Now that first half of term’s deadlines have been completed and you’re turning your attention to the next half of term two, you may be looking to organise your time more effectively. Alternatively, you may be looking for ways to find/stick to a daily routine and schedule. While traditional methods, such as handwritten to-do lists and timetables may work for some, modern technology offers students a wonderful range of apps to support an organised student lifestyle. Here’s the second instalment of our ‘study apps’ series, featuring a few front-runners and how you could use them effectively!
Habits and Goals
Have you hit that mid-term wall? The second half of term two is often marked by a loss of motivation to continue with the new-years-resolutions you were enthusiastic about in week one… Luckily there are a few apps that can help to reignite this enthusiasm!
Tangerine allows you to organise your habits into a daily schedule, ticking them off as you complete them. Having the habits on the app can be a helpful reminder to actually do them! This app is also useful for tracking your mood or thoughts day-to-day, as it has a built-in journal feature.
Loop is a simple, easy-to-use habit tracker, which allows you to input habits you want to create in your daily life. It’s completely ad-free and works offline. It also organises your progress over time into detailed charts, allowing you to see your improvement at a quick glance!
Way of Life employs a unique colour-coded system to help you visualise your progress with making your habits stick (or kicking a bad habit if that’s your goal). You can also set yourself reminder alarms, so your goals can’t slip your mind!
Top Tip: If you’re struggling to introduce a new habit, scale your benchmarks down until they are something you can complete in less than two minutes. Reading for two minutes a day is better than zero. Plus, getting started is usually the hardest part, you’re significantly more likely to keep at it once you’ve already jumped in and started!
Notes and Task Organisation
Any.do is an excellent tool for students, who find themselves drowning in handwritten to-do lists and post it note reminders. This app allows you to create a beautiful, well organised calendar, with smart reminders and to-do lists that sync across all your devices.
Has remote learning left you with too many word documents to work out which lecture is which? Evernote is the perfect way to clear up your clutter. It allows you to keep your notes in one place, sync them across all of your devices and add images/audio/PDFs to your notes. Acting like a virtual ring-binder, this app is my personal favourite for term-time organisation, allowing students to search their notes quickly and saving time during online seminars!