Tag: productivity

Kick Productivity Up a Notch

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By: Taylor

Recently I read the book titled, “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast,” by Laura Vanderkam. It was a quick and easy read that inspired me to change my daily routines in order to make my days more productive. She took an approach that evaluated the schedules of many ‘successful’ people in the world today, many of whom are CEOs and business owners. What she found was that the key to being productive was to take advantage of the morning hours. For somebody who likes to accomplish as many things as possible in one day, I became quite inspired!

Prepare for tomorrow quote

Typically, throughout our days we drag through lectures and work meetings while spending our little bit of free time catching up with friends or perusing Facebook. By the evening time, we might find ourselves lethargic and therefore more often making excuses not to do certain things. What are things I pass up to hang out in bed in my pajamas? Homework, working out, and reading just to name a few. Before the world is stirring, it is easier to narrow your thoughts and find the drive to do great things. Imagine yourself in an 8am meeting after just rolling out of bed on the verge of being late. Now imagine yourself in an 8am meeting already having exercised, reviewed your goals, and read the news. The change in performance with an early morning routine can be astounding. Here are just a few ideas for your mornings:

  1. Exercise: Nobody is at the gym so there is no pressure to get ready or look good. You also will have the opportunity to shower afterward without heading back to school or work with wet hair.
  2. Be a Visionary: People complain that there is no time to think these days. Spend your mornings setting goals for the short-term (what you want your day to look like) as well as the long-term (lifelong career or organization goals).
  3. Self-fulfilling Activity: Meditating or praying can be a great way to clear your mind for the day. Also, if there is a craft or project you’ve been wanting to do, work on it before school to get you excited and optimistic.
  4. Professional Growth: Read professional articles or journals. Benefit from the insight of those in your field and their strategic thinking.

I want to be one of the most successful people in a book someday like many of you, so I’m starting the change now! Rising early may be one of your greatest challenges in life. I advise making the change with ease. My new morning routine will include yoga or group fitness classes, getting through long reading assignments, and eating a healthy breakfast. What will you make of yours?

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Time Management During the Job Search

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By: Abby

Sometimes a whole month can pass, and you’ll realize, “hmm I haven’t done much to help me get the job I’ll need in four months.” That can be quite stressful.

Well, that is what almost (pretty much) happened to me. I am here to share with you the tips I have learned to keep myself on track moving forward.

Time mgmt

It is all about time management!

If you keep a time-specific calendar for all major things in a day, include time specifically for job search tasks. If you do not keep a time-specific calendar, it is probably time to start.

Keeping a calendar is a great way to keep your life on track, be on time, be productive, and not forget about appointments, meetings, classes, work schedules, and even job searching.

I have always kept a calendar, but I have never put “to-do” tasks on it – until now. I have designated an hour most days of the week to specifically dedicate to my job search (this could also be a useful method in the intern/co-op search). This time can be used finding new people to connect with at some of my target companies; it could also be used to search databases and company websites for potential jobs and applying for jobs.

On a side note: I have also added in times for working out, writing blog posts, and other “to-do” tasks.

If you don’t want to get to the end of April and wonder what you’ll be doing in a few weeks, start designating time to prepare. If you mark down those times now, it will be harder to put off, and potentially forget about.

Another side note: By no means do I mean to do this for all 7 days in a week. If you can, try to keep one or two days unplanned! Too much structure can cause stress as well.

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Don’t Get Overwhelmed

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By: Ashlee

Some days I absolutely hate looking at my Google calendar. Like today? I have a packed schedule. Four different event emails to draft, a new invitation to design, and a small brainstorming session for preliminary story ideas for our upcoming newsletter. Oh, and there’s a stack of at least 15 different magazines sitting on my desk waiting for me to page through in search of ideas and new thoughts in regards to my office’s bi-yearly magazine. That’s just the professional side of the day.

Once I leave the office, I’m headed home to pack a duffel bag or two and hitting the road for my sis’s wedding (Yay!). Once I complete the three-hour drive, there’s a card box to finish, a video to edit, and a speech to write. More than likely, a handful of this magazine stack will come home with me for when I have an hour or two of “free time.”  I was approached by a member of the senior theatre class to help them with their senior showcase and offer my thoughts and opinions. Master degree programs…I’m starting to look and I have a few packets to go through. Did I mention I only slept three hours last night?

I have a chronic problem. I don’t know how or when to say no.

