Meditation 101

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photo credit: stevedieringer.com

For the average young adult in the western world, stress has become a habit, one might even say an addiction. We are swept up in our busy lives of high school,  college, or a new job, trying to find the right balance of getting things done and having fun. From this constant juggle anxiety tends to lump up until it forms a life of its own and starts to eat you within. Stress itself becomes a ball and chain in our everyday lives, dragging down not only our mental state but our productivity and focus. When we are stressed we tend to lose control over our emotions, and in turn our emotions begin to control us.

The easy-fix most Americans turn to is getting a prescription to the large assortment of name-brand pills marketed to decrease anxiety and depression. This has lead to a large percentage of the population resorting to chemicals to control their emotional state. For a brief period I was on one of these designer medications, and although it may have reduced my anxiety, it stripped away a lot of the other emotions that I experienced. For four or so months I was at a psychological flatline, I was no longer stressed out all the time, however I wasn’t experiencing any real feelings of happiness anymore either. The drug had stripped me of a portion of my humanity. It ultimately led to me being complacent with almost everything, which in turn negatively affected my studies, my relationship, and my overall well-being. My reality had been unnaturally altered, and I realized I no longer had control over my life.

I had to take back that control, over my emotions, my drive, my life. I knew I had to make a change, so I quit taking the medication, and turned to eastern philosophy. I began to study Buddhism, which in turn lead me to the practice of meditation. Although my study and practice of Buddhist principles couldn’t be followed strictly due to its incompatibility with Western society, I still tried to live by its basic ideas and practiced meditating everyday.  I still do it today.

What is meditation?

Meditation is the practice of deep thought or inducing a mode of consciousness that can promote relaxation and mindfulness as well as improve mental state and compassion. It is a staple practice in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Taoism, and can lead to benefits for both physical and mental health. Most people associate meditation with monks or yogis sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed repeating “OHHHHHHM”, however this is not the only way to meditate. However the practices involved with this form of meditating will be explained!

How is it helpful?

Meditation is practiced to increase mindfulness, or open attention to the present. This is also often commonly known as “living in the moment”. Mindfulness can have benefit such as reducing depression and anxiety, overcoming addiction and bad habits, and can even help the body heal quicker! Meditation allows the brain’s thought processing to switch from the left prefrontal cortex to the right prefrontal cortex. This occurrence has been associated with shifting of feelings of depression and anger  to increased happiness  and a more balanced  set of emotions. Meditation can provide greater natural benefits than antidepressant drugs that do it  synthetically.

I started meditating in the summer of 2013 and I continue that practice to this very day.   Over the years I have seen gradual improvements to my focus, emotional state, patience, relationships, and outlook on life. Currently I try to meditate once a day. My current routine includes twenty minutes before I go to bed. Now obviously there are sometimes breaks or changes in the routine, but it’s important to establish habit and a little bit of discipline to retain the long term benefits of meditation.

I didn’t always meditate with this pattern, I had to take baby steps. When I first started, it was grueling to even sit still for five minutes at a time, let alone try to quiet my mind. However like with anything, practice makes perfect. With a bit of discipline, I was able to work my way up to two twenty minute sessions per day. For someone who wants to try meditation, there a few basic things to remember before jumping right in. In today’s fast-paced highly driven society, the typical mind races in every waking hour. When your self-conscience tries to quiet itself, it tends to rev up even faster. However there are a few tricks you can practice to begin training your mind to slow down.

The primary one includes “sitting” for five minutes a day. For this beginner meditation session, all you’ll need to do is find a comfortable place to sit. It can be on a couch, cross-legged on the floor or on a yoga mat, or even lying down on a bed. The actual method doesn’t matter too much, as long as you keep your back straight and your body relaxed. This itself will take some practice, so don’t stress out too much if you find yourself struggling the first few, or even many times. The more you do it, the easier it will be to do. Eventually you’ll start to find that your mind stops racing through every thought that comes to it, and even starts to quiet a bit. You’ll begin to pay more attention to your current surroundings and mood, and less about that big meeting or test you have later in the day or how much work you have to get done. The more you practice the more mindful you will become, both during sessions and when you are going about your day. Eventually sitting for five minutes will become cake, and you can gradually increase the time and frequency of your sessions. You don’t need to spend an hour meditating everyday. You might even be too busy to do twenty minutes. What’s crucial is that you are taking time for yourself to meditate and try to quiet your mind, even if it is only for five minutes a day.

