Beauty & Blazers: productivity

Saturday, June 18, 2016

how to stay productive on summer break

Howdy y'all! If you are or ever have been a student, you know the eternal struggle that is summer break laziness. Most of us spend our summers watching an unhealthy amount of Netflix and refreshing our Twitters until something interesting pops up, but it's time to change that. Here's why students should be more productive during summer break, and how to do it.

First, I want to say that this post is not at all to say that you shouldn't watch an absurd amount of Netflix this summer, because that would be mean and wrong. It's totally okay to be lazy when you have time off and you should always feel like it's okay to take a break once in a while! However, I think that breaks are so much more fulfilling when you actually do something during them. Being productive doesn't necessarily have to mean that you're working in the business sense or that it has to be miserable - to me it just means that you are working towards some sort of goal. If your goal is to spend more time outside this summer, or go walking every day, going outside for a walk is absolutely a productive use of your time!

Like I said earlier, breaks are more satisfying and fulfilling when they involve more than just Grey's Anatomy (although that is an excellent show), which is why I think more students need to participate in some sort of productive hobby during the summer. This also helps for later in the game when you get back to school. While the school year is always a lot more work than summer, if students have kept up their productivity rates during the break, it will make the transition from play to work much, much easier come fall.

I have always been the girl that sleeps until 1pm and then lays around on the couch all day during break, but when I decided I wanted to actually get stuff done this summer, I decided to change that! In just the few weeks I've been on break, my summer has already been so much more enjoyable than last summer, and I haven't even started going to any of my camps or vacations yet! I've been working a lot on the blog and have gotten an insane amount of stuff done - at only a 3rd of the way through June, I had reached half of the page views I received in May and they are still growing at the same rate! I also successfully 'launched' my photography business and have been booking shoots out the wazoo. I've worked a little on calligraphy stuff and have started researching colleges more in depth as well as spent a ton of time with my family.

Long story short, staying productive on summer break is as simple as this - rap a couple songs from Hamilton, focus, and get to work.

What are you getting done this summer?

Have a great day!

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Wednesday, March 9, 2016

how to stay out of the spring break slump

Howdy y'all! This week I'm excited to be participating in the Spring Break Bloggers linkup run by Olivia. It took me a while to come up with something for this, because my family usually doesn't do much at spring break. My mom has a different spring break than my sister and I, and my dad is self-employed, so he's usually working. In recent years, my spring breaks have consisted of laying around, eating an inordinate amount of Girl Scout Cookies, and watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. And then I come back to school in what I like to call, the 'spring break slump'. Basically, I'm lazy, tired, and bored which affects every aspect of my life - from school, to church, to social stuff. Here's how you can avoid the spring break slump and stay productive during and after your break.

Get up at the same time you would on a normal day. This is one I struggle with a lot - I'm a really heavy sleeper and once I'm out, I can sleep until noon or later. I've found that when I get up at around the same time I do on school days (or maybe a little later... it is a break, after all), I have much more productive days and it's easier for me to transition back into school.

Don't watch so much dadgum Netflix (or TV in general, really). I mean, it's fine to watch some, but starting a new series at the beginning of your break with the goal to finish it by the end probably isn't the smartest decision. In my experience, once I'm on Netflix for the day, I'm not getting off and when I get back into school, I don't want to do anything because the next season of that show I started is calling my name. I actually gave up Netflix for Lent this year, and I'm so glad I did it!! I've been so much more productive and while I am a little upset I missed the Fuller House release, I'm glad I haven't been wasting so much time.

Do a little spring cleaning. Put that Hamilton soundtrack (but really if you haven't listened to this do it now) on repeat and get to work!! When I get organized I feel less stressed and more productive. Plus, if you do this now, you won't have to worry about it when you're back in school. (Bonus!! If you live at home, like me, your parents will be super hype and more likely to get you the Chipotle you've been craving for weeks.)

Spend some time outside!!!!!! I never go outside enough but it's so nice! Last weekend I went camping with my youth group in Oklahoma and it was so refreshing and fun. I hung in my Eno for hours - and lemme tell ya', you can take some bangin' naps in one of those things. Go outside, read a book, take a nap, play with your dog, whatever!!

How are you staying out of the spring break slump? Let me know in the comments below! Also, here's the link to the rest of the posts in the linkup:

Have a great day!