I’m well into my second semester of college and I’ve learned a few things – how to make healthy eating choices, share a room with another teenage girl and be more organized. All right, so maybe I’m actually still in the process of learning, but I’ve made great progress since I moved into Wehrle on Aug. 24. Now I can share with you some of what I have found works.

Of all of these lessons learned I can say that being organized is perhaps the hardest. Sure, you know what you SHOULD do, but it’s a balance of what you have time for and what you can realistically see yourself doing. As a theatre and communication arts major, my extracurricular activities are demanding to say the least and I’m the kind of person who’ll be a member of any club I can. Needless to say, that doesn’t leave a lot of spare time for silly tasks like cleaning off my desk or making my bed.

This is Brianna getting ready for the week:

On Sunday, I make a spreadsheet of Monday through next Sunday, starting first with my class schedule. Next, I add in all of my rehearsals, meetings and radio shifts as well as my work hours. I then log on to Angel to check if my profs have assigned anything over the weekend and refer to my syllabi for scheduled tests, quizzes, and assignments. I pair those in with the corresponding classes. Once that’s done – being fully aware that it will all change tomorrow – I print out the spreadsheet and hang it from a shelf on my desk.

Next, I take some luxurious time to clean my room, which normally takes quite awhile. I pick up all of the laundry that I threw on the floor in a rush to get to my 8 a.m.’s. I throw away the Luna Bar wrappers and Starbucks cups on my desk, put my books in order of chronological use and stack all of my folders in a drawer. I make my bed for the first and last time that week so that I can sort out my laundry and put it away.

I call my mom and ask her to send me pictures of my kitty cat, Clara, whom I miss very, very much. (I got her for Christmas and she’s soooo cute.) Mom scolds me for not exercising more, but reassures me that I’m her bright and shiny star, which makes me feel just good enough to finish getting ready for the week.

On the daily, I like to wake up early, drink my coffee and go the floor’s lounge to watch the news. When I get to my first class, I’m all jittery and excited because I’ve had my second cup of coffee. I like to use this time before class begins to write out all I have to do that day in a timeline. Sometimes the multitasking is all I can do to keep from falling asleep. I also make a point to write in my free time slots so I can plan out when I’m going to do my homework for the next day.

Warning: Sometimes my downtime is limited to 3.25 hours a day between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., so you can see how it’s in your best interest to exercise organizational skills. Thinking about everything I have to do can be pretty overwhelming, but knowing what I have to do, when I have to do it and having a clean place to do it in makes the feeling much easier to handle. Personally, I enjoy being the “Busy B.” 🙂

-B

In order to be busy at college you have to apply first. Learn how to do just that in our Edge :60.