Before you start sitting, be sure to set a timer for five minutes, when you start it, put the timer out of sight, or close your eyes and don’t look at it. This is important because you’ll most likely want to check how much longer you have to sit there doing “nothing”. When you begin, your mind will start to race to all of the things that you need to get done, something you’ve been worrying about, or some other random thought. This is normal. I have been meditating for over two years now and my mind still wanders. The important thing to do is to be aware that this will happen. After some practice when you feel your mind begin to wander you will be able to refocus and quiet your mind.

So what should you be focusing on? That depends. There are several different types of meditation (a google search will help here) however the main difference between them is what the person focuses their mind on during the session. One of the most common is to focus on the breath. While sitting, you will want to take deep breaths in and out, while paying attention to everything about it. How the air feels and sounds going through your nose, the slight pause between when you stop breathing in and begin to exhale through your mouth. The feeling of your lungs expanding, and then releasing. Focusing your attention on this will keep your mind occupied from extraneous thoughts and worries. Your mind may still wander, don’t fret if this happens. Merely return to focusing on your breath. Other forms of meditation will have the mind focusing on repeating a mantra or syllable, an emotion, a pleasant memory, or maybe just an idea or concept that may improve your overall wellbeing. Transcendental meditation includes the practice of implementing a personalized mantra, however there is controversy as to whether this provides any actual benefit. Regardless, the repetition of a phrase allows you to focus your mind on one thing, which is the whole purpose.

Some people are skeptical that merely just sitting will have any benefits on a person. However there is research that shows how neurological pathways in the brain can be rerouted to change the way that it processes information, changing that individual’s perception and thought processing.

There are a few other tricks you can use if five minutes is too much to handles to start off. Merely just taking a moment to try and quiet your mind during the day can help improve your mental state and be more mindful. It’s very easy to take sixty seconds or so to merely stop and take a few deep breaths. If you struggle to quiet your mind, then just take some time to notice what is currently going on around you. Take in at that particular moment what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, and feeling. Another good practice is to momentarilly take appreciation for everything good that you have in your life. Your family, friends, health, job, education, and luxuries are all things that most people take for granted. Realizing all the good that you have in your life can make a dramatic impact on your outlook on life. This mindset and the previously mentioned tricks can all be implemented in your meditation sessions as well.

I personally have seen tremendous progress in myself from practicing meditation. At the very least it has made me more patient, increased my focus in class or while working, as well as improved my ability to go with the flow. Little things that used to make me really anxious or angry don’t bother me as much. That isn’t to say I don’t still experience those things, but meditation has allowed me to recognize when those negative emotions are occurring, allowing me to mitigate its effect on me. I now have greater control over my emotions and thoughts, rather than letting them reign over me.

Meditation hasn’t necessarily allowed me to blossom into the reincarnation of Buddha, but it has made me into a better person in almost every aspect. I like to think I am kinder, less selfish, as well as more assertive, driven, and creative. When I started, I was at a very dark point in my life. My girlfriend had broken up with me, my academics and work were suffering, and I was very bitter and angry. Meditating made me more mindful of my shortcomings, as well as the world around me, allowing me to take steps to get my life back on track and enjoy it more. This mindfulness is a theme that will pop up in many other posts, and is something I constantly try to improve so I can continue to grow as a person.

After reading this, hopefully you are able to relate to some of my experiences, and can maybe find a place for meditation and mindfulness in your own life. Happy sitting!

NOTES:

Basic steps for integrating meditation into your life:

Take 5 minutes every day to appreciate everything that you have in your life

Sit still for five minutes every day. Set an alarm on your phone or whatever find a comfortable place, sit cross legged, lie down, and close your eyes. You can attempt to quiet your mind but this will typically be self defeating and won’t help you progress. The best strategy is to let whatever thoughts flow through your mind, but be aware of the fact that this is happening.

Focus on the breath, an emotion you are feeling, something you want to improve on about yourself, a fond memory that you have, or a calming phrase or syllable. These are the basis of several different types of mediation that won’t be discussed here, but the main idea is to focus your mind on one thing.

 

Have a central idea or emotion to meditate about. If your mind starts to wander away, don’t beat yourself up, merely continue concentrating on your breath or the idea .

The key thing to remember is to practice.

