Two Choices for Staying Centered as a Student: Paper or Digital
As a professor who has done the research, I want every student to use a planner that requires writing by hand to activate the thinking part of the brain – but WHAT you write with and where you write it is up to you!
For some of us, it’s fun pens on thick, creamy paper. For others, it’s a sleek stylus on a shiny tablet screen. Bottom line, I just want you to be ACTIVE in planning your week and your work, and that means using a planner. Mapping out your time, tracking your assignments, and being aware of all your commitments is the SINGLE BEST THING you can do to ensure your success.
When it comes to which type of Centered Student Planner to choose, this year there are two options – our traditional high quality paper planner and our newly designed digital version for tablet and stylus users.
Why do you need a stylus? You guessed it – it keeps writing in the mix.
If you’re wondering which format to choose, what matters MOST is that you choose a planner you will WANT to use consistently. It needs to be an integral part of your academic life, so go with what feels most comfortable. Choose the version that makes you WANT to write in it, look at it, and enjoy the process of taking control of your time.
You can’t go wrong, because this is the ONLY academic planner that comes with its own professor. Every week of the semester features a tip that lines up with a typical semester. These tips link to short videos that offer academic and emotional support. Each week you will also increase your daily happiness by learning and adopting the habits of happy people. The Centered Student Planner includes weekly prompts to increase self awareness, help you set
manageable goals and introduce you to the power of gratitude.
The paper Centered Student Planner is a tactile and visual experience, so if you have always liked stationary – fresh notebooks, fun pens and the feel of a book in your hand, this is the one for you. It’s portable, so you can update it, and it also allows you to be creative in your planning. I’m biased, but I enjoy setting aside some time each week to map out what I have coming up.
I may use colored pens and stickers to “decorate” my week, too. For me, paper just “feels right.” I get a bit overwhelmed by my phone, and notifications, and tapping in reminders. I’m that person who can never find the text or picture I’m looking for while my friend patiently waits. If you’re like me, you will find that paper planning feels a bit more leisurely and thoughtful. One more thing – it doesn’t require electricity.
Now, let’s say you don’t get frazzled by the phone, and you like to have everything at your fingertips thanks to technology. You navigate apps with ease, and like the efficiency of a single tablet holding all your notes for every class, plus your Centered Student Planner. You believe in sustainability and avoid using paper in general.
Our new digital Centered Student Planner has all our unique features, including our horizontal weekly layout with time blocks, weekly tips, access to all the tutorial videos, positive psychology prompts, and a variety of cover options. It
also features the “freebies” we send out each month, but in digital form. It’s a fun interactive PDF file which you can customize with stickers and different colors.
Writing with the stylus will still activate your brain, and you can switch between all the different features of the planner with ease.