5 Ways to Kickstart an Unproductive Day

Y'all this is my first official post on the shiny, new, updated Call Me Sassafras (and updated it is!) and I am so glad you're here reading this! Big yay! 

So this here post is very representative of my vision for the content I've planned for the blog. When I was reconsidering the topics that I post about, I knew I wanted to put more focus on writing things that are helpful and useful while still writing things that I have experience with and are personal to me. 

As a student, I care about productivity because it helps me waste time on the things I want to waste my time on. Instead of spending three hours sort of working on a task, sort of on facebook, sort of texting my friends, focusing on my productivity means that I'll spend an hour and a half on the task and then I have an hour and a half to read, blog, find new music, or try to make victory rolls look as good on my hair as they do on Victoria's (spoiler: they never do). 

As much as I try to be productive, sometimes I have days where I'm just plain not. Whether I overslept or got sidetracked early on in the day, some days I get in a time-wasting groove and can't getting out. You feel me? Well, these days suck + I've started practicing some of these tried and true ways to pick yourself out and get going again.

Reprioritize and refocus.

If I get stuck on a task and I'm not making progress, I like to stop what I'm doing, physically move somewhere else in the room to distance myself from the project, and reconsider my priorities. I'll brain dump a list of things I need to do an quickly prioritize them by numbering them from highest priority to lowest, consciously thinking about why my important tasks are important. Then I'll choose one of my higher priority projects and focus on it. 

Move to a new location.

Especially outside, weather permitting. Changing locations forces our brain to process new information, really waking up your brain cells so they can process new information! Plus, we could all use a little more fresh air. My new favorite (because it's still in the 60s here in Florida!) is setting up my eno behind my building and studying or reading emails. 

Do some quick exercise.

Sometimes, I'll do fifty jumping jacks or a couple minutes of yoga flows (modified plank, cobra, downward dog, plank, child's pose, and again). Usually this is enough to wake me up + get blood pumping. Whenever I do quick spurts of exercise, I can feel my brain start to pick up speed and prepare to get work done.

Consider what's stopping you.

Did you not get enough sleep? Take a 30-minute nap. Is social media distracting you? Turn on a web filter. Is your project too large? Break it into five steps and just do one. On top of that, take note of the things that made you have an unproductive day + try to make sure they don't happen again. When I sleep late, it takes me forever to get focused. So now I know getting up on time is a huge priority for me.

Dig deep and work.

If you try, you can come up with a hundred reasons why you aren't productive. Sometimes, the solution is just to grit your teeth and get back to work. Set a timer for 15, 30, 60 minutes and work. Be sure to reward yourself afterwards--you worked hard! 

Thank you for reading today, you guys! Do something amazing today! And please take the short reader survey :)

Music for a productive day.

Hello lovelies! Happy Sunday! I hope your day is restful and productive as you get ready for the week. Speaking of restful--daylight savings = awesome. This girl got like ten hours of sleep last night and that's pretty great.

Sunday is probably the day of the week when I do the most work. I always try to convince myself that I'm gonna finish all my work on Friday afternoons but all of a sudden, I find it's Saturday night and I've been watching Lifetime movies and New Girl hanging out with all the people that are just begging to hang out with me all day. So then I basically have to do everything on Sunday. (Seriously, you'd think I'd figure it out by now that it's not really a great system.)

But anyways, I believe that when you have a great amount of work, great music is necessary. So here's some music to get you through all your Sunday work.

We sound like this. Together. from xannie.julo on 8tracks Radio.

oh, my stars. from allielynn24 on 8tracks Radio.

One for the Road: Hope the Good Things Never Die from JanJohannus on 8tracks Radio.

What music have you been listening to lately?

get stuff done: tips + tricks + sanity

Hi pumpkins! How was your week? It's Satturrrdaaayyyyyy!! Yesterday was an especially exciting day for me, not just because it was Friday but also because it was H's birthday! Which meant dinner and presents and happy things. But really, I was so glad his birthday falls on a Friday so I don't have to worry about classwork and everything tonight.

