The school year is here! It’s time to balance your packed schedule of dance practices, classes, social time, and everything else you have going on. Organizational skills are essential for staying on top of your many tasks and to-dos throughout the school year. There are multiple ways to use your phone, laptop, or iPad to digitally organize and ease back into the school year.
Color-Code your Calendar
Using a digital calendar can be an absolute game-changer. This everyday tool allows you to access your schedule at all times. Plus, there are multiple options out there with different features to match your workflow, like Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Notion. Use color-coding to help you differentiate between different activities. You can assign certain colors for school, dance, friends, and personal time, so you know what your day looks like at a glance. For example, you might make homework and classes blue, and dance practice pink.
Create a Digital Junk Drawer for Dance
Let’s be real, dancers have a lot of things that they need to stay organized. This includes rehearsal and competition videos, pictures, schedule screenshots, choreography, and so much more. It can all start to get lost in your camera roll or phone. Make a folder dedicated to all things dance, so everything is always accessible and in one place. You can even take it a step further and create subfolders for each thing, such as “choreography” and “stretch routines”. This will save you time from scrolling to find that one video from practice.
Set Notifications
Notifications are tricky. There are times when they are good to have on, and times when they only take you away from what you need to do. Turn on reminders and alarms for practice times, assignment deadlines, or plans with friends, but be mindful of how much of your attention you’re letting other apps steal.
But turning on “Do Not Disturb” when you need to focus isn’t a bad thing either. When it’s time for homework or to lock in and learn a new combo, taking away those vibrations and pings can make a big difference. You could be surprised by how much more you can get done when you aren’t being bombarded by notifications every minute.
Do a Weekly Reset
Just like it’s important to give your body a reset to recover from all the work you’ve been doing, it’s important to do a digital reset to help your mind. Pick one day a week (Sunday is a good day since it’s before the new week), clear out old screenshots, delete junk emails, and answer DMs. Spending a few minutes doing this every week can save you hours in the long run.
