When I was in my second semester at university I had one class in the afternoon that messed up all my day, the class was boring and in someway pointless in my opinion. After that class I said to myself not to take an afternoon class EVER again! Sadly in university, specially when the teachers or doctors giving the classes have a crazy schedule so students pay for it by having horrible schedules.
By horrible I mean having a lot of spare hours between classes, and taking morning and afternoon classes. For example this semester I have a day where at 7am I have an one hour class, I go home then I return to my class at 4pm... so fun I know! Somedays to save gas I take all my essentials or survival kit so I can keep myself busy in school in case there are no friends around.
I'm sharing this guide to help any busy student or worker to make their life easier. So I may include some tech gadgets, food, and other tips.
Always carry your phone charger!
I learned this the hard way, I has asking my friends for chargers but sometimes they were not around. You never know when you can really use your phone besides Instagram, Facebook and other social media, you need to stay in touch in case of an accident!
Plan your schedule
If you are staying for a couple of hours in school make a to-do list. This way you will be prepared and have the stuff you'll need to complete the list, in longer days I take my laptop to do homework, blogposts, research, listen to music and watch Netflix (why not?).
Save money by meal prepping
I'm not the one who makes a killer meal prep in Sundays but I'm a fan of one pan meals! Quick, no need to wash a lot of dishes and saves money as well! I will do another blogpost sharing some ideas you can use, personally I always use my oven, this way I won't need to stir, turn over and constantly check the skillet.
Buy some quality freezer friendly foods.
If you are not into meal prepping, having some freezer friendly foods are a life savor! I always have in my freezer some quality chicken burgers and by quality I mean no nitrates, sulfites, sugars or fuzzy ingredients added. Check the ingredient list that in only contains the meat, condiments and spices, if you are vegan organic tempeh is a great option to have in the freezer.
Stay hydrated
Always carry your water bottles, I'm kind of a bottle lady because I always have one in my backpack, another in my car and another one with tea. Healthy Human are my favorite stainless bottles, I'm not joking one bit when I say that after 4 hours your drink will remain super hot! So that's why I always carry some tea. (I have a discount code in my Discount Codes page here in my blog highly recommended)
Make time to what you love
I'm very passionate about working out, in the last 3 months I have been training crossfit and I can't get enough! I typically workout in the morning but when my first class is at 7am I wake up earlier to do my workout before class. You might think that I'm crazy to do that super early but when you love something it doesn't feel like an obligation. I wake up happy to go (no joke) and this way I also have the rest of the day to do my school work, keep up with the blog, watch some series and play with my dogs.
Don't think twice, just do it!
I have been applying this rule for quite some time now. I was noticing that the more time I spent procrastinating the more energy or motivation was fading, so I started just to do. I didn't think twice about my task, I just got up, went to my desks and start doing it. My productivity and energy increased a lot since I added this mindset to my school and other things in life.
Hope that was helpful! Some of them are pretty basics but sometimes a reminder is useful, being at school and at work can make our lives so busy and stressful but feeling overwhelmed and stress does nothing good to our body.
My favorite way to balance my life and reduce stress is to:
Workout it increases your endorphins that will make you feel more chilled, increase your sleep and improve your mood.
Meditate Just find a comfy place, close your eyes and focus con your breathing, your organs and your touch.
Set yourself a hour to stop and start relaxing Take a cozy bath, watch some series, read a book, walk the dogs, it's important to give your body a rest and let it recover physically and mentally from the day.
Sleep Set an hour to shut down your tablet, phone or TV, have a drink (Magnesium and Reishi are great to improve your quality sleep, visit my Discount Code page for Four Sigmatic discount)