keep working towards them," she says.
working towards them," she says. Experts say having a master calendar, in the form of a student planner or a monthly calendar hanging on your wall is a necessity. The most important thing about a calendar is keeping one place for all of your school and personal activities. Gracia says that when you use more than one, you risk scheduling conflicts and missed appointments, which can only lead to more stress.
A master calendar also helps you to plan ahead. "When you write down all of your assignments that you have due for all of your classes, you can have a better estimate as to when you need to start working on your projects," says Wade. "That way, when the due dates are approaching, you can have a more reasonable time frame to complete them."
Another facet to being organized is avoiding clutter. Clutter makes it difficult to find things when you need them and sometimes you can lose them permanently. Purchasing a different colored threering binder for each class you have is a good way to keep papers organized. That way, you can store your syllabus, graded papers and notes in the same place. By
Sean Smith/Kansan
color-coding them, you won't grab the wrong notebook when heading to class. If you want to go a step further, you can label your notebooks as well. When old papers and tests begin to pile up on your desk, you can file them in individual folders so they are still easy to find. Gracia says the most important thing in avoiding
clutter is to throw away
any outdated announce-
ments and papers
Being organized will help with school and can also help with students' mental state. A February study reported in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, a journal of the American Psychological Association, showed dramatic increases in college students' mental health problems over the last 13 years. At Kansas State University, Sherry A. Benton psychologist, and colleagues researched trends in the problems of student-clients from 1988 to 2001. Of these problems, stress and anxiety in students increased greatly with a steep growth from 1989 to 1996 and stabilization from 1996 to 2001. Wade says a major cause of stress for students is disorganization, which can also lead to overwhelming feelings and even depression. "Students that are organized not only have lower stress levels, but they are more productive and do better academically," he says.
Besides mental heath advantages, being organized also has long-term benefits such as getting a job. "When an employer is hiring someone, they are looking for more than just intelligence," he says. "If a person is organized, it will show that they will be a productive employee."
Remember, just because something works for one person, it may not be best for you. If you find a plan that works for you, follow it routinely. Stress levels will decrease and devote less time searching through papers and more to achieving your goals.
-Erica Brittain, Jayplay writer, can be reached at ebrittain@kansan.com
thursday. september 25. 2003
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