Often, I get the question, “how do you do it all?” This usually happens after a peer or friend learns that I play for the UChicago soccer team, work in a research lab, am on the executive board for three UChicago RSOs, volunteer with my church, and hold two other part-time jobs in addition to my coursework.
My personal go-tos are online apps like Google Calendar and Google Tasks, which allow me to quickly add events and tasks when I am on my computer or smartphone. Today, I wanted to share my process for how I use them to stay organized. I hope that you’ll find this post helpful for your own day-to-day planning, or that it’ll give you some ideas for how you can utilize other organizational tools, many of which have similar functions.
Let’s start off with calendars:
- You can add other people’s calendars to show up on your own calendar in different colors. For example, I have added my soccer coach’s calendar, which has all our practice times, and my Principal Investigator’s calendar, which has all our research lab meetings.
- You can also make separate personal calendars. For example, I have a calendar for my classes, for office hours, and for personal events such as RSO meetings, meals with friends, and blocks of time to work out.
- You can schedule recurring events in your calendar and specify an end date–perfect for each quarter’s classes. You can also make edits to specific days of these events, such as information about homework due dates, without changing the name of every event.
Using a digital tasks list in conjunction with your calendar can also be a really great way to keep everything in one place:
- You can make personalized task lists just like you can make personalized calendars. For example, I have a separate task list for my research lab, my internship with the Admissions Office, my classes, and my personal life.
- You can schedule a task to be due by a certain date and time and it will appear in the appropriate place on your calendar. For example, I have a task that reminds me to pay rent that is scheduled to pop up on the first day of the month.
- You can delete AND mark off tasks! Ever get a sense of satisfaction from crossing an item off your task list? You can still do that digitally; it’s great!
- If you don’t finish all your tasks for a day, you can open up your calendar and drag them to the next day of the week! (My favorite feature! I find myself doing this a lot—whoops!)
With so much going on in college, there are a ton of things that I need to keep track of. Using online scheduling tools really helps me keep everything organized. Personally, I find Google Calendar and Google Tasks to be really helpful, but I know there are a multitude of tools out there, both physical and digital. I highly recommend finding something that works for you—whether that's online tools like I use, a physical planner, a whiteboard calendar in your dorm room, or something else!