I’m a huge avid stress planner which often times, means a ton of lists that are probably repetitive but help me destress lol. Even though some of these lists may overlap or cover the same tasks and topics, I think that it’s helpful having them in different formats so you’re constantly reminded of them but at the same time, not stressed out that you’ll forget about them. It’s a double edged sword because if you don’t like being reminded of what you have to do, this may stress you out even more.
Here are some of the various ways I keep track of the stuff I do.
Weekly Overview
When ever I make my weekly spreads, I usually have a tiny column of seven boxes on the side somewhere to denote the days of the week. If I have an important homework assignment/work assignment/meeting/life task, I write it down in the corresponding box to notify me of when it’s due. It’s a small reminder of my weekly overview and I find that it helps me keep track of important weekly things. I don’t write out all of my tasks here but just the major ones that I can’t afford to miss out on.
Weekly To Do List
This is where I brain dump everything on mind I have to do in the week, or even think about during the week. It may be as minute as grocery shopping for that one thing you’ve been putting off for a while, cleaning your desktop, or all you academic assignments. I do it every Sunday before work/school begins and I think it’s a nice way to start off the week. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I personally find it a bit more relaxing when I’ve got everything I’m worried about down somewhere on a piece of paper. This is different that other weekly related list spreads because it’s not only for academic stuff but also the mundane stuff. If you’re going to be worrying about something during the work/school week, write it down.
Academic Tracker
This is what I kill the monster to do list of everything I’ve got to study. I usually organize these to do lists by subject/classes and jot down every module, sub module, and sub sub module so I can check them off and visually see my progress. Sometimes my academic trackers are extremely detailed – especially when the class/subject material is extremely dense and a lot to take in. Checking off a more detailed list will help me feel more productive when I’m spending way too much on a module simply because it covers a lot of material. Other times, if there’s not much material to cover, I use the more higher level modules as the task to check off.
Weekly Academic Tracker
I love this spread because it gives me enough room to spread out what I want to study in a week. Again, I’m a huge visual person and dividing my work across the week helps me make sure I’m making good progress. The difference between this and my weekly life tracker is that the weekly life tracker focuses on high level things such as when an assignment is due. For example, in my weekly life tracker, I’d write in the Friday box that “Homework #1” is due. In this tracker, I’d write out tasks such as on Monday, I went to do section one of “Homework #1” and section two on Tuesday, etc. This helps me break down big tasks and make sure I’m being productive but not spreading myself too thin either.
Is it excessive? Yes? But that’s just me, an excessive list maker. Welcome to the chaos of brain 😉