Illustration by Kristen Hernandez

With the new school year beginning, balancing work, school, friends, and everything else may seem really stressful. At times, things can start piling up and get really chaotic, especially if you struggle to successfully manage all of your responsibilities. If this is you, there’s really no reason to worry or continue to add stress to yourself, as there are really simple fixes that can drastically improve your work and school life.

Organization is honestly so important, and it is key to being successful in what you do. Being sloppy usually means messy or rushed work, lost papers, and forgotten due dates. A simple and cheap fix to this is investing in a planner, and using it daily. Planners are generally organized by both week and month, allowing you to visualize all of your responsibilities. This can help you to remember to do assignments for school, keep track of your work and extracurricular schedules, and it can also reduce your stress, as sometimes seeing things written out on paper can make everything seem a lot more manageable. A lot of planners also have folders in the back and front, so you can put important papers and documents in there for safekeeping. 

Having your priorities in check is also extremely important, as you need to know what is most important to you, so you can work on it the most and become the most successful in that one thing. I think a good general rule is that school should always be a top priority. I say this because school, although it doesn’t pay like work, and isn’t as fun as sports and extracurriculars, is what will ultimately bring you places in life, no matter if you plan on going to further education, enlisting in the military, becoming a pro athlete, etc.  Having a basic education and high school

diploma gives you a solid base to build off of. Inside of school, you should also prioritize your classes and assignments, knowing what’s most important and what will ultimately affect your grade the most. 

Maintaining good relationships with your boss, managers, and teachers is really helpful, as they will be more willing to help you out when you need it. Communication is always key. You should always be communicative with them, telling them if you need time off, if you’re working too much or too little, or if you need more time on an assignment. It’s important to do this in good time, otherwise it can just seem disrespectful to other people’s time. If you do this in advance, you can strategically schedule time off around days where school will be more time consuming and stressful, like around finals and SAT’s. Maintaining this good relationship with them will definitely help you in the present, but it can also benefit you for the future, as if your bosses and teachers like you and think you’re a good, responsible person, they will be likely to give you references, say good things about you, and help you get future jobs or scholarships and such. 

Overall, changing and working on these few small things can make a drastic change in your life, and how successful you are in the things that you do.