During my freshman year, my floormate was on the phone with his mom, trying to explain his grades.

“Yeah … I forgot I had an exam yesterday, so I didn’t do so hot.”

**Don’t be like him.**
College is hard enough. Between trying to learn things, extracurricular activities, jobs and all of that jazz, you don’t need to make it worse by piling on mental clutter. Mental clutter makes it hard to remember what you need to get done and deters you from achieving your goals. It’s the first week of classes, and it’s in your best interest to avoid an entropic beginning of the semester.

**Cool it with the computer(s).**
Take time to manage your emails. If you’ve got multiple accounts, look into linking them together. It makes it easier when everything’s together. Go through your email, find your subscriptions and ask yourself if they’re ever worth your time. That shirt you bought three years ago is really cool, but you probably don’t need a daily sales email from the store. If you’re subscribed to newsletters that you actually read, make time to read them by deleting the ones you don’t.

Smartphones are great for getting organized and all, but they’re also a huge catalyst for mental clutter. Get rid of the crap flooding your phone. Turning off your push notifications is huge; you won’t constantly need to look at your phone, and it’s really not that important that your aunt liked your profile picture. Delete your apps you never use and turn off email notifications.

**Know what you need to do.**
The most important thing you can do is incredibly basic but necessary: Make yourself a good seven-day schedule with your classes and work and weekly obligations. I like using Excel for this, but you do you, as long as it’s on something you won’t forget and won’t lose. If you really want to ball out, set time blocks for things that are essential to you. If this is the semester you told yourself you would actually exercise regularly for longer than three weeks, set a time for it. Once you have these set, you can add them up for each day and see how much time you’ve got for other things.

Make a calendar so you don’t have to say you forgot about an exam. Take your syllabus for each class and write down dates for assignments, quizzes, exams and anything else. Add in all of your other important things and you’re set. I like to do this on a huge calendar in my room, as well as an electronic one for my computer and phone.

**Manage.**
Take as much control of your time as you can. Once you’ve got your schedule in place, take a look at how you’re spending your time. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to things or you will find yourself constantly overwhelmed. Give yourself time to relax and time to work.

Time is incredibly valuable, and it’s worthwhile to pay attention to how you spend it. If you’re working and in class for eight hours a day and spend eight sleeping, you’ve still got eight hours free. Give yourself time sets for what you want to do. If you pay attention to how you spend every hour, you’re already aware and in better control.

**Write it down.**
I know this is really old school, but it actually works. If you keep overwhelming thoughts in your head, they will stay there. If you can’t immediately take care of a problem, don’t sit and worry about it. Write down your obligations in a planner and add them to your calendar. As soon as you know about something like an assignment or meeting to attend, write it down and get it in your calendar.

Mental clutter, like physical clutter, gets in the way of your productivity and goals. Take time to recognize how you’re helping and hindering yourself. Set time now to get organized and avoid unnecessary distractions, obligations and thoughts.