As a college student, there are many things we have to juggle. School, work, extracurricular activities, family stuff, etc. The list goes on and on. Without a calendar or a planner, we would never know what was due when, where we had to be at certain times or how much time we had between activities and commitments. Some people are paper people and prefer a hand written planner. I, too, love paper, but when it comes to organizing and creating my schedule from day to day, I have to have an electronic calendar on my phone. I know, this is such a millennial thing to say because we are all attached to our phones, but here are several reasons I am in love with my phone calendar.
1. I can color code everything.
As a college student, I have to juggle school, working on some weekends, my sorority and all the other clubs and organizations I am involved in. To make it super easy, I color code. Classes are always purple, sorority is always in gold (sorority color), meetings are in blue and honors program is orange. As I have assignments due, I make them red so I don't overlook them and when I'm feeling super adventurous, I will even put in time to go to the gym and make it lilac colored. Not only does it make it easier to see everything when it's coded, it also makes your calendar nice and colorful.
2. If something needs to be moved, I can move it without leaving eraser smears.
No class today? Delete the event and BOOM, you now have three hours free. Going to the gym at 7 instead of 6? Hold down and drag the event to the new time. Done.
3. Reminders, reminders, reminders!
At the start of the semester, the first thing I do is go through every class syllabus and put every due date for every assignment in my calendar. I also add reminders to go off to remind me of important due dates. If it's a big test or paper, I will even set multiple reminders to go off such as 10 days before (start thinking about the project), seven days before (actually start the assignment before), five days before (finish up the assignment), three days before (proof read and ask the professor to look over it if possible) and finally, one day before (submit that paper early and not worry about it the next day).
4. Share with your family and friends!
This is so nice because you can share your calendar with your family so they know when you're in meetings or class and they won't call you! It's also nice to share with friends because they can easily see when you are both free to do something together and it's easy to see everyone's schedule instead of always asking "Do you have class at 2?"
5. More reminders.
Forgot that you had class today? Don't worry, the default setting for any calendar event is a 15 minute reminder. Just enough time to throw on shoes and sprint to class.
6. Keeps a history.
When was that meeting we had last spring? One sec, let me pull up my calendar and I can tell you the exact day, date and time.
7. And creates the future.
When is that meeting scheduled for the first week of Spring semester? Oh right, already put it in my calendar.
8. Syncing!
Sitting in class and your teacher surprises you with an assignment due next week? Add it to your calendar on your computer and it will update on your phone. No having to worry about writing everything down in all your different locations. Everything is syncing together and is always up to date.
9. Birthdays.
Put in a friend's birthday and set it to repeat for 100 years. You'll never miss another birthday again.
