I’m still not sure if making this deadlines spread was a good or bad idea. On the one hand I can see everything I need to hand in for the rest of my course. On the other hand, it’s very stressful to look at it all at once. I actually try not to look at it too often because it makes me feel a bit sick.
I decided to write it all down and create the deadlines spread because as you can see, I have a lot of assignments due in around the same time and I generally need more than a few to days to complete each one. This means I’ll have to work on a couple at the same time and I hate leaving things until the last minute. That’s why I also noted down a ‘start date’ column so that I could stagger-start my work in a way that causes as little stress as possible.
Additionally, the deadlines spread is really useful because I can plan in advance when I want to organise something enjoyable to do. As James and I are living long-distance this year, it’s important we have a rough idea of when we are going to see each other. By seeing all my deadlines at a glance, I can get a good idea of which weekends are going to be best for either of us to visit. It also meant that when we came to booking our ski holiday, I could see that March was a quiet month.
On a weekly basis, I’m keeping my journal really simple during busy weeks, especially if I don’t have much planned except doing work. The only thing I wish I had done differently about these spreads: I wish I had done the Monday-Friday in one column down the left hand sides and then the notes boxes on the right. Keeping it simple and basic like this means I just jot down what I need to do for each assignment that week. Big shout out to my gal Lydia for introducing me to bullet journals last year, I can’t ever imagine I’ll stop using them.
I also wanted to throw in some examples of how I work. This is my revision for my exam I had yesterday. I’m quite messy when I work. I make lots of notes on lots of different pieces of paper which I just allow to sit freely on the desk anywhere so that I can grab them when I need them. I’m also loving sticky notes at the moment too. Notice I keep the marking criteria near me so that I can keep referring back (although the criteria for this exam was rubbish and not helpful at all!)
I’m sure my way of working is not useful for everyone so I’d love to hear how you do things. Good luck to anyone currently in the middle of exams! It’ll all be over soon!
