As the summer slowly draws to a close and classes are starting again, I’m sure many others are in a similar position to me: frantically attempting to organize everything and ensure that I’m ready for the semester ahead.

I’ve been so excited waiting for the leaves to turn all different colors and the temperature to (finally, finally) drop, that I completely forgot that I had to prepare for the coming school year. However, one of the things that I use to stay organized is the website Notion.

Notion is a website that describes itself as an “all-in-one workspace” that the user can fully customize. Users can create various pages, lists, calendars and more to organize any information on different pages. Additionally, the user can add images, little quote boxes, clocks and countdown trackers to their Notion pages to make it as pretty and attractive as they want. 

I use Notion to function as my planner for school. I have my “School Dashboard” which has separate pages for further information on each of my classes such as the professor, their email and the classroom/building where it is located. On the main page, I have calendars for keeping track of assignments and due dates as well as a list of all important reminders for the semester.

It does not have to be exclusively used for school, however. I also use to track the books I’ve read/what I still want to read as well as a plethora of knitting patterns that I have accumulated and modified over the past couple of years. Others have used it for journaling, goal setting, to-do lists, and other personal reasons.

I learned about Notion through TikTok and YouTube, as that is where many people post video tutorials on how to use the website. However, while the tutorials focus on the technical aspects of creating the planner, I want to give a few tips for creating a planner (whether it is Notion or not):

1. Whichever form of planner or agenda you are using, do NOT just follow the aesthetic that is most popular. Make sure that your organizers/planners are styled in a way that makes YOU happy. You’ll be more likely to actually use it if it is created specifically for you and entices you.
2. Don’t be discouraged if your plans for using an organizer fall through the cracks. While I set mine up so nicely and use it diligently for the first few weeks of a semester, it is ONLY for those first few weeks. I use it to help me ease in, but once I am comfortably in the swing of things, I’ll end up forgetting/disregarding any organizer I use. Only use it when it is ACTUALLY helpful, so you don’t begin to resent it altogether.
3. Don’t worry much about doing everything “right” or “perfectly” with any sort of organizer. In the grand scheme of things, an organizer is simply a means to an end. It should be an aid. If it ultimately causes more anxiety than it relieves, then the method should be abandoned. 

In all, there are many different ways to keep a planner for school, including websites such as Notion, and there is likely at least one method that will work for you.