Chelsea's Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning: Organization

As FFA members, we constantly find ourselves struggling to stay organized in school, FFA, home life, social life, and extracurriculars. They're all fun things to be a part of, but how can we balance each while staying on top of the growing "to-do list"?

I use the 1-2-3-4 system.

Trust me, it's not as complicated as it may look. It's actually pretty simple. All you do is think about how important and/or urgent the items on your to-do list are. Once you've decided on those things, you can rank each item a 1, 2, 3, or 4. For example, checking your Facebook page is probably not important compared to other items on your list, but you may have a party invitation on Facebook that requires an immediate response, so it's urgent, but not important. That means checking your Facebook would rank as a 3 on the 1-2-3-4 Scale.

Or maybe you have a homework assignment due tomorrow morning. That would be ranked 1, because it is both important and urgent. Or your friend's birthday is next month and you want to buy her a gift. That's important, but not urgent so it would be ranked a 2. After you've ranked each item, knock out the 1's, then the 2's, the 3's, the 4's, and eventually you'll have free time on your hands instead of stress.

Staying organized can be easy. Simply take a few minutes each day to use your own system of organization and see the difference it makes in your life. Good luck and get organized!