Month: February 2018

Tackling The Mid-Semester Slump

Welcome to Week 5 of the semester…or is it week 6…? Regardless, you’ve probably been at school for a while now. It’s been quite some time since Winter Break, but you’re likely still a few weeks out from Spring Break. The beginning of the semester seems like it happened a thousand years ago, but the end seems just as far away. You may be wondering how to get over the mid-semester slump. No worries, you can do it! Here are some of our favorite tips to get keep you focused and motivated.

 

Hmm…what do I do?

Find A Friend Or Two

Like Senioritis, the mid-semester slump is something that affects everyone. If you’re feeling less than motivated right now, the odds are high that one of your friends is feeling about the same. Use this to your advantage: grab a friend and help each other out! Whether you’re studying together, relaxing together, or commiserating about assignments together, you can help keep each other focused. You can even get bonus points if you’re studying the same thing, so you can help each other out when one or the other of you gets stuck.

Prioritize Your Life

As the semester has really gotten going the past few weeks, so has everything else in your life probably. Juggling classes with extracurricular activities and social events can be a daunting task, but it’s definitely a challenge you’re up to. Try and figure out which things you do are the most important, and see if you might want to put a thing or two on the back-burner so you don’t run out of gas this early in the semester. Don’t be afraid to say no to a commitment if it runs the risk of seriously affecting the time you can spend on something more important. Try laying everything out, and see where you may be spending too much time or where you may not be spending enough time. Increase your efficiency!

Stay Healthy

Midterms and projects are likely just around the corner if they’re not here already, and your life is probably getting more stressful as the semester drags on. Right about now is a super important time to remember not to neglect your health. Make sure you’re sleeping a decent amount every night; remember, studying without sleeping is worse than not studying at all. As your time gets more crunched, it can be tempting to eat poorly, but make sure to make some time for a healthy diet to give your brain the brain food it needs. Stay hydrated too, to make sure your body is cheering you on as you get through this semester. But most importantly, make some time to relax a little bit!

 

With just a little bit of attention, you can sail through the blahs! Do you have ideas for handling the mid-semester slump? Let us know!

5 Fun Facts About Valentine’s Day

It’s that time of year when the media is full of Valentine’s Day stories. But what exactly is it? Does everyone celebrate it? Are you rushing around to get the perfect gift? We can’t help with the last-minute shopping (read this to plan better!) but here are a few fun facts about the big day that can give perspective – and make for some lively small talk over Valentine’s day dinner!

 

 

It’s Huge, In the U.S.

The majority of Americans (55%) are planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day 2018 in some form or another. But the celebrations don’t come cheaply: The National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will spend around $19.6 billion this year to celebrate, mostly in the form of jewelry, an evening out, flowers, candy, and clothing.Though some call it a “Hallmark Holiday” – over 131 million cards are exchanged! – Valentine’s Day wasn’t created by any corporation, though corporations do promote it to encourage sales. In fact, the average American is set to spend around $143 for Valentine’s Day this year!

It’s Gaining Popularity

Valentine’s Day began as a Christian celebration of Saint Valentine in medieval England, but the holiday as we know it only really got going in 18^th century Britain, when it was first associated with romantic love and gift-giving. Since then, the holiday has since shed most of its Christian roots, and has spread to several other countries outside of Europe. In addition to most Western countries, Valentine’s Day is also now popular in Asia, particularly in China, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand and parts of Latin America. The highest Valentine’s Day spenders can be found in Hong Kong spending an average of $273 each, almost double what Americans will spend!

It Has Poetic Roots

The exact origin of Valentine’s Day has proved difficult to nail down exactly. Scholars have found a possible dark origin story with the death of a few Roman fellows named Valentine in the 3^rd century AD. However, the association between Valentine’s Day and romantic love have appears to come as a result of English literature. The day was romanticized first in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and then William Shakespeare in Hamlet. As the celebration started gaining popularity, exchanging hand-made cards would have been a regular occurrence in Britain during Shakespeare’s time. So when you write a card or a poem to your crush, you’ll be following a centuries-old tradition!

