Month: July 2020

From paper writing, to time management, to productivity, to managing stress, these 5 habits are habits that are necessary for being a successful student.

Being able to make a plan and stay organized

Whether for a test, or a paper, or just your regularly scheduled homework, a plan is always the way to go. A plan is the best way to know if you have time for something in your day, it is the way to see your entire week, and month ahead. But a plan is not just a planner. It is a plan for success. For your plan, you plan out when exactly you are going to study or write a paragraph, and that way when the time comes you will be less likely to procrastinate because that time slot is for your studying. You will stress less with a plan because you won’t have annoying thoughts such as “when will I ever have time to do this?” because you will find time using your planner. The time block planner I suggest is here, and the more journal like planner is here.

Schedule and batch your work

The first part of this ties in with making a plan. Scheduling your work periods allows you to know when your free time is, what days you can take extra work, and more. But when I say schedule, I do not just mean work and study time, I mean free time, friends time, Netflix time, (we need a lot of that because in our day and age who actually only watches one episode of a show at a time??) The most important pieces to plan out are your exercise time, outside time, mealtime, social time, and work time. Those are key components of a healthy day. Make sure they are planned out, so you will get them done.

Batching is a great time management technique. Find more in-depth about batching and more time management techniques here. Batching is putting similar tasks together. It has to do with scheduling because when you schedule a work block, you can schedule that block for a certain type of work. This will allow you to check more things off of your to-do list at a quicker pace.

Do not multitask

I see you multitaskers. You think that you are winning the productivity game, getting more things done faster because you are doing more at once. Well, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t work like that. Our brains can’t focus on multiple tasks at a time. When you are multi-tasking, your brain is actually just switching from one task to another, really, really fast. This isn’t good because it takes your brain five minutes to fully get focused on a task enough to do it competently. When you are multi-tasking there is a good chance none of your tasks will come out well. Do Not Multitask. Put all of your focus into one task and do it well. You will find that all of it will get done faster and better if you take it one step at a time.

Keep your space organized

A clear space means a clear mind. Not to mention all that time you spend looking for stuff will be gone once your space is clear. An organized desk space means you know where everything is, and you can access what you need quickly and easily. Have a dedicated space for every item you own. Don’t have items that just end up wherever you left them last. Create a space for everything.

Get enough sleep

Who doesn’t want to get enough sleep? But as a teenager and student, it just seems so hard. All those papers to write and tests to study for, who has time to sleep? But in reality, you are hurting yourself so much by not getting enough sleep. We need enough sleep. To heal, to rejuvenate, to get our energy high, to keep our mood good, to live longer, and to do better on tests and get better grades on papers. Getting enough sleep boosts your brainpower. Please check out this post for how to create a sleep schedule that matches your exact needs. Thank you for reading!

Gratitude’s importance

Let’s start with gratitude’s importance because if you don’t know that, then why would gratitude go in your journal? Gratitude is amazing. It not only raises your vibration so you will be able to manifest what you want, but it also has a lot more benefits that are unbelievable. Gratitude will improve your physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences. Gratitude reduces aggression and enhances empathy, gratitude helps you sleep better, gratitude boosts self-esteem, and gratitude increases mental strength. Overall, gratitude will change your life.

Why should you put gratitude into your journaling?

If you use a bullet journal, then gratitude is an element you should certainly start incorporating. If you do not yet have a journal, I suggest getting a gratitude journal. The one I use that has changed my life can be found here. The benefits I have noticed from using a gratitude journal are clear. I have understood a lot more about myself through this journey of appreciating everything in my life. Take a minute now to appreciate the fact that you have internet so you can read this, and a computer, phone or iPad on which to read this. Another benefit is that stress is reduced. There was a time when I was not able to write in my journal, and even my family noticed the heightened stress in my life. That is why you should gratitude have within your journal, or a gratitude journal to dive deeply into understanding yourself.

How gratitude is apart of my journaling

Gratitude is an important part of my journaling. I journal in the morning and at night. It helps me set an intention for the day, so I don’t mindlessly wander through my day and it makes sure I am feeling positive and ready to face the day. There is a big chuck that is all about what I am grateful for, no guidance. Somedays I feel like writing the big things, some days the small things, but there is always more to write, that come up every day and night. (Unintentional rhyme ;)) I take my focus for the day and use it to come up with what I will be grateful for that day. This is how gratitude is apart of my journaling. Thank you! Be sure to check out my gratitude journal here.

