The Secret to Organization: The Power of a Planner

For the majority of my life, I have struggled with staying organized.  I have continually over looked important details, forgotten appointments, and lost important documents.   A long period of time went by before I realized living a life of disorganization only caused me more stress and chaos.  While I tend to work best under pressure, the details still matter and need to be remembered.

I frequently tell my friends that during my junior year of college I put myself through personality boot camp.  It was the hardest semester of school I’d ever had; I was drowning in heavy amounts of reading, and trying to succeed in the hardest class (to this date) I’ve every taken—literary theory.  I had heard rumors of this class for various upperclassmen; they tried to prepare me and tried to warn me of what was to come.

However, I had to find out for myself.  Two weeks into the grueling course, I was drowning.  I recognized that there was no physical way I could thrive in the world of academia without organizing my schoolwork and assignments.  I decided the best first step for me to take was to buy a cute planner.  I drove myself down to the Barnes & Noble and bought myself an organized planner (along with a latte rewarding myself for trying to be responsible).  

Buying that planner was my first step in turning over a new leaf, and eventually leading to a new life.  While organization is still sometimes a struggle for me, and procrastination can still be tempting, the planner purchase forced me to become more organized and efficient in my studies.  Naturally, this process led to me becoming organized in other areas as well—my internship at a local church, my job as a server at a country club, and various appointments.  

This planner taught me how to succeed in the academic world as well as the professional world.  While my personality may not lean towards type-a perfectionism, everyone can learn to become organized and efficient in his or her daily lives.  

Tips for picking a good planner:

-Make sure that it is a full calendar year (mine starts with August 2015 and goes to December 2016).

-A calendar over of the month at beginning of each new month is incredibly helpful.

-A good planner has plenty of blank space on each day for you to write in.

-It’s got to be cute.  Finding a planner that was stylish made organization more fun for me.