Benefits of meditation:

Better focus

More mindful

Decrease anxiety

Increased perception

New Month Resolutions

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The year is coming to a close. You start to reflect on what you should have done more of, what habits you should have developed, or should have broken. You think back to January when  you were doing so well, but somewhere in the process life got in the way and all of a sudden you were no longer making any progress. That gym membership was going to waste, you’re still smoking or drinking too much, your relationships with family and friends aren’t any better. You think to yourself, “Why do I always do this? Why can I never achieve my New Years resolutions?” This is the common pitfall of the ideology of the New Years Resolution.

To answer these questions simply, you are making it too hard for yourself. Most people come up with too many or too lofty New Years resolutions, but then do to the hectic mess that is life, they either get discouraged or forget completely. We beat ourselves up to much when we don’t fully succeed in our resolutions, when there are several factors that most don’t even consider when thinking of new years resolutions. These resolution factors are not just for New Years resolutions, the very concept is just a goal veiled within the birth of the new year. Goals should be created as a blueprint that will give you direction to enable you to achieve them. This blueprint can be designed with the following parameters:

Set Realistic Resolutions

Often times when we set goals we do it without thinking about what is realistically achievable based on our current habits and the amount of work we are willing or able to put in. Simply stating “I want to lose 30 pounds” or “I want to get a 4.0 grade point average next semester” might be achievable for certain people. Albeit f you have no experience exercising nor do you want to dedicate every waking hour to studying when you’re accustomed to spending your free time watching Netflix, then these goals may not be realistic, and you are setting yourself up for failure.

Set an appropriate number of resolutions

You might be an ambitious person who wants to achieve a lot. This ambition is unhinged, unfocused. You have all of these things you want to accomplish, skills and habits that you want to improve on, but those don’t happen overnight. Think about something you are  good at, or enjoy doing a great deal. How long did it  take you to reach that level of skill? How many hours were you putting into it? Was there anything else you were working on at the same time? Even if it only took you a few months to achieve a goal or get good at something, did you have 10 other goals that you were trying to pursue simultaneously? Probably not, you most likely dedicated a large portion of time to that one thing. The same line of thinking should be applied to your resolutions. If you have too many, not only will you not be able to cross all of them off the list, but you may not even make it as far on the one you wanted to prioritize the most. Ambition can be powerful, but not when it is divided into a million pieces.

Make the resolution specific and fully defined.

Another problem a lot of people have when thinking of their resolutions, or setting goals in general, is not making it specific enough. Going back to the previous example: “I want to lose 30 pounds”. Well that’s great that you want to improve yourself in that manner,but how do you plan on doing that? How long will it actually take you. Do you want to lose 30 pounds because you think the weight you should be is 30 pounds lower, or do you simply want to live healthier and that’s the amount that you think will get you  there.

There are a lot of factors to consider even with the simple statement that you want to lose X amount of weight. Do you want to change your diet? Do you need to exercise more and eat less? How do you plan on doing these things and sticking to them? Let’s hypothetically take this goal on collectively and then break  it down a bit more. I’m going to propose a specific “goal formula” so that we can start to engineer this resolution into something that can become achievable:

I, [your name here], will [state goal here], by [insert date here]

Now let’s apply our weight loss example:

I, the Excelitarian, will lose 30 pounds by October 1st.

This has become our overarching resolution, our main goal that we want  to achieve. We should keep this as the primary goal for the year, and make sure that we write it down. It’s okay to have other resolutions, but there should only be a few and we should be ready to recognize that we may not follow through with those 100%, because we are focused on losing thirty pounds by October 1st.

Then the “Oh, crap moment sits in”. We’ve made this contract with ourselves, but how do we go about accomplishing it? We need to break this resolution down into smaller, bite size goals. If we try to do everything at once, we may overload on the self-accountability and the willpower will crumble. How can we incrementally start to lose weight?

Decrease Food Intake

Change diet

Introduce and increase exercise

All three of these are habits that need to be developed. They will not happen overnight. This is where I need you stick with me here, because I’m going to throw out the concept of the new years resolution entirely. This is a tired idea embedded within our culture that allows people to put on a facade that they want to improve their lives at the beginning of every year. These may be harsh words, but think about your friends, your family, or even yourself that said they were going to do this great thing, only to be asked about it later in the year to have come up with some excuse or forget about it entirely.

