How To: Stay Organised from the Start

As a 3^rd year, my memories of 1^st year are relatively blurred.

However, with Leicester’s Freshers Fair coming tomorrow (meaning free post-it notes that will last me the year) I think it’s fitting to post some pointers on staying organised at the start of term. So here’s another list (I promise not all my posts will be in list form!) because I genuinely can’t think of a better way to organise this post.

1. Get yourself a calendar

One fun thing about being a first year is that everything is new so you want to sign up to everything. You walk around Fresher’s Fair and everyone is pleading you to sign up and take their leaflets. Now the last thing you want is to miss an event you actually wanted to attend because you deleted their email or lost their material. So get a calendar – either use one on your phone, tablet, computer or buy a fancy physical one – to stay on top of what is happening and where.

It’s a savior for university work as well due to the different modules not always coordinating when deadlines fall. So it’s super important to keep a track of those.

It’s useful for other things too: birthdays, meal-plans, and a cheeky countdown to Christmas!

2. Lecture yourself

Cereal and lectures at 4pm. #UniLife

Don’t fall behind on your lectures. The Biological Sciences School has done an amazing job of introducing lecture capture so that if you miss one due to illness then you can catch up. However, don’t fall into the trap of missing them because trust me, it’s far easier to motivate yourself to write them up afterwards when you made the effort of sleepily following it live at 9am.

I want to highlight how important writing up and making lectures notes is. Not only does your brain get the extra boost of having read through the material before revision, it also saves you a lot of panic over the holidays. The best way to organise lecture write-ups is to make time and don’t force yourself to do too many.

3. Use the library!

I was definitely guilty of not using the David Wilson Library’s facilities enough as a first year. In fairness, I had a lovely student accommodation room and it was plenty of space and quiet for me to work. However, if you’re finding yourself distracted and unable to focus where you are, pay a visit to the library where from my experience, there’s always been plenty of space and everything you need is there for you to use.

4. Find your style

Being an organised person is easier if you do what works for you. Trust me, attending university shows you what your working style is and it’s up to you to use that to boost your motivation and academic potential!

My working style is fairly traditional – meaning that I write lists for days! I genuinely enjoy hearing about how others organise their lives – especially if it involves a lot of lovely stationery – so feel free to tell me about yours below!