Japan Has Two Valentine’s Days

The first Valentine’s Day in Japan is celebrated on Feb. 14, just like in the U.S, and has been around since the post-war days. However, Japanese Valentine’s Day consists solely of women giving gifts to the men in their life. The most common gift is chocolate, but it isn’t only given to their significant others. Women also give “Giri-choco,” or obligatory chocolates, to their male friends and colleagues. The average Japanese woman gives them to around 6 men in her life, spending approximately $56 per year just on these chocolates. However, men return the favor on March 14 each year on a day known as “White Day,” and frequently give white chocolate or other gifts back to the women that gave them gifts in February. White Day has an even shorter history in Japan than Valentine’s Day: in fact, CEOs of confectionary companies literally invented the holiday in the 1970s!

Anti-Valentine’s Day Is A Thing

If you think all of the fuss about Valentine’s Day is a bit too much, you’re not alone; remember, only about 55% of Americans say they’re celebrating the holiday this year! The National Retail Federation found that about 30% of Americans are still planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day in unconventional ways, like treating themselves to something, getting together with loved ones, or even purchasing “anti-Valentine’s” gifts for others. Others still are planning to celebrate their own holiday the day after Valentine’s Day in much the same way, known as Single’s Awareness Day (S.A.D.). This tongue-in-cheek holiday is meant to celebrate those without significant others, and there’s certainly no shortage of things to do!

 

However you celebrate (or don’t celebrate) Valentine’s Day, you’re in good company. Enjoy the day!

#1 Tool For Success Is Your Daily Planner

Do you, like millions of others, suffer from to-do-list anxiety? Are you feeling so overwhelmed with what you have to do, you don’t even have the energy to start? Wish there was a magic wand to make it better? We’re not Hogwarts and don’t know much about magic wands, but we believe a daily planner could work like magic in making your to-do list less daunting!

But what if you feel you’re one of those people who doesn’t like planning? It appears that every article and how-to guide advises everyone to use planners and schools believe in them so much they even hand them out to the students (check out our earlier post on what’s popular with students). Here are some compelling reasons why even unstructured, spontaneous people might want to do some planning – especially if they’re students!

 

 

Save Your Brain

Between family, friends, school, and extracurriculars, your to-do list can be long and exhausting. With a daily planner, you don’t have to remember events and deadlines. Writing down tasks and events can free up some of your working memory bank to focus on other, more crucial information, like what you need for your test! If you can, try to keep a physical planner! Studies have shown that writing things down helps you remember things much better than typing them.

And of course, your planner doesn’t just have to be about things that you have to “work” on; use it to keep track of the fun things going on in your life like get-togethers with friends, so you’ll have something to look forward to!

Manage Your Time

Keeping a daily planner is a great way to help you visualize how you’re spending your time. A planner helps you clearly lay out your days of the week, so that you can appropriately budget your time and prioritize events or projects. If you have 3 due dates next Friday, maybe think about working ahead this weekend!

A planner can also help you see which areas of your life you might not be focusing on enough. Did you only leave 30 minutes to study for your final? Or are you not spending any time to do the things you love, like play guitar, read books, go running? Taking the time to sit down and write a planner can force you to think about how you’re spending your time, and can help you decide for yourself if you want to change it up. The planner helps you balance your time so you can fit in all the things that are important to you.

Get Stuff Done

By planning out your time in advance, you can figure out when you need to start something to make sure it gets done by the due date. You know yourself and can adjust for the fact you read slow but write fast, or find math easier than social studies. Keeping track of how you’re spending your time can also help you fit things in that you may not have thought you had time for! The daily planner can show you which days are light and which ones are packed and let you adjust what you get done and when – it can be your best friend during your busiest weeks!

Need another great reason to get comfortable using your daily planner? You’d have acquired an undeniably useful life skill that’ll keep you on top of any to-list that you encounter along the way – and still have time to be spontaneous if that’s what you want!

What do you think? Planners are over-rated or they’re the best way to reduce the stress of getting things done? Share your thoughts!