A Mother's Voice

Gotta love your mom!

Life these days can be pretty stressful at times, no matter who you are, or what you are doing. Something always seems to go awry at some point. Either you are overwhelmed, burned out, anxious, nervous, whatever, I've found something that could help you out! 

Psychological studies done by Dr. Leslie Seltzer at the University of Wisconsin in Madison have found that after a stressful situation, talking to your mother on the phone significantly reduces the stress hormone cortisol. 

I can vouch for this 100%. These past few weeks have been pretty stressful on me. All my classes seemed to have a project or paper or test to give me. Not to mention the 6 week long project that I had for my Layout class. I was feeling burned out and overwhelmed. So I called my mom for advice. Honestly she just told me things I already knew, but the fact that I was talking to her really calmed me down for some reason. 

So if you're feeling a bit under the weather, or like things are becoming to much to handle, call up your mom. Talk to her for a bit about whatever, it doesn't have to be about whatever is bothering you. Maybe she'll be able to get your mind off of it! Who knows. 

Small Changes for the Better

If you could change something small to make you a little more happy, would you do it? I sure would. The little things in life are the things that matter the most. For instance, with some of the money I make from my job, I bought a nice pillow, and a nice office chair for my dorm. I buy things that I will use every day, and that will last for a long time. People ask me, "Why don't you buy games, or something like that?". Well honestly, I get bored of those, and besides, I live in a dorm room. So I'd like to make it as comfy as possible. Sure new computers and stuff are cool. But I am content with what I've got set up right now. It does what I need it to do, and that's that. 

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. 

Arthur Conan Doyle

I like this quote because it is so true! Some people just don't understand it. "Oh, why would you want to buy those dumb little things?" Why? Simply because they make me happy. Another example! I like the faucets that pour the water out smoothly, not with a ton of bubbles. I think that the little grate on them is what makes them all bubbly, and I was telling my friend that I think I was going to remove that piece. He said "Why? That's stupid." Well, because it is something little, that would make using the sink a little nicer. Sure it still works without me tampering with it. But the moral of the story is, If you can change something little to make you happy, go for it! Because why not?

Time Management

From a young age, we were all told at one time or another to "Use our time wisely". Sadly, the importance of that message doesn't become apparent for most until it is too late, usually in college. The further you get into your college career, the more work you are going to get. It might not seem like a lot, but it will most likely be time consuming. Since these days everyone seems to be on the go, and in a rush, I bet you were wishing that you had taken that advice as a kid. 

However, if you haven't needed to time manage for some reason, here are a couple tips that'll make all those daunting tasks seem a little smaller and definitely more manageable. 

Tip One: Make a list of things you need to do

Tip Two: Organize your tasks in order of longest/hardest to easiest/shortest

Tip Three: Focus on one thing at a time (If you lose motivation you can go to one of the shorter tasks for a bit and then go back to the first thing)

Tip Four: Isolate yourself from distractions.

Tip Five: Take breaks! (This is one of the most important tips I can give you. If you don't take short breaks during your work process you are going to wear yourself out, and that is never good. Your work will suffer, trust me!)

Time Management can help you through that to do list!

If you follow these steps, it'll help you stress less about big projects, and heavy workloads that life can toss at you sometimes. We'll leave off with a quote today.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort. 

  -Paul J. Meyer