020

by Yamara Ruiz

Hello, my name is Yamara Ruiz. I am a CSF Alumna and Western Washington University graduate, and I am back to discuss the different strategies you can use to maximize productivity, organization, and focus while you are a college student. Here are a few strategies I found helpful.

Visual Organizers

My first strategy is called a visual organizer. You can do this in a variety of different ways. I found that this helped me during quarters where I had many exams, assignments, and projects to track. The benefit to making a visual organizer is that you can easily foresee and plan around weeks with heavy workloads. This specifically helped me during my midterm and finals. You can color coordinate by class or type of activity. This helped me plan in advance which has helped me reap most successful outcomes during busy quarters.

Here is an example of how I did this:

In this picture, you can see how I filled my to-do list for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I coordinated each class by color and gave each subject a symbol. For math, I used red and drew a star symbol; for English, I used black and used a heart symbol; and for geology, I used green and a triangle symbol.

As you can see, Thursday is the busiest day. So Wednesday is going to be a study and work day, and Friday is most likely to be a lighter workload due to exams and other due dates the day before. If you can get a calendar that has lines on each grid, that makes it easier to track and organize.

Having a Mantra

My mantra was always on my mind at the start of every quarter. This was what I told myself as I read my course syllabus.

You can have your own mantra and it can change quarter by quarter. Mine stayed the same for a majority of my time as a student. My mantra was “start strong, end strong.” If you start strong by putting your best effort forward, it builds the confidence you need to perform at your best. Even during difficult exam weeks, this mantra helped me maintain a positive mindset.

Visualization Exercises

Imagining your best self is key. You can do this in a variety of ways. You can journal about a day in your best life or about how it would feel to meet your goals. You can also create dream boards to constantly remind yourself of things you want to see in your future.

Weekly To-Do Lists with a Twist

Next time you make a to-do list, try attaching a positive affirmation next to it. For example: “I will clean my room so that I can live in an organized and productive space.” Attaching an affirmation will remind you of a positive outcome so that you can stay motivated.

Habit Tracking

Consistency is the key to success. I recommend bullet journaling if you want to improve your habit tracking. There are many different approaches to bullet journaling. Here is an example of what worked for me:

I drew a basic grid tracker in a notepad. Mine was for May 2020 health goals I completed over the span of 1 week. Each grid represents a different day of the week that you have to complete your goal-related tasks. For example, I completed five days at the gym, so I filled those five grids using a cross hatching pattern.

Habit trackers are a quick way to take a glance at your consistency. You can be as simple or detailed as you want.

Self-Care

Self-care is crucial when you are a student. I recommend adding this to your schedule. Make time for yourself. This can look different depending on what helps you de-stress. Things that helped me practice self-care were exercising, sleeping, rewarding myself with special treats or outings, and celebrating the positives.

Practicing Mindfulness

Staying in the moment and taming what your mind focuses on will help you manage stress. Art is a great way to practice mindfulness and staying in the moment. Hiking, controlling your breaths, grounding exercises, and yoga can also help. Even if you don’t experience stress, practicing mindfulness still has many positive outcomes in your brain.

This concludes my post on productivity, organization, and focus. Thank you for reading!