My mom is the queen of to-do lists. I’m pretty sure she has even made a to-do list to prioritize her other to-do lists. Growing up, my mom would leave the whole family individual to-do lists, especially when we were hosting parties. My dad, my sister, and I would laugh and constantly move her sticky notes around on the counter or add silly tasks like “buy Oreos” to the lists. Now when my boyfriend does this to me, I become enraged. Messing with my to-do list is asking me to scream at you. I recently realized that I have officially become exactly like my mother!

Since going to college, I have become such a type A person that it's actually scary how similar I now am to my mom. The excitement on Friday night two weeks ago was finding an app that syncs your to-do lists from your phone to your computer. Talk about a wild night.

I now live and die by my color-coded to-do lists. As a college student, I believe every other student should have to-do lists, too. Between classes, jobs, sororities, intramurals, homework, parties, and Netflix, certain things slip your mind pretty fast. Having everything listed in front of you keeps you organized and actually helps improve your memory. Checking things off your to-do list is such an empowering feeling. There are few things more satisfying than drawing a nice thick line through each of those items and seeing the progress you’re making. For a hot second, you feel like you actually have your life together and that you’re thriving instead of failing. In college, this feeling doesn’t occur too often—especially near finals. Even if it’s the smallest of tasks, such as “wake up” or “shower today,” you can cross it off with pride and reward your achievement with some snacks (or a beer)!

Prioritizing your to-do lists from short-term to long-term is the smartest thing you can do. Writing it in chronological order also makes a world of difference. Why stress about something due in two weeks when you have five things due within the next two days? When you focus on what’s most important, things become a little easier to keep straight in your mind. Your sanity will thank you, trust me. Looking at your to-do list will help you plan your schedule, too. If your list is too long, you can even use it as an excuse to get out of those awful plans you’ve been secretly dreading.

To-do lists might be super frightening once you see all of your responsibilities laid out right in front of you, but hey, you can always push the list to the side, open your laptop to Netflix, and avoid your obligations for a few more hours. No one has to know. You’ll get ‘em tomorrow.

Now that I’ve hit 500 words, I can finally cross “write weekly Odyssey article” off my long to-do list and move onto my next task: “Call mom.”