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This may not be the most fun for the active college student, but college is an investment, and the student that wants to succeed needs to put in the time. When the student gets a syllabus, they should look at the assignments, write down their due dates, and then schedule various work blocks (as needed) prior to the assignment being due. In other words, they should take their due dates and then backtrack to the current week, giving themselves enough time to re-adjust if things come up. The same can be done with exams and any other college student tasks such as registering, paying bills, or filling out paperwork.

In this digital age, there are also a number of digital planners that can be extremely helpful. Though the PDA is starting to disappear, tools like Pocket PC's, Palms, and Treos can be invaluable as planners, and can be taken anywhere. The new iPhone blends many elements together along with planning abilities. Many of these digital tools also have reminders built in so that the student gets beeped or receives a pop-up message to remind them of their pending task.

Of course, the planner is only as good as it's owner. Many people buy planners with good intent and then leave them in a drawer. Without discipline, the planner is useless. Granted, there will be times when things come up and schedules need to be changed. But the successful student will be the person who sticks to their schedule at least most of the time, rather than always pushing events and tasks back to the next day or week.

Learn more about this author, Todd Pheifer.
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