Instead, I’m going to go against the grain and propose setting a new resolution every month. You may be thinking, “I thought he said I wasn’t suppose to set too many resolutions?” In this new format you aren’t, because the goal setting period goes from a year to a month, and you are only setting one resolution for yourself. The difference here is, now your lofty goal can be broken down into bite-sized tasks, or that long list of things you wanted to get done can now get spread out over  the year. And to see the true test of your willpower, the deadline for yourself has just been divided twelve times. To keep with the colloquialism, let’s just call this new goal setting standard the New Month Resolution.

Let’s circle back to our weight loss goal:

I, the Excelitarian, will lose 30 pounds by October 1st.

This was our New Year’s resolution, and a whopper at that. But if we divide this up into monthly increments, this means we need to lose an average of 3.33 pounds per month. This is a realistic and well defined goal. We broke it down into modules: decrease food intake, change diet, and introduce exercise. Let’s pick “food intake ” for now and create a new month resolution for January out of it:

I, the Excelitarian, will only consume 2000 calories every day this month.

That’s not as daunting as losing thirty pounds right?Odds are if you are overweight and consuming a large amount of calories every day on average, simply restricting this will start to shift your metabolism to start burning excess fat*, allowing you to start shedding pounds.

This incrementalization can then be applied in the next month to start introducing healthier foods. Once those habits are developed, exercise can be introduced as another New Month Resolution. As the year progresses you continually develop a routine that perpetually drives you to your overall resolution for the year. The key here is to take things one step at a time. This is the main takeaway that can be applied to resolutions of all shapes and sizes, no pun intended…

Another important thing to remember when setting goals and working towards them is how to be accountable to yourself. No one else is going to be responsible for the goals that you set for yourself, so it is ultimately up to you to make sure you stay disciplined and smart about your New Month Resolution, or any of your goals. To solidify this, try this exercise. Make an official written agreement with yourself to set New Month Resolution at the beginning of every month for the next year. Make it something along the lines of:

I, [your name here] will set a new resolution at the beginning of every month for the next twelve months. Each resolution will contribute to my overall goals or primary goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I will do everything in my power to accomplish my New Month Resolution each and every month.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

 

My New Month Resolution for the month of January is to submit one blog post every week. Check back in to make sure I’m sticking to my word. What is your New Month Resolution?

*Note, I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. This weight loss resolution is purely crafted for exemplary purposed. I do not claim to know what is or is not healthy for weight loss and am writing this from knowledge that is assumed. I am not responsible for anyone who reads this and utilizes this example.

How to be a Good Student with a Killer Social Life.

It’s 2:12 AM. You’re sitting in front of your laptop in a deserted corner of the library where you know there’s a power outlet. You’re 4 pages away from completing that 15-page paper due tomorrow morning for your 200 level sociology class. You wrote the first paragraph a week ago, then wrote the rest in the last six hours. You’re kicking yourself for not getting more done sooner, but of course there were more fun things to do. Such is life as a college student, so you pry your eyes away from your Facebook feed, pound the rest of your third cup of coffee, and force your gaze back upon the ever-so-bright screen of your word processor while the deadline ticks ever closer.
If you can relate to this story in anyway, then you are among the majority of college students that suffer from procrastination. There’s that common cliché in college that you can choose two of three things in college, good grades, enough sleep, or a full social life. I’ve lived through it, and now that I’ve transitioned into the workforce I’ve been forced to hone my ability to produce in order to survive the professional jungle. Through observations of my academic career and more recent notes on the corporate atmosphere, I am here to tell you that you can throw aside the statute that you can only have two-thirds of the pie that is collegiate success, and enjoy the whole thing yourself. All it will take is a bit of self-reflection and willingness to develop discipline.

Have a notebook or medium to record things:
Research has shown that writing things down helps you remember them. Integrating this into your own life will not only help you remember tasks that you need to complete, but also give you a checklist that you can mark off throughout the day. I have found that I have much more productive days from writing down the tasks I need to complete. A good time to write them down is in the evening before you go to sleep, so you can wake up knowing exactly what you need to accomplish. Albeit if you are more of a morning person and have the time, take a few minutes before starting your day. It doesn’t matter when you write the tasks down, as long as you do it.
Another important thing to remember is to only write two or three of your most important tasks that you can accomplish throughout the day (small errands can be listed afterward). I tend to write the most important or urgent task as the first or star it so I know that I need to get it done. These tasks can range from homework assignments, to attending office hours or making a car payment. Whatever you know you need to get done to make progress in your life.