But speaking of classwork and just work in general, I want to share some tips today on how I get through crazy amounts of work. I've found a couple different tools and tips that help me get exponentially more things done.

1. The Pomodoro Method. This one's nothing new, I know, but it's good because it works. This method is best for when you have one task to work on for a long period of time. So this is great for using when working if you're self-employed or a freelancer or really whatever else you're doing. The basic premise of the method is that you work for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes or use that time to transition to another task. After 3-4 "Pomodoros", you take a 15 minute break. Read more about how it works here.

There are lots of tools online to help you with using this method. I especially like the "Simple Pomodoro Timer" app and MarinaraTimer.com. The Pomodoro Method is really helpful because it keeps you from being distracted by email pings or other little distractions. It's much easier to let them wait if you know you have a five minute slot to deal with them in less than 25 minutes. I've found I'm much more focused and productive using this method.

2. LiltUp. This is an online "to-do" list of sorts but with a timer built in. Basically, you put it everything you have to do along with how long you think it'll take. LiltUp tells you what time you'll be done and then starts the timer for you. I like this tool because when I get home from classes or work, I'll put in literally everything I have for the night (even dinner/shower), and then if I have extra time before bed, I'll put different fun activities and schedule them in between my tasks.

This uber-scheduling might not work for some but it is so helpful for me. The only thing I don't like about LiltUp is that there isn't an app, so I have to be at my computer. If I'm doing work that's offline, that's frustrating because I get distracted by my computer easily.

3. StayFocusd. This is a web extension specifically for Google Chrome but I'm sure there are equivalent tools for other browsers if you look around. In essence, SF has a couple different settings to keep your from wasting time on pointless websites. In one option, you can set a daily max of time on sites like twitter or facebook or whatever your weakness is. After that time, it just won't let you access them. You can also set SF to block certain websites say for a certain time, like an hour, or a certain slot of time. And my favorite SF option is called Nuclear. In Nuclear, SF will block everything on the internet for however long you choose.

One of my favorite things about SF is that you can't go back and change settings (i.e. give yourself more time in the first option) easily. To change the time allowances, you have to copy a paragraph (about procrastination) word for word with no mistakes. It's way harder than you think. Oftentimes, my lazy side will just give up and I'll get back to work.

How do you stay focused + productive?

finding rest in the crazy.

Lately, life has just been hitting me hard. I hate to say that because I know there are so many people who are being hit even harder by life, but the daily grind has been a bit much for me. Lately it feels like there's always a paper to write, someone to call, an application to turn in and a miles-long to do list.

And that busyness is just part of life and the stage that I'm in. It's okay that I'm busy. But I'm struggling to maintain my level of positivity when I get only a few hours of sleep a night and don't have even a spare hour to do something just for fun.

This week, I'm making just one goal. I need to rest. I've been driving myself to do everything that my sleep and mental rest is basically nonexistent. I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to make rest happen, but I'm going to make it a conscious goal to rest my mind whenever possible, even if that's just for a few minutes here and there. I'm going to look into some meditative breathing and things like that to deal with stress. If any of you have advice on that, please comment below!

Oh and one happy thing...I got to hang out with this little piglet this weekend. :)



Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my last few posts. You are nice and you are important. I like you.

How do you rest your mind when life is busy?

 

Weekly Wishes #11: cacti + baby steps + design

Hey all. It's Monday, you know what that means! Today, I'm linking up with The Nectar Collective for Weekly Wishes. The Weekly Wishes is where we all can share our posts about goals, challenges, and wishes for the week! Is this the prettiest picture ever or what? I love bright things.

Last week, I wished for a few things and was pretty successful! I worked pretty hard to get my body on a good sleep schedule. My lights weren't always out by 10:30 but I slowly but surely moved from falling asleep at 3 am to 11:30 pm. Baby steps. I also did lots of cleaning and unpacked everything from the summer! Yayz! I also sort of randomly got a futon from my sister so I cleaned a lot to make room for that. I scheduled out this whole week to help me get through the craziness but still have time for this little lovely munchkin of a blog. I've got some exciting posts coming up--especially a guest post from Stacey over at Grace Believer.

