It can be tough to stay on top of things in college… some students manage it beautifully and others, such as Emer Sugrue… don’t.

I am quite possibly the single most disorganised person on the planet. I’m always late. Instead of taking detailed notes I write things down haphazardly on whatever bits of paper I have to hand, leaving me to desperately decipher them later on. An example of my ‘reminders’ is a post-it reading “4pm”. No clues about what it refers to, just the time. I have written the word ‘homework’, but not bothered to write down what the homework was. Occasionally I’ve just written a number. Is it a phone number? Or an account number? A classroom number? I have no idea, but it was probably very important.

I have, of course, taken steps to remedy my disorganisation – I bought an organiser. It’s right there in the name. I was sure that this would be the answer, but unfortunately, to allow the organiser to help you to be organised, you must remember to write in it. Maybe I should buy a smaller organiser to remind me to write in the big one. Even enjoyable things are done last minute – I write this on the day I am supposed to submit it.

So I’m hopeless. I accept that it can be annoying, not least to myself. Far worse however are the other sort – the organised people. The gits who are always five minutes early, who finish their essays weeks before the deadline and who take reams of notes at each lecture while I draw swirls and drift in and out of consciousness. How do they do it? I would never get anything done without the threat of a looming deadline, and even then it’s a struggle. To me a deadline means staying up until 4am the night before. For the organised, it’s just a time when they have to hand in the work they’ve long since completed.

I think I secretly enjoy being disorganised. I can happily spend hours doing nothing to avoid working. Procrastination is fun. Have you seen my kitchen? It’s spotless, and the reason for this being: when you have a deadline approaching, even cleaning takes on a rebellious allure. How do the organised get their kicks? By going to parties and having sex.

Losers…