Setting Goals:
Another important thing to remember is to be conscious of what you need to get done and set goals for yourself. This can be on a daily basis, as well as setting goals for the longer term accomplishments that you wish to achieve. This differs from writing down your tasks for the day, finishing your homework, studying for that test, or writing that paper. These aren’t long term goals, because they have to get done no matter what. A proper goal would be “I’m going to get an A in my psychology class”, or “I will get above a 90 on my final Calculus exam”. It doesn’t always have to be reaching for high marks; in fact, you should know your own ability in the class and set the goals lofty enough where you’re happy with the results but not so high that it’s unrealistic and you’re bound to leave yourself disappointed.
It is also important to emphasize the desired outcome of your goals. You want it to be specific, and have a certain quantitative factor. Simply stating “I want to do better on my Calculus test” is too relative. In order to make a measured amount of progress it would be better to state the goal as “I want to score at least an 85 on my Calculus test, in order to improve my overall grade to a B. When the goal is stated with a specific level of achievement in mind, you can begin to focus on specifically what you need to do to accomplish the task. Here are some more examples of specific goals:

Example 1
Overall goal: “I will run the New York City marathon in under four hours.”
Plan of Action: “I will run every day, running a half-marathon distance once a week and a full marathon distance once a month for six months before the race. I will improve my marathon time by 5 minutes each attempt.
Daily Task: “Today I will run a half marathon in under two hours.”
Example 2
Overall goal: “I will earn an A in my Psychology class”
Plan of Action: “I will study for two hours every day, starting two weeks before the exam.
Daily Task: “I will review my flashcards for Units 3-6 for two hours today.”
Take note of how there is an overall goal, a specific plan of action to accomplish it, and a daily task to keep up with the plan of action. Also pay attention to the use of the word will in each statement, rather than “want to” or “plan to”. You should approach each task with the optimism that you can achieve it. It’s also important to remember that you are only human, so if you fail to accomplish the task of the day or procrastinate, you should have the ability to shake off any guilt or self-doubt and make sure that you get back on track the next day.
And remember, the road to success is a marathon, not a sprint! Jokes aside, take baby steps and keep your focus on the goals that you want to accomplish.

