Surviving School In A Pandemic: Best Tips For Organization And Sticking To Deadlines
It’s hard enough to be a student and work full time, but to be a student and work full time in the middle of a panny?? How are we even surviving right now and keeping up with our schoolwork while trying to maintain our sanity? The majority of us are distance learning and losing that campus experience, not being able to go to the library or stop into a professor’s office hours. It’s challenging and hard to handle, but it’s not impossible.
There are so many new distractions at home that there weren’t on campus; however, we can work around that. I have a few tips to share that have helped me maintain at least a little bit of my sanity! I’d like to start by saying, these tips are created from my personal experience and may not work for everyone, but if they can help at least one person, I’ll feel so much better!
Let’s talk about the most crucial thing: deadlines! It’s hard to stick to them in between Netflix binge sessions, six-hour naps, and just being straight up overwhelmed by all of the work! (Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s soo much more work now?”) At first, I was all over the place with my schedule and finding time to meet my deadlines, but one day, I just sat down at my desk and spent a whole day getting myself together. (It’s okay if it takes you a full day too. You still accomplished something!)
What I did was print out some calendars and taped them to my desk. I also have a sticky notes app on my computer to keep track of assignments and deadlines. I had a monthly calendar and a weekly calendar in addition to the sticky note that I separated by day. I also had physical sticky notes that I stuck to my desk for non-work and school-related things and stuff coming up in the next month. All of this may seem extra as hell but hear me out!
The weekly calendar consisted of my work schedule and weekly meetings and classes that I had. Having a weekly calendar helped me to see where I had free time that could be used to complete assignments and schedule any interviews and such. I also wanted free time just to relax and paint my nails or something. Since my weekly schedule didn’t change, at least for long periods, I always knew when I was free and wouldn’t overbook myself. (I had issues with this, too, at the beginning. Luckily, people didn’t get too mad at me!)
You don’t have to color code things as I did, but it doesn’t hurt! I categorized mine as work/work-related, school/school-related, and non-work and non-school related. An example of something school-related would be an organization meeting. I am a member of my school’s TV station, and I categorize that as school-related because it’s part of school, but it’s not a class if that makes sense. “Work-related'“ would be something such as the American Sign Language courses my job offered. It’s not a work shift, but my work provided it. That’s how I managed my weekly calendar now; let me show you my monthly calendar and why I needed two.
I followed the same color-coding system as my weekly calendar in my monthly calendar. The main reason I have a separate calendar is, so I have enough space to write. Do you see those small boxes? There was no way I would fit assignments and weekly scheduled things in those. In this calendar, I would write the due dates and the days before it that I had time to get it done. I would also write meetings that weren’t weekly scheduled items, so interviews, meetings with my mentor, things like that. Also, the highlighted cross marks on the dates? That’s not an accident. I like to use highlighters to cross out the dates just if I need to go back and see if there was anything I missed. I also would keep the calendar for a day or two before tossing it at the end of the month. As I said, this is not mandatory, but it doesn’t hurt.
I started using the sticky notes app on my laptop when I had a mix of online courses and regular courses and wanted to keep track of which assignments needed to be turned in on paper and electronically. I continued using it during the pandemic, so I knew what I needed to do while on my computer.
The sticky note is a weekly calendar format. Still, I used the same schedule as my monthly calendar whereas, I would write down the deadlines and the days I could do them, so there would occasionally be repeats of assignments, but that helped me. It also helped to erase things as I finished them, which is so satisfying! I like to reserve my Sundays to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, which also helped me keep track of where I was and determine if I would have to be at my desk on Sunday.
One last tip that saved my butt was breaking up my assignments. I was no stranger to online courses, but taking many classes that required hours of work and being at my laptop for extended periods would hurt my head, back, and eyes (I gotta wear glasses now!) Breaking up my assignments helped with that also helps me not to hyper-focus on one task and forget all of the others that needed finishing.
For one of my final exams, I had to write a 10+ page paper consisting of multiple categories. I stared at it for a whole week before actually doing the work. I was like Spongebob when he had to write his paper for boating school! I finally created an outline, though, and I tackled each section separately. I got so focused on trying to do it from beginning to end that I panicked before I started it and then panicked some more because I was behind the schedule I set for myself. After doing all of the manageable sections first, the rest of it just flowed. The best tip is to just get out of your head and out of your way.
Don’t feel like you have to be as extra as I was with my multiple calendars and sticky notes to focus and meet deadlines. What works for me might not work for you, but maybe you take some bits and pieces and tailor it to yourself. A few more tips that help are taking frequent breaks, always having water next to me, and listening to music. I found that jazz without words helped me get in my zone! Working from home, it might be hard to find quiet but find a small area in your home, or just in your bedroom, and claim it as your workspace. Once you create a habit of only doing work there, it’ll be so much easier to focus. Happy studying, and good luck! I’m rooting for everybody black.
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