Why am I trying to go vegan?

When I told my family I want to go vegan, they always asked me why before any of the logistical questions. Following a vegan diet lowers the risk of cancer, lowers the risk of diabetes, lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, improves your mood, gives you healthier skin, makes fewer green house gas emissions, makes a smaller water footprint, helps save the oceans, and leads to less deforestation. “Sigh.”

These are actually not the original reasons that I decided to attempt to go vegan. It all started when I was watching some youtube, and came across a video that said to watch the documentary on Netflix called What the Health, if you want to make healthier food decisions. So I did. After watching that documentary I moved on to another, and another, until now I have watched around five documentaries about the dangers of a meat based diet. That is how my journey started, and why I am trying to go vegan.

What are the steps I am going to take?

Going into this I am definitely not going to jump right in. There are some steps I am going to take to make sure that I enjoy this. The first step is going vegetarian. Currently I am living with a vegetarian in my house, so for dinner while the rest of my family has hamburgers, I have whatever she has. This has been going pretty well so far, because I am not feeling like I am missing out on much.

The next step I am going to take will be The Transition. In this period I will be figuring out with my family how to make sure I get enough nutrients, and what I will need at the grocery store. I will need a vegan substitute for many things like milk, (I am thinking coconut milk, what do you think?) butter, cream cheese and more.

After this period I am going to become vegan, expect allow myself a couple of cheat meals per week. Ice cream, whatever it is. After this, I am going full in. Those are the steps I am going to take.

What are the challenges I am worried about?

Obviously, there are some challenges that I am worried about. The first is what do I do when me and my friends go out for ice cream? This is weirdly specific, so it could also include, what do I do when I go over to someones house and they are serving hamburgers or another meat based dish?

Another section of challenges is lunches. I am going to actually have to learn how to cook. “Gasp.” Instead of my parent just making me a bagel, I will learn how to make my own vegan lunches. These are the challenges I expect to face.

How do I plan to overcome those challenges?

For my first challenge dealing with friends, when we get ice cream together I can get something from a nearby Starbucks or bakery, or not get something. I don’t always have to get a treat.

When I am going over to a friends house for dinner, I will make sure to let the family know in advance that I don’t eat meat, or if I feel that that is too much, I can always say, “I don’t eat that” and just eat the vegetable side dishes.

I am excited about having a lot of different lunches. There are so many food options to explore as a vegan, and I am excited to have more tofu, edamame, fruits and vegetables. I think that I can learn to love making my own lunches and having great dishes. I think knowing how to cook is an amazing skill to have, and I can’t wait to learn it.

What are keystone habits?

Keystone habits are the basis of change in a life. They change one element of your life which leads to many more elements of your life being altered. Some examples of keystone habits are exercise and meditation. Exercise can ripple out into your life, and effect the way you eat, sleep and think. Meditation also ripples out into your life, making you calmer, more aware, and more grateful. If you feel unsatisfied with your life but you don’t want to make a lot many changes, try out a keystone habit. I have a list below with great keystone habits to change your life.

1. Exercise
2. Meditation
3. Journaling
4. Strong willpower
5. Getting enough sleep and waking up early

Related: 7 Easy Steps to Developing a Healthy Habit

How can you use them to improve your life?

Focusing on a single keystone habit

Like many others, I have sometimes thought that I should try to make as many habits as possible at the same time, to create the most change. But spreading yourself out like this will only increase the likely hood of failure. If you want to make some big changes in your life, focus on one big habit. The keystone habit I suggest for beginners is meditation. Meditation is a skill along with being a habit. You build up the time you meditate, and the success of your meditation. You can start with only three minutes a day, and have profound changes in your life.

Setting a routine to enforce that habit

This is a bit misleading. Habits can only form with three parts. The cue, the routine, and the reward. Foe example meditation, my cue is finishing my journaling. The routine is the meditation. My reward is a sense of calm and peace. You get to choose what your cue is, but remember that you can’t form a habit without all three parts. When choosing your cue, you should be able to easily do your routine. Meditation can be done anywhere, anytime, but I suggest early morning. Your cue could be waking up, or making your bed, or finishing whatever is first in your morning routine.

