How to Be Super Productive this Semester!

If you haven’t listened to my return to podcasting episode (Why I Disappeared For a Year: Overcoming Burnout and Imposter Syndrome), you may be surprised to learn that I went back to school last fall! Going to school this time around is such a different experience. For starters I had a full three years where I wasn’t a student this time, I live alone this time where as before I had roommates or lived with my parents (which means I still have to prioritize work while prioritizing school), and lastly I also teach this time around (Ironically I teach in the same department that many of my classes are in).

That being said going back was a learning experience. It can be hard to be productive when you have a lot on your plate. Over the last year I’ve had to discover and rediscover tools that have helped me juggle it all, and still keep myself sane. Here are five of my most used productivity tips, tricks, and tools.

Productivity Tip 1: Use the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique which is 20/25 minute increments of work followed by a five minute break has helped me take my productivity to the next level. This is because the Pomodoro Technique trains people to focus on tasks better by limiting the amount of time to attempt focusing on them while allowing the brain and body time to reset with short breaks. This has taken my productivity levels up a notch! I use this for everything school, preparing for teaching, blogging, social media work, and even started using it at my internship this summer! It’s especially helpful for studying because I feel motivated to study more often and find that I am cramming a lot less.

Productivity Tip #2: Use a Virtual Study Space

I don’t know about you, but I find it really hard to concentrate in a completely silent environment. I also cannot concentrate in a noisy disruptive environment. Enter virtual study spaces! These spaces are super helpful if you need non-distracting background noise or are trying to study in a noisy environment (like a dorm or in a common area at school). My neighborhood is super noisy during the warmer months so these spaces were a godsend for my summer classes.

Lifeat.io

You may have heard of this virtual working space. But if you haven’t Lifeat.io offers a bunch of immersive work spaces. Lifeat has city spaces, libraries, beaches, forest, cozy cafes and more!

You can also control the ambience of each scene by turning the volume up and down. Lifeat also comes with a section for To do lists, notes, and a daily fortune. Most importantly Lifeat comes with a Pomodoro timer. You can also invite friends to your study room so you could even make it a collaborative effort! This semester I will be inviting my classmates and students to join me for virtual study nights!

I Miss My Cafe

I’ve always said I do my best work in a coffee shop. But who has the money to go to a coffee shop every time they need to be productive? Make a latte at home and use this to help you get the same effect. There are so many different sounds like machines whirring, a barista, the murmurs of other customers, glasses clinking, and more. You can adjust the level of each individually, so you can make it your own. I Miss My Cafe also has a Pomodoro Timer and a space to add your own Spotify playlist.

I Miss My Library

Maybe you prefer studying at the library, but your library has weird hours on the weekends or you’re reading this in the winter and it’s too cold to leave your house if you don’t have to (me from late October until mid-March). I Miss My Library can help you get that same ambiance. Like I Miss My Cafe, you can adjust the volume of all the sounds. You can have pages turning, rain, working on a keyboard, and more! I love this one for when I’m reading a textbook or for leisure. I Miss My Library does not have a Pomodoro Timer, but it does have a To-Do list.

Productivity Tip # 3: Use Digital Planners/Calendars

I have to admit I wanted to be a paper planner girlie, but it just never works out for me. I would either forget to move my planner when switching bags or not look at it for days at a time. But no matter where I am I always have my phone with me. I’ve started using the Outlook Calendar from my school account. It’s so much easier especially because I can easily enter in doctor’s appointments or nail appointments before I even get in my car. I also have a widget on my phone that tells me exactly what I have that day without even having to open the app. While I use the Outlook calendar you can use whatever works best for you like google, apple, or anything else.

Productivity Tip # 4: Let AI Help You Plan Out Your Day.

It sounds crazy, but it’s something I started doing last year when I was working full-time, teaching, and taking a bunch of hard classes. You may or may not have heard of Motion. Motion is a time management app that automatically schedules your tasks and meetings using AI. You can connect your digital calendar to it too so all your appointments will be added to your motion calendar. I really like this for because it takes the guess work out of what I should do next. I just take about 30 minutes on Sunday or Monday to add my tasks I need to complete that week and Motion plans out my week for me. Motion is about $228 for a calendar year. So while this is not a free service, it is worth every single penny for those of us who get paralyzed by our long to-do lists. Sunsama is a similar feature that is a bit cheaper, but it is more limited on what it integrates with.

Productivity Tip # 5: Organize Your Life with Notion

Remember the days when we used to have a different notebook for each class? Well those days are no more! There are so many Note-Taking apps to help you have all your notes in one place! I especially love Notion! Notion helps me stay so organized and there are so many templates to choose from so your notes can be as aesthetically pleasing as possible. You can also integrate different things into the notes like a Spotify playlist or a Pomodoro timer. I’ve even started using Notion to make weekly to-do lists for my students and have connected Quizlet flashcards for that weeks chapter or videos diving deeper into the subject matter. But you can also use Notion for grocery lists, content creation, planning workouts, tracking habits, and more!

Productivity Tip # 6: Get Quizlet Plus

Believe it or not but Quizlet Plus is less than $40 for a WHOLE YEAR! Quizlet Plus allows you to upload your notes or PowerPoints and AI will make you an outline and a flashcard set for you. I use this all the time. For every single chapter and every single class. It’s saves me so much time compared to when I used to have to make flashcards by hand. Quizlet Plus is worth every single penny and I cannot recommend it enough especially if you juggle other things besides school.

These are just a few of my tips that will help you juggle everything and ace those classes this semester! Did I forget your favorite productivity tool? Let me know in the comments.