5 Things that Decrease your Productivity and How to Fix them!

Hi everyone and Happy Friday! With school starting and work going into full gear, I thought I would dedicate a post to all of the things that we do that only decrease our productivity. I am a self-described Maximizer (maximizer of time, energy, and resources) so anything that decreases my productivity needs to be lost to the world (or at least mine).

It took my a few years to perfect my productivity abilities, but after some time I finally realized all of the things that were keeping me down, so I wanted to share them with you all!

1. Staying Logged In to Facebook - This is the worst thing for you when you are trying to get things accomplished. The amount of time that I wasted on Facebook in my first year at college (it also didn't help that I was homesick) could probably span 8 weeks. By staying automatically logged in to any social media, all I had to do was go to the page and I was sucked into it for easily thirty minutes. This not only sets you back those thirty minutes, but also the amount of time that it takes for you to find again what you were working on and reorganize your thoughts. To combat this, my first tip is to click the 'log out' button on your social media settings. Then the next time you log in, make sure that you don't have "Automatically Log In" checked or just log out each time you go on. This will make it less automatic of a thing to go onto your accounts and you also have to consciously choose to log in. It's like another barrier of protection from decreased productivity.

2. Keeping your Phone on Your Lap - It's almost the same thing as staying logged into your social media accounts. If you keep your cell phone right next to you at all time, you will be twice as likely to grab it right when it dings with a notification. Whether a text message, instagram like, or retweet, it will only keep you from getting what you need to do done. Especially when it dings every few minutes. My suggestion is to keep it in your backpack, at the end of your bed, or in another room while you are working on things. You could also turn text messages and notifications to silent, while keeping your phone calls loud so that if someone is really trying to reach you, you'll be able to answer it!

3. Working with friends - Your study habits are different from your roommate's, your best friend's, and your sister's, so studying with them might actually distract you more than it will help you. With everyone else's phones going off, and notifications dinging every few seconds, the likelihood of distractions intensifies. While studying with people in your class can help you with the material, you definitely all need to be committed to getting work done in order for it to work. To fix your friends decreasing your productivity, it may be necessary to curtail studying with friends and just spending your free time with them. I know when I worked in the library alongside friends, I had to be working on a project that was okay to be distracted by: PowerPoints, outlines, highlighting ... etc. anything that wasn't too brain-intensive but something that still needed to be done. Set guidelines for yourself so that you know when it is appropriate for friend distractions and when you really need to hunker down and work by yourself.

4. Your Study Habits - It takes a while to get into a rhythm for your studying and homework patterns, but you need to make sure the ones that you are continuing are the ones that help you out the most. You may find that working in your dorm room is distracting or working in the library makes you break your concentration. Every person is different, so if you consistently find yourself looking up from your laptop or your eye wandering around the room while you are reading, you may need to think of a better habit. My tip is to try new methods and get feedback from people in your life. Learn how they study and what works best for them. It may not work for you, but it could spark a new idea to help your stay on task and focused to finish!

5. Food and Drink - To this day, nothing is more distracting to me than drinking a Frappucinno and eating popcorn. I'm so focused on enjoying those items that it distracts me from what I should really be working on. You may think you're saving time by combining eating with school work, but it honestly just distracts you more (especially when you drop some chili on your laptop). To combat this, use your eating time to focus solely on that or to browse your social media accounts. This could definitely kill two birds with one stone, but make sure you're combining something that is mindless with your eating so not to decrease your productivity even more.

As we enter the new school year, it is really important that you start making your productivity a priority. Doing that at the start of the semester before papers and tests start happening, is only going to keep you organized and focused as the school year progresses. Are there any tips that you have for increasing productivity or something you cut out of your schedule that used to decrease your productivity. Share below so we can all learn! Have a great weekend!

enjoy the chase,

skylar

College As Told By Big Bang Theory

Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a great start to your week and are prepping to go back to school (high school or college). Today, I thought I would do a fun post for you about the lighter side of college.

