By Sarah Deitz
Organizational skills are critical to be successful in the public relations field. For a college student, that may sound really daunting. Between classes, clubs, organizations, work and social life, it can be really easy to forget obligations or misplace things, especially when you’re living in a teeny tiny dorm room or apartment bedroom.
I spend a lot of time getting things organized, and I have several tools that help me be successful in completing everything I need to get done and making sure it doesn’t get lost. I’m going to share my top five tools that will help all PR majors stay organized, both digitally and physically.
Google Calendar: Free
Having an updated Google calendar (or GCal for short) is a helpful way to keep track of all of your obligations during the week. Anyone who has a Gmail account (which is free to make) can use GCal. As soon as you find out about something, you just grab your phone and put it in your GCal (it syncs with the built-in Calendar app on iPhones). Keeping this up to date will help prevent double booking and save you from cancelling on someone. Additionally, you can share your calendar with other Google users, so planning group meetings is easier than ever. As soon as you’re done with it, you can remove people from your shared calendar at any time. Finally, it can send you reminders about your event (15 minutes before, a day before, etc.) so you don’t forget.
iStudiez: Free for Lite, $9.99 for Pro (Mac/Windows), $2.99 for Pro (iPhone/iPad)
iStudiez is a wonderful planner app for students. You can put all of your classes, instructor information, assignments and exams in the app and it will help you keep track of your semester. iStudiez notifies you 15 minutes before each class, reminds you when your assignments are due, keeps track of your progress and color codes it all. If you want to keep track of your grades, there’s an option that allows you to put your grades on each assignment in and it will calculate your GPA for you. You can even add extra-curricular activities or sync it with the GCal you made. Additionally, the app has cloud sync so you can access it on your computer and any mobile device with the app. Although it’s a little pricey for a phone/computer app, I highly recommend getting the Pro version, because the Lite version only gives you five courses, fifteen assignments and one semester at a time, which is not ideal for someone taking several classes. Whichever one you get, it’ll help make your semester more organized.
Command Hooks: prices vary
I feel less stressed when everything has a place. I have a lot of stuff, and between all my obligations, it’s really tempting to just leave clothes on the floor of my room and not put everything in its place, making me more stressed. That’s why I love command hooks. Just stick them up on your wall, and boom, instant storage space. All my jackets, purses, jewelry, accessories and lots of other things have places on command hooks. My roommate and I even used them to hang up Christmas lights this year. The best part? When you’re done, just carefully peel them off your walls and it’s like they were never there. If you feel like you have too much stuff and not enough space to put it all, Command probably has a product that can help you out.
Dropbox (free for basic, $9.99/month for pro)
It was hard to narrow down to only a few online resources for this post (I will list a few honorable mentions at the bottom), but I had to choose Dropbox. Dropbox is a free digital storage system that allows you to save your files (up to 2GB on basic) and access them anywhere you have Internet. It also works offline if you download it onto your computer and will update your cloud when you reconnect to Internet. It’s safe, secure, the perfect place to back up your files and easily access them anywhere. And it’s free. I use basic and it’s plenty, but pro is great if you have a lot of files you want to back up.
Post-It Notes (prices vary)
It may seem simple, but Post-It notes can be a huge help when trying to remember what you need to get done. I put notes all over my wall as a to-do list. As soon as I finish something, I take the note off my wall. When my wall is clear, I know that I’ve accomplished what I need to get done for the day. If you have trouble remembering what you need to do, take time to write them out on Post-It notes each day and use them to help keep you on track.
Here are some honorable mentions that are also wonderful that you should research on your own: Evernote, LiveScribe, Self-Control, Poppin.
What do you use to help you stay organized?
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