The Importance of Planning…

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

Alan Lakein

As one of our goals is to help improve your productivity, planning is understandably a core aspect of the Semester Student Planner.

For us personally, we feel quality planning is one of the most important elements at helping you push towards your goals as well as make you a top performing student and providing you the “space” to be the best possible version of yourself. There are so many benefits to list but to name a few, planning helps:

  • Improve organisation
  • Improve efficiency
  • Create direction
  • Set Milestones

When we consider that:

  • It’s reported that up to 87% of first year students struggle to cope with the social and academic aspects of student life.
  • 60% of students report that they have difficulty coping with the workload.

*See previous blog post ‘A students problem’ (Read here)

There is a very good case that planning is one of the key aspects in helping you to minimise your stress and overwhelm in your studies, and instead turning that on its head.

Planning is so important because it simply gives you that little advantage over most others who have not yet discovered the power it can provide you in your studies. By being prepared in advance it allows you to minimise the risk of any unnecessary or unexpected problems emerging that place an even greater stress on your already bursting schedule. It is surprises like this that will typically de-rail your days.

These could include small things such as:

  • Forgetting which lecture room you were in for your first lesson.
  • Running out the house without your workbook.
  • Not completing your most important tasks for the day, because you forgot about the assignment or project.
  • Missing a social event as you swore to yourself that you would remember it…

But also bigger problems such as:

  • Being unable to meet key deadlines such as the submission of your dissertation or end of year project.
  • Forgetting that mid-year exam until the last minute.
  • Becoming overwhelmed with your workload.
  • Being constantly stressed by a messy list of tasks with no defined framework or organisation.

“He who fails to plan, is planning to fail”

Winston Churchill

One of the easiest ways to get started with planning is doing it on a morning to set you up for the day. By planning on a morning you quickly paint a picture of your most important tasks for the day. This then allows you to understand how much time you have outside of study on that day to enjoy the other elements of student life.

However, there are also advantages to planning on an evening. For example, it is refreshing going to bed on an evening without your head ‘buzzing’ with everything that needs to get done. You can plan in advance and know when you wake up you are ready to tackle the day.

Ultimately planning is a very personal thing. It may work for you best in the morning or evening or even doing a bit of both. Take the time with a blank piece of paper and write out your “ideal day” of study. This can include time blocks for lectures, when you like to go to the library and grab some food. From that you will then clearly see where you have time in the day and how much of it you have at your disposal. This will then give you a great idea of how much you can really get done each day, rather than getting stressed over your endless to-do list…that never gets done!

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

Abraham Lincoln

When it comes to our goals there are advantages to planning. Although hitting a goal is never a straight line, sufficient planning helps you figure out some form of road map. You can set milestones as well as key steps to help you get there.

So, how does the Semester product help you with your planning?

First and foremost, carrying a product such as Semester Student Planner with you daily is a reminder in itself.  As you begin to form the habit of using the Semester Framework and completing the required tasks daily, you will naturally become more organised. This is because it is designed to provide you with an easy to use planning template.  In a nutshell, we want the product to be like your own personal assistant. If filled out correctly it is designed to meet your daily, monthly and yearly needs. Add on top of that the #GrowthHacks, whereby you are learning skills weekly which are going to make you significantly more efficient over the coming year. This does not just benefit you in your studies but is also going to make you a better-rounded person beyond University providing you the tools to not only succeed in your academic life but also long into your future creative and professional life.

We want this product to become something you cannot be without due to its transformational power. Some of the features include but are not limited to:

  • ‘GOAL planning’ – Once your goals are set, plan out your milestones to hit on the way to reaching your goals.
  • ‘SCHEDULE IT’ – A space dedicated to allowing you to create an ‘ideal week’ and overview plan of both your academic and personal life.
  • ‘MONTHLY Semester CALENDAR’ – A space to allow you to visually see your semester timetable in terms of lessons as well as highlight key deadlines and events.
  • ‘DAILY PLANNER’ – A daily plan page which gives you timings to plan out each day to maximum efficiency
  • ‘THE FOCUSED FEW’ – A space dedicated to selecting three of the most important tasks for that day, allowing you to zone your focus in on completing such tasks.
  • ‘ROUTINES’ – There is also space dedicated to both a ‘morning’ and ‘shutdown’ routines which mean that you can both start and end on your day positively, planning can be a key part of this and with our daily checklist it means you never have to forget to get this done.

For us there are so many benefits to planning and it is a core aspect of improving your productivity, which in turn is going to allow you to maximise your performance and be the best version of yourself.

As always if you want any support or 1 to 1 guidance on how best to start planning for your future success, do not be afraid to reach out and ask us for support. As well as this be sure to share your personal growth journey with us and help connect with fellow likeminded students who wish to find more success and fulfilment in their studies.

#LetsGrowTogether 

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