High Schoolers: Organization Is Your Best Friend

Finding organizational styles that simplify your life now will save you from frustration in the future and free up your time for more interesting classes, extracurricular activities, and time with friends once you reach campus.

By Connor Daniels — April 19, 2023

Tags: file system, high school, organization, planners, time management, work flow

High Schoolers: Organization Is Your Best Friend

As a high school student, you can probably keep track of everything you need to do in your head. Your day-to-day schedule is mostly planned for you, your teachers will remind you of due dates for homework, and your parents will keep track of the most important documents, like your passport. In college, however, you will have to do these things independently. Instead of relying purely on your memory—which is likely to fail you when you're tired and stressed—you should plan to have a dedicated system for keeping track of your time, your tasks, and your files. If you practice organizing these areas of your life now, you'll set yourself up for college success.

Your Time

You've probably realized by now that you're most likely to have a productive day when you start with a plan for using the time. After all, without a plan, your brain constantly switches between tasks, finds an excuse to procrastinate, or gets anxious about how many other things you could be doing. However, balance is needed—if you plan out your day too much, the slightest setback will throw your whole day off course, forcing you to change your plan and leading to frustration and even burnout.

Finding this balance takes practice and looks different for everyone. Some people find that blocking off a few hours each day to do focused work, without interruptions from friends and social media, is helpful for their productivity; others prefer to schedule different tasks for shorter periods and take 10-minute or 15-minute breaks in between to keep themselves motivated. In addition, many students find it helpful to sit down in the evening and jot down a few notes about their schedule for the next day so that they don't have to worry about forgetting anything important in the morning. High school is a great time to experiment with these and other methods as you work on managing your time well.

Whatever techniques you use for managing your time, you will need to have a system to keep track of your schedule and remind you of important appointments. There are two basic options: a physical planner or an electronic calendar app. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages to consider.

Physical Planners — A physical planner would be the superior choice if you're trying to reduce screen time or if you struggle with distractions on your phone or computer. Because it's just pen and paper, nothing gets in your way when you want to update your schedule. The main downside is that a physical planner cannot send you notifications about upcoming deadlines or appointments, so you have to remember to check it regularly to keep on schedule. Because every entry has to be written by hand, it can also be time-consuming to keep track of recurring events, such as a daily class or weekly sports practice.

Electronic Calendars — The main advantage of electronic calendars, by contrast, is that it's easy to set up recurring events and schedule reminders so that you don't forget anything important. Because most calendar apps can sync across multiple devices, you don't have to worry about leaving your planner behind and forgetting to enter an important event. However, if you're trying to avoid distractions, having your calendar linked to your phone or computer can present its own challenges.

Your Tasks

Although a calendar will help you keep track of important appointments, you will still need to have a system for the assignments that you have to accomplish, along with important deadlines. A dedicated "to do" list is your best bet here; plus, having a record of what you've done during a day can boost your self-esteem and sense of accomplishment. Some students use notepads or planners for this, while others enjoy keeping a bullet journal to record important tasks and check off things that they've completed. Still others prefer an electronic system because, like an electronic calendar, an electronic "to do" list can continuously sync across multiple devices. Personally, I appreciate the flexibility and minimalism of Workflowy—it combines the simplicity of bullet journaling with the convenience of an app.

Once you have a list to keep track of your tasks, you will need to have some system for organizing those tasks into categories that make sense for you. For example, you might try dividing up your tasks into work, school, extracurricular, and personal categories. Then, on your calendar, you could schedule a dedicated time to work on school assignments and a different time to accomplish the things on your personal "to do" list.

Another technique that many students find helpful is the Eisenhower Matrix. In this system, every task is assigned to one of four categories:

Urgent and Important
Important but not Urgent
Urgent but not Important
Not Important or Urgent

This matrix helps you to decide what tasks need to be done first by clearly identifying what factors should make a task a priority to you. Tasks in the first category, such as studying for tomorrow's test, should be done as soon as possible so that you don't miss a major deadline. Tasks in the second category, such as a term paper, should be broken into smaller pieces and scheduled over time so you don't fall behind on a long-term project. Tasks in the third category—for example, responding to email, updating your calendar, and filing class handouts—can be accomplished whenever you have a few minutes during the day but lack the energy for focused work. Anything in the fourth category probably doesn't need to be on your "to do" list in the first place.

Your Files

Finally, high school is the perfect time to practice keeping track of physical and electronic files because most of the files you currently have to consider are relatively unimportant. For example, losing your class notes is a minor inconvenience, whereas losing your birth certificate or vehicle registration would cause significant problems. Establishing a reliable filing system now will help to prevent catastrophe later, with little effort today.

Let's start with physical documents. These could include your class notes, handouts, returned tests and essays, syllabi, and anything else you need to keep track of for school or extracurricular activities. Often the best system here is the simplest. If you have a separate, clearly labeled 3-ring binder for every class, with tabs for different kinds of papers, then everything will have its place, and you'll just need to remember to put things away where they belong. If you don't love the idea of carrying around multiple class-specific binders every day, try a different tactic. For example, use one binder, with tabs for each class, to hold everything you think you will need for that week, carry it in your backpack, and take it to every class. At the end of each week, empty this binder and transfer its contents to class-specific binders at home or to some hanging file folders within your desk.

Electronic documents should also have their place on your computer. Because you cannot see what is in each document without opening it, it's essential to name each of your files as clearly as possible. If you're working on a project or essay for school, it's generally a good idea to put the class name or number at the beginning of the file name, followed by the title of the paper you're working on. For example, your file name could look something like this: BritishLit_JaneAustenEssay. (Be sure to differentiate between drafts and the final, print-ready version as well—no one wants to print and submit the first draft of a paper they spent days revising.)

If you have a main folder for all of your school-related documents, with individual subfolders for each class, you will be far ahead of many of your peers. Whether organization comes naturally to you or not, it's a vital skill that all students should acquire before they go to college.

Connor Daniels

Connor Daniels teaches humanities to 7th through 12th grade students at Bloomfield Christian School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 2021, he graduated summa cum laude from Hillsdale College with a degree in history and politics.

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