Schedule some dedicated time for work:
Despite whether you’re pursuing an Engineering , English, Chemistry, or a basket-weaving degree, you should be dedicating some time to getting school work done, whether it’s completing assignments, reviewing materials, or studying for an exam. You are in college to take classes and get a degree, and you should be putting time aside to learn. Even if you think you are one of those people that doesn’t really need to study, do it anyway, because you probably missed something along the way. If anything, find some people in the class that are struggling and help them study. Everyone wins in this situations, because you cement the material in your own mind from teaching it to others, and they are able to learn something as well. You should be finding an appropriate amount of time per day to devote to academics, whether it’s one hour or six. Even if one day isn’t as productive as the others, at least you are creating discipline within yourself to put the work into your classes so you can earn better grades.
I know that I finally wised up and used this method while I was in graduate school, and it helped me to achieve much higher grades than I would have if I didn’t establish the habit of getting at least a little bit of work done each day.
Take time for yourself:
While it’s important to make time for your academics, you also need to invest time in yourself so that your daily life is as fulfilling as possible. College students get so wrapped up in what is going to happen to them: what grade they will get, what they are doing next weekend, where their future will end up. This just leads to more anxiety, which bogs down the ability to focus on what you need to accomplish in the present. In order to concentrate on the now, college students should be investing some portion of time in themselves on a daily basis. This can be anything as simple as catching up with a friend, playing videogames for an hour, getting that second cup of coffee, or anything else that will bring a moment of joy. Taking appreciation for these small pleasures is what helps us to enjoy our lives overall, and when we are focusing more on the present rather than worrying about the future, it leaves a lot more mental capacity for us to accomplish our goals.
Get Enough Sleep:
I cannot stress enough how important it is to get enough sleep. Those late night cramming sessions right before the test are actually not doing you any good. One of the treasured spokes of the college trifecta is also important for every stage of life. But by implementing simple routine, scheduling, and organization into your everyday life, you get enough sleep, do well in school, and have fun on the weekends (and the occasional Thirsty Thursday). The truth is, getting enough sleep will aid in helping you get better grades in school. In college there were times where I was cramming a lot the night before, but would force myself to stop after a certain point so that I could at least get some sleep. The reason for this was because I knew if I wanted to retain the information my brain needed rest and process what I had learned. Getting enough sleep is difficult in college, as most people will procrastinate, and end up staying up late to get their work done. However this can be avoided by simply scheduling enough time everyday where you force yourself to sit down and get school work done. It doesn’t have to be at the same time every day, but you should at least wake up in the morning having an idea of when you are going to study.
So how much sleep should you get? The known standard is eight hours of sleep for every 24-hour period. However, if your schedule doesn’t permit this you should be getting at least 6, so that you can get a full REM cycle in. This is the period where your body is in deep sleep, and it is this form of sleep where your body recovers, and your brain retains knowledge.
“But Tom, my friends go out three nights a week and I want to go with them or I will miss out on the fun.” Alright, that’s fair, but also recognize that you have class at 8 AM tomorrow and a paper due on Friday, AND a test to start studying for. If you go out tonight, you’ll be exhausted for your class tomorrow, and won’t have any motivation to get everything else done that you need to. Why not make the wiser decision to stay in tonight, get your work done, turn in early, wake up for class refreshed and feeling prepared? Then you will have more time to celebrate a productive week on the weekend. Taking a small amount of effort to organize your time efficiently so that you get enough sleep will have tremendous benefits on every other aspect of your life.
Get enough Exercise:
With a full schedule of classes, and hours of time dedicated to studying and completing assignments it can be hard to fit in time to go to the gym or get that run in. But by forcing yourself to take some time for yourself you’ll actually end up preparing your body and mind to accomplish all of those thing that you have on your plate. That test you have to study for may be important, but so is your health. Your brain is a part of your body, and if one part isn’t fully functioning it’s going to hamper every other part of the system. If you don’t take care of yourself and exercise and eat healthy (we’ll get to the other part) your brain’s ability to memorize, think, and cultivate a positive attitude will be severely hindered. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard how exercise releases chemicals that make you happier. This is true, but if you push yourself too hard right off the bat, you can end up defeating yourself and not continuing. The important thing to keep in mind about staying in shape is to pick an activity that you enjoy doing. Can’t afford that fancy CrossFit membership? Luckily a lot of it is body weight exercises, which you can do on your own. If you enjoy running, take a half hour of time you would normally spend watching Netflix to run around campus. Hell, even walking for fifteen minutes a day will benefit your health tremendously. Go for a hike, find a treadmill, run up some stairs, go to a Zumba class, play a club sport, do something! The important thing is that you find a physical activity that you enjoy doing or at least don’t mind doing consistently and try to do it at least three times a week. School can sometimes get in the way, which is fine, but make sure to find time to get some physical activity in.
If you really can’t squeeze in a few hours to get some form of body movement in, at least start small and do some pushups and sit-ups in your dorm room, even if you only start with 10 per day. The important thing is that you take the small amount of time to do it consistently so you get in the habit. You can add more repetitions in and other basic movements once you establish a routine.
Eat (somewhat) healthy:
You’re in college, it’s a given you are going to drink gratuitously and eat garbage. But it’s important that you’re at least aware of what you put in your body. If you establish some sort of system where you eat “healthy” for some percentage of meals your body and grades will be better off. Extra credit if you can eat healthy almost all the time.
Examples of things you should eat:
Vegetables: broccoli spinach, peppers
Proteins: chicken, lean beef, beans, fish
(if you’re on that ultra-vegan paleo diet that one person with dreadlocks turned you onto, then I can’t help
Examples of things to avoid (or limit): pizza, chicken tenders, pasta, ramen, carbs in general, soda, all fast food.

