Welcome back to school! We all know going back can be stressful, and it may be difficult to adjust to the workload in your classes, after a relaxing summer; but don’t worry, the Ghostwriter is here to help! Staying organized and managing your time will lead to your success this school year. These are ten tips to stay organized.

Time Management 

1. Making a personal deadline: When you are working on a project with a deadline, making a personal deadline for yourself with a due date before the actual deadline is very helpful. This way you will not have to rush to finish your project at the eleventh hour, because you will have it done at least a day before the actual project is due and can rest easy that night.
2. Keep an agenda or planner for all of your classes: Having an agenda may seem like an obvious time management tip, but it is still worth noting nonetheless. Keeping a planner is very important, as you can use it to keep track of projects, homework, and assessments. Be sure to note the dates exams fall on and due dates for work.
3. Work on homework as soon as possible: One of the most important tips for managing your time is getting your homework done as soon as you get home. While some students have jobs, clubs, or sports after school, you can still get your homework done after class, during class, or before school.  (Some teachers may give you a small extension if you let them know you won’t be able to finish it that night).
4. Prioritize homework by the due date: You should always get the homework that is due the soonest first. For example, if you have math homework due for your first period and English homework for your second period, you should get the math homework finished before you start the English homework.
5. Avoid procrastinating: When you are studying or working, you should keep your phone off to prevent getting distracted. Another tip to avoid procrastinating is to do your work in a quiet location without distractions. By eliminating distractions you will probably procrastinate doing work less.

Staying Organized

1. Use your locker: This is another easy yet useful tool that will help you stay organized this year. You could organize your locker by having all your supplies for a class on one side of a locker, or have all your supplies sorted in different areas of your locker. By doing this you will be able to get to class quickly without having a heavy backpack.
2. Color-coding supplies: Color-coding your materials is a very easy way to organize your supplies for classes. This way you can grab your supplies from your locker quickly by just looking at the color rather than having to look through the notebook to figure out if this is the right object for your class.
3. Don’t multitask: When doing schoolwork you should try not to switch between tasks and instead focus on completing one task completely before moving on to the next assignment. This way you will be able to retain the information you are learning better.
4. Take organized notes: Taking organized notes is one of the easiest ways to study and learn the topics you are being taught in class. When taking notes you should record all the information that you deem important and at the end of the notes write a summary of the notes you wrote down. By doing this you will have a clear idea of what the main idea of the lesson is.
5. Break down bigger tasks into smaller ones: When working on projects you should break down the main project by doing a single task one at a time until the project is fully completed. For example, when writing an essay you could spend one class gathering research, and in the next few classes, you should work on writing each paragraph until the project is fully completed. This way large-scale projects can seem more manageable.