Being an organised person is quite a challenge for many students! This is especially the case for students who are not used to setting a schedule for themselves or don’t have the habit of organising their materials. Tuition teachers and school teachers are well aware of this problem that most students encounter.
Being organised is all about having the self-discipline to categorise one’s study materials and take the effort to create a timetable or a schedule to follow religiously. This does not come easily to most people. The individuals with type A personality (high ambition, achievements and motivation to succeed) are the ones who don’t have much of a trouble to be organised and disciplined. For the rest of us, it is quite the struggle!
Here are some ways in which students can be more organised!
Start Small
Something big may seem formidable and scary initially. However, everything starts small. Students need to learn organisation from the small matters like making your bed or cleaning your learning space or room. When small tasks like these are accomplished, students will feel much better about themselves and it will be a source of motivation for other tasks to be taken care of.
On the other hand, if students lack the discipline to organise the simple things in their life, this habit will not get carried on to other matters. This will hence be a true struggle and students need to practice being organised since young.
Your Desk
Your desk or learning space is the most important area for you as a student. This is the place where you sit and study, where you have to focus and give it your all to get tasks done or to learn something new. Many students do not have the habit of clearing their desks up, instead, they are so used to leaving it all in a mess leaving the cleaning process for another day.
A cluttered desk makes everything seem unorganised and the mind would not be able to focus on a task properly. Hence students need to make it a habit to arrange their books and clean their desks every now and then!
Timetable
The habit of pencilling in important events and making sure that they are being followed is essential. It may seem like a tedious process to create a timetable; however, this might be the issue in the initial stages. When students get used to making a schedule things become increasingly easier over time.
Tutors will be able to assist in this process if students ask for help. Too much time should not be spent on making a timetable; instead, more effort should be put in sticking to that schedule!
A To-do List
Making a list of subjects that need to be covered for the day, or writing a list of things that need to be accomplished would enable one to have a clear mind. When we have too many tasks on our mind, it would be too cluttered for us to make any decisions or learn anything new.
Students have to keep in mind that they should not make an ambitious to-do list. Instead, one should learn to set targets within their limits. For example, if you have a long day at school, it is likely that you would not have enough time to come home and study anything new because of the little time left and because of the exhaustion. Hence it would be more sensible to plan out a revision schedule to revisit some old concepts that you have already learn previously.
Practice
Like everything else in life, repeated practice and conditioning allows students to get used to the habit that they are trying to incorporate into their routine. The more that students give importance to being organised, the more efficient that they will be in carrying their tasks out. According to Parkinson’s law, the amount of work expands to fill the time available; so, productivity is entirely a matter of discipline and the willingness to put oneself to work.
Soon enough, students will realise that this habit of being organised helps them to a great extent in future, in so many ways possible!