Staying organized and motivated, especially in the midst of such a chaotic time, can be remarkably difficult. 

I often hear people my age complaining about how they don’t have the time, are too busy, or just can’t seem to find the motivation to maintain an organized routine in their bustling schedules. What people don’t realize is that once you discover easily maintainable organization skills and techniques, you won’t ever want to go back to your messy habits again. 

The key to being organized is ultimately being willing to make a change because I guarantee that once you do, most areas of your life will benefit from it. Don’t get me wrong, nobody’s perfect. We can’t expect to always have our lives ordered and flawlessly structured. Once you are willing, however, to make just a few changes to develop an orderly lifestyle, you won’t want to go without them.

“Organization helps me to keep all the different aspects of my daily life from interfering with each other,” says Mr. O’Connor, “If my teaching is organized, then I’m not at home planning or grading at the last minute. If my home life is organized, then it doesn’t keep me from concentrating on my teaching when I’m at school.” 

It’s difficult to put organization into this perspective when you are going through the motions of each day, but it’s important to gain this sense of perspective so that we can set ourselves up for success. Everything is connected, and this is a difficult concept to acknowledge as teenagers worrying about getting at least five hours of sleep every night. Learning how to prioritize tasks and responsibilities when it really matters, however, is a simple, important step to reaching a basic degree of organization in your life.

There’s a lot of reasons to be unorganized in high school. “I struggle to stay with organized habits and grow tired of developing them” says Lauren Hudgins, who plays basketball and takes AP courses that she must balance in order to be successful in both areas of her life. 

Developing simple habits, however, is the key to the balancing act. “Start with a goal, or imagine how you want things organized, and go section by section until you get to that end goal,” recommends eleventh grader Ali Riberio.“Color coding or labeling” is another tactic she recommends that allows Ali to stay organized in a fun and aesthetically pleasing manner. 

Adriana Facchini mentioned that she “writes out a schedule with times and events to follow throughout the day” so she can stay on top of everything, and she “makes her bed every morning” so she can start her day off right. 

Simple actions Alex Cabrera takes like “giving everything a place” are just as important as schedules and labels. 

Being “aware of what needs to be done and when to do it” is an important aspect of organization that Lauren Hudgins believes in. Clearly, there are simple steps you can take to be organized even when it feels pointless.

“When I am less organized, I have more stress,” reveals Lauren. Organization takes on different forms for everybody. Maybe you like to color code and label, or maybe you just want to make a commitment to make your bed everyday, there are lots of ways to get organized in the new year. 

Ultimately, I recommend just making a mindset shift. Instead of waking up in the morning, rolling out of bed, and running out the door, set aside some time to start your day off in a positive and productive mindset. Instead of letting everything you have to do ambush your task list at the last minute, set aside time each day to complete a little bit of each task at a time so they can be finished by the time they need to be done. 

Just know that organization shouldn’t be something that you worry about or let consume your thoughts. If it does, maybe ease up on the routine a little bit. As long as you can maintain peace of mind, don’t worry too much about it.