How to Organize an Agenda

Keeping up with the break-neck speed of college can be hard. With classes, clubs and your social life, it’s almost impossible to remember everything that’s going on using just your memory. Maybe you’ve already discovered this after showing up three hours late to a meeting, completely flustered and confused, but college students need an agenda.

So what are the options?

If You Like Writing on Paper…

Some people just like the idea of physically crossing out assignments. So if that’s you, there are several options when it comes to agendas, depending on what your preferences are.

If you’re just looking for a basic paperback agenda, make sure to treat it extremely well, as the metal rings holding the paper together can easily bend– the one flaw of the Lilly Pulitzer agendas. If you’re looking to splurge, Coach and Kate Spade have beautiful leather-bound agendas that are to die for–but at a minimum of $150, these pieces are an investment.

But What About Google?

Having a Gmail account is perhaps the most comprehensive way of keeping track of your schedule. Using Gmail’s calendar function eliminates the need to carry around an agenda, because your calendar can be easily synced with your smartphone or opened on your tablet/computer.

Once you’ve synced your calendar with your phone (instructions for this can be found on the Gmail website), set your calendar app on your phone to send you reminders of events and assignments due. For someone who never stops moving, Google is for you.

Keeping Organized from the Start

Whether you’re a paper person or a technology person, keeping yourself organized before the semester gets too hectic is key. No calendar is going to help you if you never take the time to keep it up to date. So the number one thing to do in the beginning of the semester is to go through each of your syllabi and write down every assignment. This way, you have an idea of what your semester looks like, and you never have any surprises when you go to class or a meeting.

Some Tips Just for Paper Agendas:

• Using different colored ink for different classes can be extremely helpful. There’s nothing more annoying than having to check back with your syllabi to make sure what class an assignment is for.
• Using different colored stickers is also a fun way to keep organized. Instead of using different colored ink, use a set of multi-colored stickers to help you keep track of which class is which.

Photo by Alex Vavreck