How To Organize Your Agenda (Postgrad Edition)

Tuesday, August 12, 2014



Fun fact about me #8943: I love agendas. There's something so fun about picking up a planner and organizing my daily life. And, because organization can be daunting, I put a lot of effort into making sure it's tailored to my needs and also fits my personality.

Because school is starting (and probably already started) for a lot of people, and because I'm a postgrad (and so are a lot of people my age), I wanted to show you how I organize my agenda and how I'm tailoring it to my current needs.

Agenda Organization Supplies




You will need:
  • An agenda 
  • Colored pens
  • Colored highlighters
  • Optional: fun little things (stickers, Washi tape, glitter gel pens...whatever strikes your fancy)

So, my little secret to organizing my agenda is color-coding everything. Whatever I write down has its own corresponding color. 

When I first get my agenda, I'll find the notes section and write "Color Key" at the top of the first page. Then, I'll put down each color (usually by drawing a heart in that color) and write out what each color stands for.

Here is an example color key:
  • Red - Appointments (Having appointments in a strong color makes them stand out)
  • Orange - Social Events (Lunch with friends, family dinners...anything fun and not work or school-related)
  • Green - Travel (Got a vacation lined up? Pencil it in in advance so you don't accidentally schedule on top of it)
  • Blue - Deadlines (I use this for my magazine articles. You can also use red for deadlines, but keeping work deadlines in a separate color can help balance out the overall look of your agenda. Trust me, you don't want an all-red schedule when you're looking at your week)
  • Purple - Birthdays (I used to use purple for general school days, but writing out physical birthdays can help you remember them before they sneak up on you)
  • Pink - Anything else (I used pink for the social club I was involved in back in college, but I'll likely use pink for blog or work things in the future.)
  • Brown - Anything else (See pink)
  • [Side note: Feel free to add or subtract any colors you want. Get creative and have fun with it! :)]

When I was in school, I wrote down homework assignments in one color, but then wrote down exams in the same color in glitter gel pen so they stood out. That's really the key here: keeping things separate so you can see them easily (and not forget them, of course).

When you complete a task, just highlight it in its corresponding color. Easy as that. :)

Then, this is where your fun stuff comes in. You can use Washi tape to block out dates in your monthly calendar by sticking a strip over a week or weekend. You can use glitter pens to narrow down items, or you can color-code code all of your events in glitter if you want. You can use stickers or even scrapbooking supplies as reminders on specific dates or to decorate the agenda itself. It's all up to you.

And that, dear reader, is how I organize my agenda. :) How do you organize yours? Did any of these tips help?

No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!