Starting College Successfully

How Using a College Planner Will Lead to Successful Academic Results and Lead to a Successful Career Path!

This post contains some referral links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Utilizing a planner is a grown-up move toward adulting! When to fill out and use a college planner may be one of the most overlooked keys to a successful college experience, both academically and socially, and a key step to developing disciplines that will make you a successful adult! 

(Hint: This is great advice for parents to share with their students as they head off to college!)

With over a combined 18 years of dorm and college apartment living experience in our family, we have all seen success and struggles leading to 7 Bachelor’s degrees, 2 Master’s degrees (with a 3^rd almost complete and a 4^th getting underway), and 1 Doctorate nearing completion. These helpful hints and suggestions are learned from both observation and experience. We have started a lot of semesters well and finished well, and we have started some poorly and, well, let’s just say we did not always finish every semester well. But we speak from both successful and not so successful experience, using a college planner will lead to successful academic results and lead to a successful career path!

So you have a college planner! What’s next?

Sadly, most just remain on the shelf, or “accidently” find their way back in dad’s truck with all of the “extra” things you did not have room for in your dorm or apartment. Adulting does not come naturally to every college student. For more on college dorm living, read “Top 10 Things To Bring To College.”

It’s time to plan for success. Take the planner off the shelf and USE IT or download a digital planner to device!

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”

~Benjamin Franklin

When is the best time to fill out your planner?

First, as soon as you have your schedule of registered classes, in-person or online, fill out the details in your planner, making sure to include class location and time, etc.

Second, in the evening following the first day of each class, sit down and write every assignment, test, etc. that are included in each class syllabus. You will probably lose the syllabus at some point in the semester, or you will get pizza grease on it during some late-night study session. But it is hard to lose the big chunky planners that you keep in your room! Also, set reminders in your phone for those important assignments and tests. It never hurts to use multiple platforms for organization your work.

Third, it is a good DAILY practice throughout the semester to open your planner and update or review items. Use it for making to-do lists, scheduling study times, securing other resources you might need, etc. Either pick a time every day in the morning or evening to update your planner. 

How will utilizing a planner during college help you become successful?

1. It keeps you on track academically by including items such as:

• To do list
• Priorities
• Daily schedules
• Goals

2. Evaluate college interests and priorities by evaluating daily priorities and keeping track of things you complete, and things you put off. 

• This will help you see areas in which you need to focus more, and it might also help you discern the things that make you the most happy and bring you enjoyment, such as the type of coursework. 
• It might also minimize the number of years you spend in college and prevent you from changing your major over and over and over!
• You develop disciplines that will prepare you for success in the workplace after college.

3. Plan ahead, by planning now!

• Developing daily disciplines will enhance academic and career performance by setting and achieving goals, developing study habits, disciplining yourself to complete tasks and not procrastinate, etc.
• Staying organized will also help you relax when everyone around you is stressed at the last minute before exams. You planned well, studied consistently, and now you can ease on into the final exam with less stress because you have studied all semester, and not just during the all-nighter before the exam!

4. Relieve stress by reducing unknowns.

• Did you ever have a nightmare that you had forgotten to attend a class for which you were registered? That you forgot a test?
• The fear of the unknown will increase your stress level, and thereby decreasing your academic performance.

5. Reduced stress often means enhanced health! 

• Some students embark on the fun and activity of college and get so busy they do not eat well, eat too many unhealthy items, eat at unhealthy times, forgo exercise for just about any other option, etc. 
• Utilizing a planner can help you schedule times for those important things like meal preparation, exercise, etc., so you do not end up eating pizza and watching YouTube all evening!
• Using a planner to guide you into disciplined practices will reduce your stress as the semester proceeds. No, it will not eradicate stress, because some of that goes with college! But it will certainly reduce it enabling you to feel better physically, which helps you feel better emotionally, and enables you to take a fresh start towards success every day!

Don’t be “that guy” who started with great intentions, but has to make the difficult phone call home to tell your parents that the university has invited you to spend the next semester at home with mom and dad!

Put that planner to use! It can make the difference between a successful college student on the way to a successful career, or the “I wonder why that person checked out mid-semester and never came back” person!

This post contains some referral links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

What? You have not bought a good planner for the semester yet? 

Here is a Customizable BEST SELLING option that you can have delivered within a few days:

Take a look at this Erin Condren 12 – Month 2020-2021 Layers Metallic Gold Coiled Life Planner! 

This BEST SELLING planner is designed to help you plan for success in college by reducing stress, getting organized and achieving your goals. Some features included are: stunning designer interchangeable front and back covers, time management and productivity hacks like the Hourly Layout to suit your unique planning style and needs, tabbed monthly calendars, weekly planning pages, mini months, and a yearly overview. Dated July 2020 – June 2021, this 12-month Life Planner will help you organize your life and be more productive. In other words, it will help you with “adulting!” It is made of premium papersturdy coiled spine, an assortment of cover designs, stickers, inspirational quotes, coloring spreads, additional note pages, dot grid pages, and so much more!

Wishing you a successful college experience and future that is bright!