Sixth form: How to be Organised

Why is it important to be organised?

Organisation is often the first step when developing your study skills. Most of this information will be obvious but, often, a student will overlook it as they dive into an activity. Planning and organising yourself properly will start you off on the right foot and help you to make better progress.

Being organised will help you to:

focus on your goals
prioritise your tasks
help you manage your time better
reduce stress levels
help you to find balance in your life
increase your energy and enthusiasm
raise your grades

Check out this video for a better understanding:

1. Keep it Simple:

Organise and order your workbooks and folders, make systems that are easy to follow. If something is too complicated, you won't use it.

Post-it Notes, highlighters and tabs make things easy to find; add content dividers and contents pages to speed up the process. University students have been offering their insight into simple organisation here.

2. establish routines:

Creating routines and habits is important. This means finding the best times to study and keeping to a scheduled programme. When planning your workload, making a timetable will help you to embed a routine. Click here for more information on how to make a study timetable.

Take time in making your timetable, using colour coordination can help you to identify work, relaxation, active periods at a glance. Once you have made the timetable, you must stick to it. If you make excuses at an early stage, you won't develop the desired habit.

3. places to study

Creating the right space to learn at home is vital in becoming organised. We call this a Learning Climate. Research suggests that getting your learning climate right can have significant impacts upon your grades. The same can be said be said for the the space in which you work in school. Surrounding yourself with friends or resting a book on your knee can be distracting and make you rush tasks. Have high standards, find the right spot and ensure that you are with people who require a similar level of concentration. This will help you to focus and, in turn, will improve your work.

Consider which environment is going to help you work better.

4. organise resources

While thinking about your place of study, some thought should also be given to organising the stuff that goes in there. Clear up the clutter and this will help organise your mind.

There will be increasingly large amounts of printed material such as notes, text books and journals. Try to keep your materials organised in indexed files, making use of a system of labelling that is clear, bold and easy to read. Marie Kondo's Netflix series has sparked joy in many disorganised people's lives.

If you plan to study in different locations, make sure you carry all the materials that you need with you. Having slim line folders and pencil cases will allow your tools to be transportable. Consider other practical concerns – will you have access to WiFi or a power cable? Will WiFi access actually be a potential distraction rather than a help?

Organising your belongings might not seem like a huge deal but lots of small 1% changes can lead to a bigger margin of improvement. This is called marginal gains and is a theory backed up by the British Cycling Team and their coach Sir David Brailesford CBE.

5. Support networks

Networks of support make everyday challenges of study more manageable. Support networks are valuable as:

they help you find the most appropriate person for help;
you won't waste time trying to locate help.

When you run into a crisis, your support can make it easier for you, offering help and advice, boosting morale and motivating you.

To find yours, write your name on a piece of paper, and around it write the names of the people who give you the greatest support. Draw an arrow from each one towards your own name, varying the thickness of the arrow to indicate the amount of support they give (a thick arrow means a lot of support). Now map the support you give to other people by drawing arrows in the opposite direction.

After, you might consider whether there are changes you might like to make – you may want to strengthen some relationships or even back away from negative influences.

6. procrastination vs perfectionism

Perfectionism is "a personality trait characterised by a person's striving for flawlessness and setting high performance standards, accompanied by critical self-evaluations".

Perfectionism can lead to an unhealthy balance in school and it can make you stressed, anxious and cause mental health problems. Being a perfectionist can stop you from trying new things as you are fearful of making mistakes. This will prevent you from reaching your goals.

Procrastination is "the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished and an habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite recognising that it might have negative consequences.

Often we procrastinate because a task seems too difficult which is connected to your growth mindset. When the procrastinator does “get around to” the task, often there is no longer sufficient time to do it well; the task is more stressful and is done less well. This backs up the idea that he or she was 'bad' at the task in the first place.

Being realistic with your standards and expectations can help to find the balance between being a perfectionist and a procrastinator. Next time, try timing yourself on tasks, give it a go and don't fear mistakes.

7. plan backwards

Planning backwards is a technique that is connected to metacognition. The idea is to start with your ultimate objective, your end goal, and then work backward from there to develop your plan. What does your end product look like, what does it feel like, how successful is it? What steps do you now need to take to get to your end point. What process will you follow? What skills or knowledge do you need to use? What skills or knowledge do you have? What skills or knowledge do you need to learn?

Make to-do lists, use time lines, brain storm, mind map and plan your journey from your current point (A) to your end point (B).