College students are truly a paradox because they have so many weird aspects of their lifestyle and of the make-up of their ideals ... simply because they are full-time students. One thing you will find in college is that you will have a favorite tv show and you will binge-watch it all four years in college. Big Bang Theory was and still is my favorite binge-worthy tv show (I have all of the seasons on DVD!) Because of that, I wanted to share with you "College As Told By Big Bang Theory"

You will say this over and over again as you sit on your bed with your glasses on, blanket over your head, a hoard of Starbucks coffee cups surrounding the garbage can, and your laptop propped open after an all-nighter.  This will also be a night that you will never forget ... no matter how hard you try!

When you find your spot in the library ... this is exactly how you will feel. Whether you find a cubicle or a corner table, your spot will be as coveted as Sheldon's spot on the couch!

You will have plenty of these moments in college ... where you want to cry from someone else's stupidity. Whether it be people in your residence hall trying to wash their soccer cleats or by Freshmen throwing their phones and wallets away because they forgot to take them off the tray in the Dining Hall, you will find funny moments where you shake your head and question future generations. (It's okay, we've all done it.)

One comparison between BBT and College is that loving the Harry Potter Series is completely acceptable. It's actually sometimes frowned upon if you don't love the Series. Television HP movie marathons will insight floor bonding in any residence hall!

There will be times, man do I tell you there will be time,s when this comes across your mind - event planning meeting, class discussions, Senate Sessions, sports debates ... etc. The good thing about college though, is that you will be surrounded by different opinions, ideals, beliefs, and customs which will help increase your tolerance for all of those differences you will meet in the world!

There will be plenty of moments for pie eating contests, from the start of the Basketball season, to staff bonding as a Resident Advisor, and free gift card nights at the Dining Hall. It will all be worth it though to gain some bragging rights!!


While simple and silly, I hope that this post gave you a smile and good laugh. I highly suggest finding a tv show that is going to make you laugh no matter what time of day or what episode you are watching. College is incredibly stressful and having a tv show to watch for a few minutes to help de-stress, can do wonders for your mental health!

I hope you all have a great week ahead!

enjoy the chase,

skylar

P.S. All images from Pinterest

Student Perspective: Small Town to Large University

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and are getting prepared for an amazing week ahead!

When I was writing the post from last week about getting involved on a large college campus, I had the idea to ask one of my best friends from high school talk to you all about her transition from a small high school (we graduated with 75 students) to the University at Buffalo (SUNY), which boasts a population of roughly 30,000 students. She survived and thrived through her transition from a small high school to a large university and here is her advice to help you through yours:
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Getting involved on a large campus can be really challenging. I was used to my high school where I graduated with 75 people; when I graduated from college it was 3500 just in my class. Now, I was never the most outgoing of people so this was a huge transition for me. When I started out freshman year I knew one person, whom I had met at Orientation. But from there she and I started going to club meetings and activities around campus so we met more people every day.

UB made it so you have the same classes and get put in the same arena with people of the same major. So even though the campus was so large, you saw a lot of the same people every day. I started out as a pre-pharmacy major, so right away I joined the pharmacy club to try to meet some like-minded people, which then led to joining the Honor Society. During my sophomore year I then started working with a catering company on campus. We were the ones to work all the football games and feed the players afterwords. I met a lot of really amazing friends working those crazy long hours!

Sarah at work with the UB mascot

I had a really hard time the first few weeks being away from home. My freshman year I was in one room with three other girls, so as you can imagine it wasn’t the best situation to be in. So yeah, you may have a pretty crappy living situation but you end up learning so much about yourself and the people around you that it’s hard not to have fun! To get out of the room though I got really involved at the gym on campus and started taking Tuesday night yoga classes. Just put yourself out there and make sure you have fun doing it!

Remember it really helps that everyone is in the same boat as you! Most people that go to college don’t know many people there either. It can be really hard starting out at a huge school not knowing anyone. Now is the time to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone. You will meet people from all walks of life that have so many interesting things about them, so make sure you ask questions. Enjoy the time you have in college but also remember you are paying for it so keep your priorities straight. It will definitely help out in the long run. :)
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I hope this post has helped you guys a little in planning for your transition to a larger university or for changing the way you are doing things there now. Just remember, getting involved is essential on any college campus, so find your niche and go with it!

enjoy the chase,

skylar

P.S. Sarah has just ventured out and become a presenter for the Cosmetic company Younique, feel free to check out her page here.