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The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

Opinion | Staying organized during the school year is important

Lisane Bertail | Staff Illustrator

If you like to stay organized or want to start being more organized, keep on reading. 

I am someone who gets fairly busy during the school year. I have work from classes, I have a job and I also have to hold 10 office hours per week for an organization I am a part of — on top of doing the actual work for my position. I prefer to be busy all of the time — I constantly need something to do. 

My friends always tell me that I’m “on the run all of the time,” and this is true. I am someone who keeps myself busy with my many tasks throughout the school year. Though I stay busy with schoolwork and my job, I still find time to hang out with my friends. Honestly, the only time that I have to myself is when I am in my bedroom at random times — this is at night before I go to sleep or when I wake up in the morning. 

With all of these things that I have on my schedule, I often get asked how I keep myself organized. Honestly, I just use a calendar that reminds me what I have to do for the day. I use the calendar app TimeTree, and I have been using it for a while now. In my opinion, having a set plan for what work for classes that you want to do on specific days helps so much. I highly recommend the app TimeTree as it is very easy to use, and it sends me notifications every morning at 8 a.m. with a list of things I have for the day. I put days for when assignments are due, and I pick specific days that I want to complete them. It makes it easy to get it done.

Being organized like this has helped me feel so much more at ease despite the loaded schedule. Ever since I started keeping this sort of schedule and picking days to do specific work, I have felt more accomplished. Once I do all of my work for the day, I get to just relax. Or, if I feel like doing more, I do another assignment to get ahead. I think having this sort of setup for your school year allows you to feel more accomplished.

Being that I feel accomplished after doing my assigned work for the day, I treat myself and watch a movie or continue to watch a TV show that I started. I think having this sort of organization and reward system also helps mentally. Having this schedule makes me feel so much better mentally because when I did not have a good schedule, I tended to get stressed more easily and I would put off work and procrastinate. Procrastinating is something I used to do a lot, but I do not see myself doing it often anymore. I take breaks if I want to, but I set my goal to have my work done by the end of the day, even if it is due days later.

To add to this, I also put days that I work on my calendar as well. If I work at night, I do the assigned work I have for the day in the morning, and then the other way around if I work a morning shift. I know doing homework right after work might not sound so nice, but once you get it done, life feels so beautiful. 

Overall, having a nice, organized schedule helps a ton. It helps a lot with time management. I am someone who already had good time management, but having a calendar advanced it to a whole other level. Not only can you use a calendar schedule for all of your school work, but you can also use it to put what plans you have for the week, too. I always put down the dates and times when I have plans with friends, as it also works as a reminder.

If you need another goal for 2025, your sign is to make an easier schedule for yourself. Say goodbye to stressing out about when you should complete an assignment, say hello to a perfect classwork schedule.

 

Need more organization advice? You can email Irene at [email protected]!

׿ the Contributor
Irene Moran, Senior Staff Columnist
Irene is a third year Psychology major with a minor in Sociology. She is from Philadelphia, PA and enjoys music, poetry, film, and much more. As a musician herself, she intends to write a lot about different bands and artists. You can reach out to Irene through