Three Tools That Have Helped Me Stay On Track This Semester

So far in my MBA journey, I have experienced some of the longest and busiest days of my academic career. Below is an outline of a regular day for me here at Fisher:

5 am- Work out, get ready for school, have breakfast, and catch up on some readings before class

8-12 pm- Back-to-back classes

12-1 pm- Club meeting

1-3 pm-  Work at the Graduate Programs Office and eat lunch

3:30 pm- Team meeting with my core team to discuss a class project

5-8 pm- Complete the next day's readings and work on class assignments

As you can see, there doesn’t need to be a lot of events for a day to fly by. Therefore, as I am going through my days, I use the following tools to help me stay on track with upcoming meetings, projects, and important life events:

1. Google Calendar: I use this app on both my phone and my computer. It might sound ridiculous but sometimes I need to set reminders to complete the next day's assignments. As the day goes by, I have more on my mind and Google Calendar takes the pressure away of having to remember every detail about everything.
2. Planner: Besides using an app, I use a planner because it is easier for me to look for months ahead. As the semester has gone by, I realize how easy the upcoming months are filled out with different commitments. Whenever I need to book a meeting or trip months in advance, my planner gives me a better look at my availability in the future.
3. Pinning things on my email: As you probably know, email is the main way of communication we use at school. Therefore, in the span of one day, I will receive between 10 and 25 emails. Using the pining tool to pin emails that I consider important, need to keep in mind, or contain information or action items that I need to consider for later.

The above-mentioned tools have been extremely helpful to me while navigating my first semester here at Fisher. An additional item I also always rely on is my friends! Simply by going through what is due in certain classes or clubs, we are all part of, I could see if I missed anything or if I confused a due date.