You may think that I am referring to when you are actually getting your work done… well I am, but there’s more to it than that. Not only is it good to eliminate outside distractions while you’re working (i.e. mobile devices and social media) but you should also be aware of how much you are using these luxuries in your down time as well. In the modern age, our brains are wired to be stimulated for every waking moment due to constant distractions around us. TV, email, Facebook, Netflix, Buzzfeed articles, you name it. All of these serve to provide you a dose of dopamine, which you become addicted to. Becoming mindful of how often you default to these distractions, and then mitigating that time and allocating it towards more productive activities will allow you to increase your ability to focus, set goals, and achieve them.
Ask for help
This is one that many people, myself included, struggle with on a daily basis. Everyone likes to think that they are smart and capable enough to accomplish anything on their own, but often times when they go at it solo it just leads to frustration and failure. You aren’t the only person on this planet that has to do the task you are set out to do, so find resources that will help you succeed. No successful person got to where they are today (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Barack Obama) without a strong support system behind them. So ask for help, and be sure to give help to others, as there can only be positive benefits.
So who can you ask for help? Your instructors, your classmates, your roommate, your parents (for moral support). Go to office hours, ask questions during class, talk to the instructor after class. Often times this lead to some sort of familiarity between you and the instructor, and even if you still struggle, they are more likely to be lenient or help you out more in the future. You can’t be afraid of people thinking ill of you for wanting to do well, because the reality is they are probably impressed by your determination and afraid to ask for help themselves.
Ask for help, it’s how successful people accomplish things.
In Summary:
After reading through, hopefully you were able to pick up on the theme that this article is less about multiple life hacks to have the ultimate college experience and more focusing on improving one thing, self-discipline. Knowing how to manage your time will help you stay on top of the important stuff, stay energized and happy from getting enough sleep and exercise, while still finding time to have fun. Creating an optimized schedule ahead of time prevents you from wasting brain power on what you should do next so you don’t fall behind. Be proactive, and you can break the mythical college trifecta!

Finding Your Mental Reset Button

fixing-clogged-kitchen-sink-drainI enjoy washing dishes. I can’t stand the sight of a sink full of dirty plates and silverware. It’s almost to the point of neuroticism, I can’t remember the last time I’ve let dishes go unwashed for longer than 24 hours. There’s something soothing about the suds of the sponge, the white noise of the faucet, the rinsing of the plate or pot, grime washing away into the void of the pipes. I may have been nurtured to like washing dishes. It was my stepfather’s time to himself. My mom would cook dinner, then once everyone was done he would clear the table, put on his headphones, and start scrubbing away. I think I got used to seeing how at peace he was when he was washing dishes, and it started to translate over to my own life. In college, I used to wash the dishes to procrastinate from studying, or take breaks. I hated the fact that my roommates wouldn’t wash their dishes, so it got to the point where I would get impatient and wash them for them. For most it’s a chore, for me it’s an escape, a chance for me to not only clean the dishes, but rinse my soul and brain at the end of a long day. Washing dishes is my mental reset button.

There’s something blissful about having five to fifteen minutes  everyday that are set aside for you to not think, while simultaneously accomplishing the small task of cleaning up after yourself. Washing the dishes was a small respite in my daily routine that allowed me to escape from the stresses of my life. A small break from the daily grind to not think and just do.  The dishes weren’t going to clean themselves, and knowing I had so many other things to do, the dishes included, it seemed like an easy thing to get done. It became a small checkbox of my day, something menial that I could say that I got done. It became tremendously beneficial, to the point where I actually enjoy washing the dishes (and most cleaning in general). It became a physical manifestation of washing the stressful junk that was in my mind. Clean dishes = clean thoughts. The connection allowed me to develop a mental reset button, something in which I could momentarily turn off my brain, and upon completion, turn it back on. Like restarting your computer after it freezes, or resetting any of your other glitching electronics. The oil and food specs that wash away from the plates allude to the stress draining from my daily thoughts, allowing me to end the day on a small positive note and continue with the next day of the rest of my life.

You don’t have to wash the dishes to reset your brain, that’s just what happened to become my mental reset button. However it can be extremely beneficial for you to find something that will help your brain  shut off for a small period of time. It could be listening to music, making your bed, staring at a wall, taking a shower, painting, or even scratching yourself.  But it should be an activity where you don’t have to think or dedicate a large percentage of your mental CPU. The idea is that the task is mindless, and preferably is something mundane or that has to get done. It’s imperative to try a few different things, or take a few minutes to think of an activity that you already do on a daily basis that you could develop into your mental reset button.

I’ve found that after hitting my button I feel more relaxed, motivated, less stressed, and more focused. If I have an assignment or task I need to get done, but don’t feel like doing I’ll typically wind up washing the dishes first. In fact, before I even wrote this article, I knew I needed to write at some point during the day, but couldn’t think of a good idea in which to write about. I went and washed my dishes, and realized the very act was worth writing about.

A lot of what I write about talks to establishing mindfulness and finding ways to reduce stress and increase productivity. This is one small way you can continue to contribute to a successful and prosperous life. Find that activity that allows you to slow down momentarily, so that you clear your mind of any inhibiting sludge and sharpen your thoughts and fortitude for progression. Find your mental reset button.