Track your habits progress

I suggest the app called Productive. It is the habit tracking app I use to track my habits. You can choose any tracking method, but make sure it tracks your streaks. Productive gives you rewards for your streaks, which makes sure you keep on going. You can use a written calendar or journal, or another habit tracking app. Just make sure you choose a tracking technique that allows you to track your streak. Your streak will give you motivation, to keep going. Thank you for reading!

1. People who push you down are the ones that make you grow

There are two ways you can take criticism. You can go cry in your bed, let the criticism wash over you and make you think you are nothing, or you can stand up tall, and take that criticism and use it as motivation. As long as you don’t criticize people back, you will always remain above those that have to push people down to make themselves feel up. As humans our basic instincts are to value human approval. As teenagers, the media is telling us we have to fit a certain standard to think we are beautiful. Since we value human approval, when we don’t get it, we can use that to motivate ourselves to grow.

2. You noice your flaws more than anyone else

That acne on your face, that one stupid thing you said in class, they all appear as a bigger flaw in your eyes than anyone else’s. Remember, everyone else is only focused on their flaws too. Nobody spends their time looking at everybody else’s flaws, they look at their own. You are not alone. Most people around you also think they are being judged every moment. Nobody has more time to judge you than yourself. If you try to “fix” yourself for other people, remember that they are also “fixing” themselves for you. The best way to stop focusing on your flaws is to improve your mindset. Focus on all the amazing parts of you instead of the flaws. Focus on the amazing parts of other people too. You will be a healthier, happier person if you focus on the positive.

3. Don’t let your grades control your life

Our society is built on the notion that the only way to get a well paying job and have a good life is by getting into a good high school, and then getting into a good college. In reality life can be so much more than just your grades. Focusing on your grades too much will make you miss out on wonderful oppurtunities. Enjoy your life and build your skills. While college is great, and totally a wonderful path for certain career paths, open your mind to all the other career oppurtunities there are outside of college. For example, starting a blog. 😉

Scrolling through Pinterest, I always see posts such as “the morning routine of a mommy blogger,” and I found that the majority of routines that I looked at are about organization and getting as much done in as short amount of time as possible, because of their children. As a teen blogger, I am spending my summer with my family, so while I take more time in my morning routine, I also have a very uncertain day. (Especially since I am awake with a baby!) My morning routine is the time I have that I know is set in stone. My evenings are full of Sorry games, Zoom sports, and Schitts Creek.

Related: 9 Productive Tasks You Need to Do Before 8 a.m

Wake up

I usually wake up around 7 a.m. My alarm goes off at eight, but getting up at 7 means I have an hour with no notifications or distractions on my phone. I am able to get up at 7 without an alarm clock because that is the time for the past four or five years I have had to get up for school.

Related: How to Make the Perfect Sleep For You

Make my bed

I partially do this because I love sliding into a nicely made bed at night and partially because getting something small done in the morning sets a great productive tone for the day. I also put my dirty clothes away and make sure my phone and computer are charged.

Wash my face and do my morning skincare

Washing my face wakes me up, and I love doing my skincare right in the morning because my skin feels so dry and saggy right after I get up. My skincare is super simple, just this amazing, fresh soy face cleanser plus a moisturizer. I have noticed an amazing improvement in how soft and radiant my skin is using this cleanser. It is perfect for all skin types, and everyone in my family uses it.

Drink water

I know some people like to have a full glass of water in the morning right next to their bed, but I find that it is great motivation to get out of bed if I have to go to the fridge to get a water. I usually drink three quarters of a 17oz water bottle right when I get up.

Related: The 17 Ways Drinking More Water Will Drastically Benefit Your Life

Morning affirmations and gratefulness

My morning affirmations are usually related to the Law of Attraction. If you want to see the affirmations I use, check out my Pinterest named Sadelle’s Healthy Lifestyle. I also make a long list of what I am grateful for. This reminds me to approach my entire day with gratefulness. I also write in my gratitude journal! I love this journal so much and have preached about it a lot on my blog. Please, please check it out here. My life has changed using this journal. I am more mindful, appreciative, and overall a better person.