In college, you are up to your eyebrows in classes, extracurricular activities, volunteering, internships, jobs, homework, family, friends, hobbies…With all this going on 24/7, how do we ever get it all done? It does all get done, but is it to the best of our abilities? Having that crazy busy schedule put a lot of stress on me when I was an undergrad. If I were to do something, I wasn’t going to go the sub-par route. The end result had to be fantastic and something I was proud of in the end. Juggling all those balls definitely didn’t make life easier.

So, how do you attempt to cope with such a large load on your plate?

Developing strong time management skills will save you down the road from being haunted by your long to-do list. When I start to feel overwhelmed by my original daily to-do list and the tag-on additions that pop up along the way, I push myself away from my computer and take 10-15 minutes to look over everything. Then, I prioritize what needs to be done now. It certainly helps me breathe a little easier for the rest of the workday.

Make sure to keep the big things your main priority. You’ve invested a lot of time, energy, and resources to be here in college or at your internship/job, so be sure to make the most of it. Stop by that professor’s office and ask about their research that interests you. Attend the seminar on Hollywood films in the ‘70s. Learn all you can while you’re here. Me? I attend monthly social media breakfasts to expand my knowledge and meet professionals also in charge of social media for their companies. I’ve also signed up for fitness classes offered to employees. (See? It doesn’t have to be serious all the time!)

In the end, you have to keep you happy and healthy. Trying to “do it all” can take a toll on your mind and your body. Remember when I only got three hours of sleep? Not something I want to be doing consistently. The reality is if you’re stressed out and tired, you’re not giving the things you are doing your full attention. It’s okay to allow yourself a break. In fact, schedule one into your day, every day. After some time, if that light at the end of the tunnel still isn’t drawing closer, it might be time to scale back. Is what you’re taking on worth it to you? If you answered no, it’s time to drop it and let yourself have a little breathing room.

Even after college, I struggle with saying no to things, so it’s something to be worked on long-term. Someone really should develop a class called ‘How to be Wonder Woman 101.’

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Photo Source (brianna.lehman)

Keep the Motivation Going

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By: Whitney

We are hitting the middle of the semester and with that comes a big fight to stay motivated. You are not the only one going through this! It is really difficult to keep up with tests, homework, social life, and possibly even a job at this point in the semester because you are just overwhelmed and getting worn down. Studies have shown that basically everyone goes through this motivation dip not only in school but in other areas of life as well.

What happens is that you are very excited and really want to do well at the beginning of the semester. This is when you are on top of all of your homework; you are getting it done a couple of days ahead of time and generally doing very well on it. You are ready to have a fresh start. However, in the middle of the semester, you hit the bottom, and all motivation seems to go away. You are mentally and physically exhausted, and just don’t feel like doing anything. This is the time of the semester when you are staying up until 1 a.m. (possibly later) in order to get that assignment done that is due in your 9 a.m. class because you put it off even though you knew all week that it was due. The good news is that generally speaking you do come out of the slump and get back on track before the end of the semester. At this point, you realize that you need to kick it into gear in order to improve grades or to get everything you need to get done before the end of semester finished so you then become very motivated once again.

This doesn’t only happen while you are in school, but also in activities such as exercising, trying to master a new skill, and even work. The question is, how do you get out of this slump before it is too late? Or how do you work to either avoid the slump or at least recover from it faster?

Recognize that you are going into that slump: Ignoring the fact that you have no motivation or just stating it over and over again will not help you to regain your motivation. If you fully recognize that you are unmotivated and admit there is a problem that needs to be fixed then you can work on the next steps to getting motivated and accomplishing tasks.

Set goals: It is very important to set goals. They don’t have to be these big, long-term, multi-step, complicated goals. They just need to be something as simple as finishing an assignment or studying a specific amount of time for an upcoming test. You need to make sure these goals are specific and that you set up objectives in order to reach them.

Don’t overload yourself: This is probably one of the most crucial steps in getting out of the dip. If you look at the huge list of assignments and upcoming tests that you may have then you will feel very overwhelmed. You will not know where to start and then you have three options: not start anything and put it off more because you don’t think there is any way that you will get it done on time, just dive in and start on something at random, or you can break the assignments up into smaller, more manageable portions. When you break them up it makes the tasks seem much easier and it gives you a place to begin. Overloading yourself with trying to do all of it at once will just cause you to get more stressed out and make you more likely to quit.

Give yourself rewards: Once you accomplish the goals that you set, give yourself a break. Make sure that you reward yourself for all of the hard work that you did. This will make you feel good about yourself and put you in the mindset to accomplish even more.

Find something you love to do: As Steve Jobs said, “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” If you love what you are doing, then you won’t be dragging your feet every day to get it done because it is something you enjoy!

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