Why Planning is Important: Insight from a College Student

Do you feel unorganized, overwhelmed and stressed during the semester? That’s totally ok! Life in college can get chaotic but there is a solution - planning. This can be as simple as writing a to-do list on a piece of scrap paper to using Google calendar. Planning is essential for academic success. There are so many options out there. I know it can be overwhelming so I want to provide insight into why planning should be incorporated into your college life, the benefits of planning, and overall why planning is important.

Why Planning is Important for Thriving - Not Just Surving in College

I know planning can seem burdensome or overwhelming especially if you have never used a planning tool before. The good news is that there are so many different ways to plan - digital and physical. There is Notion, Google Calendar, physcial paper planners, reminder apps. They all have one thing in common. They are a way to organize your life and put all those dates and reminders from in your head into something tangible. It is really hard to keep all that information in your head and college is already fast-paced and chaotic so no one would be suprised if you forgot a deadline. Planning solves that for you. A study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that students using planning tools and academic resources had a 0.2 point higher GPA than those who did not.

There are so many benefits to planning. Some are:

1. Providing direction

2. Increasing productivity

3. Reducing stress and anxiety

4. Promoting the habit of setting goals

5. Improving time management skills

6. Increasing motivation

7. Reducing uncertainty

8. Creating a roadmap to success

9. Managing your priorities

10. Building organizational skills

Infographic on Benefits of Planning

Still don’t believe you should start planning? Let me tell you about my personal experience in college starting out with no planning skills to being a senior who can’t live without planning. During freshman year, I came to college thinking I didn’t need to use a planner because in high school my teachers reminded the students when assignments were due. I quickly learned that was not the case in college. I won’t ever forget when I came to class and all my classmates were discussing a paper that was due last night. I scrambled into my Canvas and saw the missing next to the paper assignment worth sixty points. I quickly figured out I needed a planning system and Google Calendar and a note on my laptop desktop was my saving grace. I can see any task on my phone or laptop and it is easily accessible. I also use my notes app on my phone to write down daily tasks. Planning truly changed my academic journey because I am more productive, experience less anxiety, and most importantly I have not missed a deadline since using a planning system.

Overall, planning is important when going through your academic journey, providing benefits of increased productivity and motivation, reducing stress and uncertainty, and improves time management skills. The goal of planning is to provide direction and that is essential during the chaos that is college. Don’t be the stressed and overwhelmed student but the productive and happy student because you now know why planning is important.