Put Pen to Paper (or Whiteboard)

Written by: Abby Han

As I mentioned in my entry about journaling, I decided to map out my week with everything that I need to do. I have a big whiteboard calendar that I have used before, mainly to map out the outside school activities I have for the month. However, for this week’s tip, I decided to map out EVERYTHING from field hockey practices, to exams, to prom. I wrote out every activity that I needed to do for each day. Writing out all my activities helped me visually see what needs to get done and how much I need to get done. I was able to plan out what days I could study for certain exams based on how many after school activities I had. For instance, I have field hockey practices Monday and Wednesday from 7-9, so I know for those days I will lose a lot of time for school. With this information on hand, I was able to plan to study for my Biology Quarter Final on Tuesday when I did not have practice. Connecting both the school and outside school activities let me have complete oversight of what I needed to do. Writing out everything that needs to be done not only helped me stay organized for school, but also with prom. As you may know, prom requires A LOT of planning. Writing out what day I was going to pick up my dress or pickup the boutonniere helped me work out all the little details and really helped me be fully prepared for the big day.

When it came time to study, I used my previously mentioned “code” for prioritizing what classes to study for. I then used the 52 minute working habit to make sure I budgeted my time, so I would not get caught up working on just one class for the whole night. I also broke up large assignments like my TOK presentation into little 30 minute chunks throughout the week. I was able to coordinate with my partner to slowly and efficiently get our presentation done instead of staying up until 1 am desperately trying to find the significance of Banksy’s painting.

All in all, I think everyone should map out their weeks, because it helps you visually see how much you need to get done and helps us stay organized with our busy lives. Mapping out all the activities really helped me remember to do all the little tasks and gave me peace of mind knowing that I won’t forget to study for that big math test or forget to book my nail appointment for prom. Writing out a study plan doesn’t need to be extravagant with a big writeboard and codes (although it can be very helpful), and it can be as simple as a To-Do list. Writing out what needs to be done can really help you stay organized and I hope you all try out this strategy!

My rating out of five stars:

★★★★★