This week, I did a lot of design work which was really exciting for me! Most recently, I did a big design for Caitlyn at ChemGradBoom. It was really fun for me to make a really cute, but chemistry-themed design--check it out! I'm really loving that I can do something that satisfies me while making a little money! If you're in the market for some new digs for your blog, noodle on over to my design page.

But despite all that fun, school starts tomorrow. Cue the conflicting emotions. I'm excited to see friends and learn stuff and all but I'm not excited to get up early and die slowly under the mountain of work.

But anyways, here are my wishes:

• Not die. This should be easy, but I'm seriously skeptical. 


• Exercise! Now that I'm home and settled in, it's time to start working out again. Anyone have any great home workouts they like to do?


• Contact teachers about recommending me as a tutor. Simple enough. I'm a tutor who needs a job, they need tutors.

Now head on over to The Nectar Collective and join the Weekly Wish link up.

What are you wishing for this week? Any recommended workouts for me this week? I'm thinking Blogilates maybe...

Why I Like Jerry Springer

I feel like a thousand people are about to [x] out of my blog after reading just the blog title. But it's true, I legitimately enjoy watching Jerry Springer on some level. Yeah, it's twisted, I know. Judge away!--but first, let me explain.

Dislaimer: I don't agree with most things on the show and I doubt you do either.  I think most sane people feel the same way. It shows way too screwed up relationships and yeah, I do feel sorry for the guests on the show.

But here's the tricky part: as much as I want to hate the show, I can't. Every time a girl brings in a cheating boyfriend and yells at him, I get a small amount of satisfaction. I somehow get pleasure out of watching people get things out in the open and stand up for themselves when they've been wronged.

Ignoring all the slapping and swearing and et cetera, if we could all be that honest all the time, wouldn't we be happier?

Awhile ago, the boy and I had a bit of an argument. There was something that was bothering me for a little while but I kept ignoring it because I didn't want to argue about it. So I just stuffed it down deep and didn't say anything. But then later, after something little he said, I got mad. It all comes out sometime. And because I let it build, I was upset enough about it that it was hard to discuss like mature people and it came out as an attack on him.

Once we had come to an agreement, he just asked me why I didn't tell him. And that's a hard question, why we aren't honest.

Is it because I'm afraid of making things uncomfortable, I just want peace or am I just self-centered? I don't know the answer.

Get yourself a giggle out of this "brutal betrayal".

When I think about it, my dishonesty is everywhere, and with all honesty, yours probably is too. Not straight up lies, but we sugarcoat, we tame things down or leave out important information. In the example I just mentioned, I withheld something important deliberately. I try not to, but I'm human and I do lie more than I would care to admit. But then really, am I not almost continually lying?

A customer at work (I scoop ice cream) last night asked me how I was. And I answered with my standard, "I'm good, how are you?" little spiel. But in truth, my head hurt, we were severely understaffed, I had just cut my hand on the shake blender (those suckers are weapons, I tell you) minutes before. I wanted advil and a nap, not to make four chocolate peanut butter banana shakes.

But would it really have been acceptable to answer with that? Even politely, to say "It's been a long night; I'm a bit stressed"? I doubt anyone would like that. I think most people would be caught off guard and at least slightly uncomfortable. Because when people ask how you're doing, a huge percentage of the time, they don't care about your answer. And we know this.

And I can't wrap this post up with an answer as to why we treat each other the way we do; I'm guilty of the same. But I just had to get that off my chest and I think it's worth recognizing that our small dishonest moments change the way we treat other people and by extension, the happiness of people around us.

Be honest--do you watch Jerry Springer? Are you totally judging me? And you deserve a prize for reading this whole thing. Props to you.