The Power of Your Planner by Mia

The Power of Your Planner by Mia - February 2026 Scholarship Essay

A small habit/routine that has helped me significantly in high school are my time management skills. I had no sense of time management skills freshman year, and with band, soccer, and track year around, my grades suffered— the beginning of the year being the absolute worst. However, I was introduced to time management by a senior who was in the same activities as me, and who kept good grades in AP/honors classes while being bombarded with band rehearsals and soccer practices left and right. She taught me the importance of keeping a planner of all your schoolwork and activities, so you could keep an organized list of everything, so no deadlines are missed.

In my sophomore year, I began putting all of my schoolwork in a planner and all my activity dates in the calendar that was attached to the planner so I knew what would be overlapping with soccer and marching band during the fall. I was really able to see the difference in my health, and my grades significantly improved, because what was all in my head, actually looks very small on paper. This habit became my strength, and only got stronger and stronger as time passed.
The more confident I was in my skills, the more advanced classes I began taking. People wondered how much sleep I got with 8 classes junior year while in marching band and club soccer without breaking a sweat, or how I could run 7 miles for cross country and then do marching band right after, while taking an AP/college course/and honors courses during my senior year. It is chaotic, but writing everything down in my planner on a daily basis helps me stay calm under pressure.

While others say they are “too busy” even with doing the minimum, planning has helped me to realize that I have more time than I thought. My planning habit is something that will help me at the college level with the massive amount of academics. Since I have also been recruited, and want to continue Cross Country at the college level, planning will help me to organize my practices and meets as well. Even with the amount of work at the college level, I will be able to stay calm under pressure, and use my planning habit to my advantage.