I’m a big fan of small things that make your life better when compiled. I don’t think we can change our lives in big sweeping gestures, I think it’s an accumulation of small moments, items, and changes in habit. These have allowed me to keep chugging, even if I’m operating at two percent energy, and feel like the human equivalent of a charging cord with a short in its wire. I can’t guarantee these to be life changing, or even innovative, but they help me, so they might help you, too.
- Monthly Playlists
Every month, I make a new playlist, titled with the month and year. I’ve done this for six years. It’s a great way to find new music and change up what I have on rotation. They become time capsules of what I liked at a certain time or mirrors of whatever I might’ve experienced. I honestly wish more people did these, so I could see what they’re obsessed with right now as well. They’re fun to curate at the start of the month and something to look forward to. After all seemingly five months of a long January, I’m ready to start collecting songs for February and browse through the ghosts of February’s past in the process.
- The Kindle App/A Digital Library Card
Libraries are so underrated in my opinion. All of that knowledge and all of those stories are free, you just have to get a (also free) library card. Mine is digital only, for the Richmond Library, and I can check out ebooks and have them directly on my phone, into the Kindle App. I no longer dread awkward blocks of time on campus or waiting in line. I can read on my phone, and avoid doom scrolling on social media. I’ve found that I’m more productive, and less bored when I can reach for my book in seconds. However, I made the mistake of downloading it on my laptop, too, which is only an error because I tend to open it in the middle of lectures. Do as I say, not as I do.
- Google Calendar
My Google Calendar acts as the one thread on a sweater in a cartoon that if pulled, unravels the whole thing. Without it, all of the marbles would immediately fall out of the gumball machine that is my brain. I have it color coded, and I put every morsel of my day in there. It’s my buoy in turbulent semester waters.
- Finch
If Google Calendar is the skeleton of the sweater, the Finch app is the buttons that make it secure. It’s essentially a self care app where you have a little bird that you care for, and when you complete the goals you set for yourself, you get to buy your bird outfits, room decorations, and send it on adventures. If you’re against joy, whimsy, and silliness, this isn’t the app for you. Two of my friends had me download it in August and it’s the first app I open in the morning, which is much better than social media or, infinitely worse, my email.
- Getting enough sleep (or at least, trying to).
This is the most important one. It’s a universal experience to sit next to someone in class and hear them brag about how little sleep they got the night prior. With all due respect, no one cares. Do you want a gold star with that RedBull you’re clinging to? I’m a big supporter of setting my work aside in favor of my eight hours. I like feeling well rested, and I recommend you do the same. The more sleep you get, the more energy you have, and the more focus you have to get all of the things on your calendar done, or so the psychologists say.
I do not claim to be the poster child for sanity or productivity. Still, it’s these habits, a cup of coffee, and me against the world, or at the very least, the semester.