Meditation

Recently I have started using the free version of the app Balance. I usually do their 15-minute gratitude guided meditation. I have a very active, easily distracted mind, so a guided meditation is teaching me how to focus my mind. I also feel very calm after my meditation and I love it when that calm stays with me throughout the day.

Yoga

After my meditation, I like to get my body moving in the form of yoga. I don’t follow any specific video or lesson. I do my own practice that consists of moves I have accumulated from many classes plus all my sports. I do pretty much the same practice everyday, but every time I follow an online class, (I use the website Do Yoga With Me) I try and incorporate one move from each class into my morning practice.

More water

You know the drill, I am still dehydrated at this point so I start another water. I usually only drink half, so 8.5 oz.

Go for a run/workout

I love working out in the morning with the birds chirping. Similarly to making my bed, getting my workout done sets a tone of “getting things done and being productive” for the entire day. My workouts range from ten minutes to forty-five. I enjoy working out, but I don’t enjoy the time that it takes. Sometimes I feel like I could be doing something more productive.

Related: 5 Tips to Motivate Yourself to Work Out, and Keep Working Out!

Water, breakfast, social media and to-do list

After my workout I usually have breakfast. Lately, it has either been avocado toast or a smoothie. During breakfast, I check social media, check my to-do list, and engage in as much mindful eating as I can through water. Whenever I feel I am eating to fast or too much, I take three big sips of water to reset. I also prioritize my to-do list by importance. I make my to-do lists the night before, and review and prioritize them during breakfast. Doing it earlier takes my attention off of the present.

Work!

Once I am done with breakfast, my schedule gets a little uncertain. The baby might be going down for a nap, so I get straight to work, or I play with him more. The first tasks I do for work our check my emails, stats on Pinterest, my website, and the productivity apps I have on my phone. (Upcoming post!) Then I move on to whatever post I am working on. This ends my basic morning routine. Tell me when you get up in the comments.

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1. Hitting the snooze button

Despite what you really want to believe, ten extra minutes of sleep will do nothing for you. The hard truth is that you will only feel more tired when you finally convince yourself to roll out of bed. Hitting the snooze button makes you foggy and and affects your productivity. If you want to get more sleep that will actually make you less tired in the morning, then go to bed earlier. Don’t take those extra ten minutes, take an extra hour at night. There is no way to look at it that makes those ten minutes worth it.

2. Having a inconsistent wake up time

The scientific reasons to break this habit involves a messed up Circadian rhythm, and a variety of sleep disorders. A consistent wake up time means you know how many hours of sleep you are getting. You also know what time you have in the morning to get things done and go through your morning routine. An inconsistent wake up time leads to an uncertain morning routine. Click here to learn exactly what should be in your morning routine. You also don’t know if you will be able to get things done in the morning or not. Overall, try and go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday.

3. Going through social media right when you wake up

Your morning time is your time for yourself. Going on social media automatically makes that time for others, and their life. When you go on social media right in the morning you are fogging up your brain. You are exposing yourself to blue light right in the morning. A long with having an inconsistent wake up time, this will also mess up your Circadian rhythm. Keep that morning for yourself, to truly wake up and focus on improving yourself. Work on your hobby, (Hint: Check out the best hobbies and how to get into them here) do some work, or read a book.

4. Not drinking any water

If you wake up and don’t drink any water, your body is probably crying out for help. You have just (hopefully) been asleep for at least seven hours, and you haven’t drunken any water in that time. When you wake up, maybe you don’t notice the side effects at first, but your body is seriously dehydrated. Go get some water. Check out the many benefits of water here, and I highly, highly suggest this water bottle, to make sure you are drinking enough water, and makes you feel good doing it. Drink your water people!

5. Writing your to-do list

Don’t get me wrong, I love to-do lists. I know that some people do not think they are productive, and prefer time blocking and such, but my schedule is just too uncertain for time blocking. A to-do list takes your focus off of the now, and moves it into the future. In the morning you should be focused on the now. A better time to write your to-do list would be the night before, or do it as the last task of your work day. This way everything you have to do is still fresh in your mind for you to put down. In the morning if you think of something that you need to do, quickly jot it down on a small notepad. When you start your workday, look at your notepad and put down the tasks that you actually want to get done that day.

