Get Your Life Organized in Calendar Form

3 methods and programs you need to create a schedule that helps you organize your life and and manage your time! 

Start the new year of school, work, and life off in the most productive way by being on top of all your assignments, meetings, and events from the beginning! There are a few things that I incorporate into my life, even when I am not on a heavy school schedule to still be productive from day to day. 

Daily Planners

This is something you need! 

First, I have a daily planner note book (old-school style) that I carry with me everywhere I go. In this daily planner I write dates of upcoming assignments, projects, and meetings. Ill write out my weekly to-do’s at the start of each week, and break those down into my daily to-do’s in the space given for each day in the planner. On top of that, I will also write out other things I need to plan, such as my meal prep - i.e. when I will be prepping and what I will be eating each day that week - and my blog posts - i.e. how much time I will be spending on a particular post or what preparation I have to carry out. 

The set-up is key 

There are a few different planners I have used in the past, but I always come back to one with a particular set up. I like it when the one side of the page is for notes, and the other page outlines each day of the week. This allows space for me to have an overview of my weekly to-do’s on the “note taking side” and I can write daily to-do’s and appointments on the actual day, on the other side. 

Guidance 

One brand that I used for years and has this set-up is the Moleskin. You can get the calendar for 18 months (which I like sometimes so that I can start my new calendar off in September with the start of school) or for 12 months from January to December. It is a very simple version of this set-up that I like, with notes on the left side and the days of the week in blocks on the right side. It is clean and simple. 

A the beginning of this 2017 year, I started using another planner that I ordered from a very cool and alternative magazine called Flow. It has the exact same set up as the moleskin; however, it is composed of very cool designs and patterns, and poses little reminder and awareness questions each week, such as ‘how did you go enjoy the weather this week?’. The planner makes me happy just looking at it, which I find is actually super important. It’s helpful to me to have materials that look pretty and make me want to use them. It somehow makes writing out the massive amounts of to-do’s slightly more bearable. 

You do You

Make sure the set-up you choose is good for you. I am sharing the method that best suits my ways of organization and my methods of getting work done. There are numerous different set-up’s for planners, with no note space and just the week laid out, or different spaces for different notes such as to-do’s vs. grocery list. It is simply important that you figure out what method that distresses you and helps you feel onto of your work. My final piece of advice is to get a planner that also physically catches your eye so that you enjoy using it and seeing the different designs and reading the quotes. 

This gives my an overview of what things need to be done the upcoming week along with assignments I would like to be working on, even if they are not due that immediate week. -Just brief overview of weekly to-dos —> and how they can carry over into daily to-do's - not only making a to-do list on paper but actually put the time blocks into your calendar to designate specific hours and certain blocks of time to each assignment or to-do. *See “Designing Routines that Work- Daily Edition” to read a step by step process of organizing all your work. 
This is where I will also color code. All of my due dates for assignments are written in red, whereas my 

Google Calendar App

Why you need this in your life immediately! 

Google calendar is a perfect app for scheduling time blocks for work and appointments. I have all my classes blocked out, along with my morning wake up routine. Each day I have also added what times I have blocked out for work. When setting up my daily or weekly to-dos, I will change the name of the "work block" to specify what I will be focusing on during that blocked out time.

Google calendar syncs with my phone and sends me reminders 30 minutes (or whatever time you choose to put in) before so I know what appointment I have next. It also reminds me to get working during my work blocks, even though sometimes I'd rather just ignore it. I also like it better than the iCal from Apple, because Google calendar actually shows the blocks of time, whereas iCal only shows bullet points of to-dos, which just looks overwhelming when there are a lot of them!

This is a bit of an older example. Google Calendar has updated their colors and set up for 2018. Below is the most recent set up!

Calendar #2: Deadlines 

I have 4 months worth of calendars printed out, where I write all of my deadlines. I like being able to see the whole month like this (below) on paper, so that I know what is coming up in the next couple weeks and prepare. This is where I will also color code. All of my due dates for assignments are written in red. Then I have my internal deadlines written in brown. So many of my assignments are all due within a couple of days of each other, so it is important that I have an overview and prepare and write assignments ahead of time so that I do not get stressed and overwhelmed with everything that is due, last minute. 

I also love just crossing and checking things off. It makes me feel like i actually accomplished it and kicked butt and its DONE! 

Weekly To-Do Lists 

 

Overviews are Important

Writing out a weekly to- do list gives me an overview of what things need to be done the upcoming week along with assignments I would like to be working on for internal deadlines or other important tasks. Sometimes to-do's can be a bit overwhelming so instead of writing a massive list of to-dos for one day, write a weekly to-do list. What are things you need to get done for this week, later this week, or in the upcoming week. Think of this as short term things to get done.

How to Make Your Own

Each week I write out my to-dos that I would like to get done this week or that are due this week. Then, each day I write out what I plan on achieving each day. I set up weekly to do’s based on categories such as the various classes I have, errands, blog, or other. Instead of just writing "English Essay" as a to-do, I write down the final goal: "complete English essay research" or "write and edit English essay". 

Give yourself a specific amount of time to get that work done in. organized under their appropriate category. I then prioritize my to do’s (all of them together) from “1”, being most important, to the last thing on my list, which is the least important. The least important is either something that is due last out of everything or something that could potentially be ignored all together. 

Each day then, I look at how much work time I have in which I can get things done and take the top priorities on the weekly list and make a “daily to do list” in my calendar book.
This is where the google calendar comes in handy, so that you can block off the amount of time you will be dedicating to each task. If I have a big assignment, i will change the name of one of my “work period” blocks on my google calendar and allocate a specific amount of time to getting that project or essay done in.

If you want to read a bit more about creating daily and weekly to-do lists, check out "Designing Routines that Work- Daily Edition”, for a step by step process of organizing all your work.

Free D3 Template for Weekly To-Dos 

This is a lot of organizational tips and this post shows a lot of different ways to organize. Choose the one that works best! If you like to write things out on paper, print out monthly calenders to organize your to-do's. If not, get yourself the google calendar app! Regardless, I would recommend getting a calendar book to have a weekly overview, or you can print out mine above! Comment below or write me personally if you have any questions!