It's been less than a fortnight since I started my third year of university, and I promised myself that I would make this year count (because this is the year that actually counts). Normally by this stage, I already feel stressed, worried and anxious about everything, and those feelings were due in part to my poor organisation skills. Not reading set texts, being woefully unprepared for seminars and leaving my essays until the last minute, and when I say "last minute" I actually mean starting the essay at 5AM on the day its due. However, I feel a surprising sense of calm when I look at my module handbooks and think about the impending assignments I will be throwing myself into. Could it be that I've finally become organised?
Today I want to share with you the rules I'm setting myself for the upcoming academic year, and how I plan to keep organised at university.
PLAN PLAN PLAN
If you've read my blog for a little while, you may remember how, in my 10 Topics to Inspire Your Journal post, I mentioned that I have a bit of a magpie's eye for journals. I'm constantly buying them and never actually doing anything with them, and I've finally managed to put them to good use. I have a planner for every pretty much every aspect of my life; my daily organiser where I make notes of my shifts, plans to meet up with friends and other important things I have to do; a university-branded diary to note down any "homework" and the topics I'll be studying over the next week; I also have a notebook for work, where I write down training notes and other things I've learnt on the shop floor - I even have my own blogging organiser, which I have found immensely useful in planning and structuring my schedule and content.
Since categorising and micro-managing every aspect of my life, I've found that I've been able to maintain the work / study / life balance a little more smoothly. As long as I remember to actually check my diaries that is! But it's just so easy to pop them in my bag and make notes as I go, and I've found that for once in my life, I feel in control of everything and that my disorganised former self is a thing of the past. Planning and organising has always been something that I've struggled with, but I'm willing to fully immerse myself into that middle-aged, mother-of-three, total control freak lifestyle, if it means that I'll find my third year a bit easier to deal with!
Plus. there is no shortage of cute stationary out there - and I know that when I have a world of pretty things at my fingertips, I definitely feel a little bit better about everything.
A5 CACTUS NOTEBOOK - SASS & BELLE // A5 GLITTER PLANNER - ASDA // A5 WORLD MAPS NOTEBOOK - WATERSTONES
USE YOUR TIME WISELY
I don't know about you, but sometimes when I look at my ever-mounting to-do list, I wish there were more hours in the day, which is why it's vital that you use your time wisely. I'm in university three days a week, I have one day off, and then I travel back to my dad's to stay for the weekend because I work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays- no rest for the wicked, eh? Then, factoring in travel time, chores, grocery shopping, making food and sleeping, I'm not left with a lot of time for myself, so I've starting making the most of my time and utilising the space I have in-between classes.
I study almost every night, and once my classes are out of the way for the week, I use my evenings to copy up lecture and seminar notes to help refresh my memory and truly understand what I've learnt. A university student actually studying? Shocking, I know, but what can I say? I'm a girl who likes to challenge stereotypes, and the party life was never for me.
On mornings where I have a later start to the day, I take blog pictures, brainstorm ideas, and I do the same when I get home from my early classes - all whilst I'm in my best fluffy pyjamas with a face mask slapped on. But sometimes I prefer to sit on the sofa and not do very much at all (unless watching crappy daytime TV and eating Malteasers counts, which it totally does by the way).
That day off in the middle of the week allows me to get a lot of shit done, be it chores or switching off in the bath for a few hours. But I also use it to my best blogging advantage, as it's when I managed to churn out and write all of my posts for the week to come and start thinking about ideas for the next few weeks. However, I know that varying degrees means varying time spent in lectures and studying, which is why it's so important, and sometimes difficult to make the most of the time you have available. Most of the time I just want to slug it out on the sofa, but you always have to bear in mind your workload and your time management skills. Never, ever burn yourself out. Trust me, I've been there too many times before.
READ IN ADVANCE
Now, I know most university advice posts would suggest the opposite of what I'm about to tell you, but when you do a literature-based, reading-centric degree like myself, it's almost impossible to avoid making your way through your set reading list. Lecturers know when you haven't done the reading for the week, and no-one wants to be that person in a seminar who doesn't really know what they're talking about (but, props to them, they do try their hardest even if it is painful for all listening).
I dedicate about an hour or so before I go to bed every night, reading texts for my modules. If it's something like an article, a lab report or a couple of poems, you can easily do this the night before, but it's much harder trying to blast your way through a 400 page novel in one sitting. It is possible, I've been there, but it's definitely not pleasurable. In one module, I have to read a novel that's thicker than my arm, so I've made a note to make a start on it next week, even though we won't be discussing it until week nine or ten. It can also be difficult trying to prioritise which texts to focus on, especially if you're like me and you study three different novels per week, on top of films and shows for my adaptation class. Not every professor expects you to read the whole novel, but if you at least make a start and get a feel for what the topic is about you will be doing them and yourself a massive favour.
It's important to know what you're talking about, and if you don't really want to do the reading, most lecturers put their notes and seminar plans online before the actual class, so if you have a read through them you might feel a little more confident heading into the class.
I'm aware that most of this advice caters towards my particular lifestyle and degree, however I hope you've at least found the basis of these tips useful for your own studies!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed!
Until next time,
Rachel x
- October 07, 2017
- 4 Comments