(as an Amazon affiliate I receive a small commission for any purchases made through an Amazon link)

Related: 99 Affirmations for Success, Motivation and Improving Your Mindset + How to Use Them

How to Overcome Negative Thinking and Learn to be Positive

1. What feelings do you feel the most?

This may seem difficult to track, but you can do it short and sweet. You can track over one hour, two hours, a day, or any other period of time. The way I suggest you track is by opening up a note in the Notes app on your phone, and every time you feel an emotion as a response to something that happened to you, write it down. By the end of the time period you chose, a pattern should emerge. This pattern is showing you what feelings you feel the most, and what feelings you don’t. If you feel a lot of gratitude and joy, that means you have a good mindset! If you feel more longing, anger, and pity for yourself then you should definitely keep reading.

2. What feelings do you want to feel?

This may seem obvious. Everyone wants happiness, joy, peace, but keep in mind that there are so many types of each emotion. Happiness can mean gratitude or be hyper, or calm, and sadness can mean pity or longing. I bet you do not want to feel sad, so I am guessing overall you want to feel happy. But what does that mean for you? Serenity, the feeling you get from a good meditation session, or excitement, from traveling and seeing the world. What type of happiness do you want? Let me know! If you want to learn more about how you can use emotions, I highly suggest this book, teaching you how you can use your emotions to find happiness and abundance.

3. What thoughts are clogging up your brain and dragging you down?

While we just talked about feelings, we cannot overlook thoughts. Thoughts make beliefs, and we talk more about beliefs in the next question. Some thoughts that drag you down are, “I have to wear this to seem presentable in society,” or, “I have to go to college and get a degree to life abundantly,” or even “if I become successful in my career path I will be happy.” All of these are not true, and are dragging you down. If you catch yourself thinking any thoughts along these lines, switch your thoughts to gratitude. Take a look around you at what you can be grateful for. For example, if you are shopping, take a minute to just be grateful that you have money to shop. Or if you are in high school wondering about college, be grateful it is even an option to you. Or if you are moving up in your job, be grateful for how hard you have worked and how far you have come.

4. What beliefs do you want to work towards?

This is similar to question two, but at the same time very different because we are dealing with beliefs. Your beliefs can directly impact your thoughts and feelings. A belief that you will never be successful will leave you always feeling sad and alone. This is why having beliefs such as “I can do anything” or “my body is strong and perfect” will give you feelings of happiness and gratitude. What beliefs do you want to work towards? Your beliefs should be able to cause the feelings that you chose in question two. If you recognize that you have bad beliefs that are giving you bad emotions, maybe choose to work towards a belief that is opposite your your bad existing one.

5. What are the daily thoughts you want to have?

“It’s going to be a good day.” “I can’t wait to be completely healthy today.” “Just because the sun isn’t shining doesn’t mean my heart can’t.” Okay, maybe you are not going to say that last one, but you get the idea right. What daily thoughts do you want to have? Positive thoughts that make you feel warm and cozy inside? Positive thoughts that make you excited and energized? Once again, make sure your daily thoughts connect to your beliefs and your feelings. What happens daily determines your mindset, and positivity daily leads to a consistent daily positive mindset.

6. What are you thinking everyday?

This definitely connects to question five. The thoughts you already have may be a habit, and you can’t break bad habits. You have to change the routine. If you think, “I am not sure i’ll be able to be healthy today,” or “this rain will completely ruin my day” daily, then those thoughts are a bad habit. You can replace them with the examples in question five. The cue for these thoughts, such as waking up while it is raining or feeling extra chubby in the morning are activating those bad thoughts. When this cue happens, think of the thoughts you want to be thinking.

6. How can you use your new feelings, beliefs and thoughts to improve your mindset?

Put them together. Change your beliefs, change your thoughts, and change your feelings. Your mindset is how you choose to interpret reality. Your beliefs on everything around you change how you feel you can react to your environment. Your thoughts are how you respond to your environment, and your feelings are what comes out of those responses. This may not make a lot of sense, and thats totally okay. Answer these questions for yourself, and learn to incorporate these new beliefs thoughts and feelings into your everyday life. You will notice a change.

(As an Amazon associate I receive a small commission for any purchases made through an Amazon link)