Author: Sara Fry

5 Ways to Take Back Your Life When You Feel Out of Control

So, you’re feeling like you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Whether you’ve got too many assignments for your classes, too much work at your internship or too much drama with your friends, there are plenty of things out there that’ll stress you out.

The good news, though, is you don’t have to feel like you have no say in any of it. Here are five of my favorite strategies for getting back in control when you feel like your life is spinning in every direction.

1. Clean

I’m sure that your room is probably a mess if you feel out of control! My advice? Open the windows and start cleaning! Do your laundry, change your bedding and take your rugs outside and shake them off. Sweep and mop. If your living space allows it, light a candle! Just get it all clean.

Now look around; isn’t it pretty? Breathe in deep and enjoy a tidy space.

2. Exercise

Get out and exercise, because nobody can keep you from doing that for your body. Plus, it will relieve some stress. As a student, typically there is a recreation center available to you for no charge. And if not, get outside, and run around your area or on a trail.

Even if you feel like going out isn’t for you, there are plenty of exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home. Here are some great options I like to refer to:

3. Start With Small Goals

Making a small goal for yourself can make you feel like you achieved something and therefore feel more in control. Just make sure it is something you can achieve on your own, otherwise, someone else is controlling your success.

Stumped on how to start? Here are a few suggestions:

  • Work out everyday for a week.
  • Don’t drink any soda for a certain number of days.
  • Drink eight glasses of water per day for a week straight.
  • Journal every day for a week.
  • Make your bed every morning for a week.
  • Learn five new vocabulary words per week for the next month.

Also, don’t be afraid to tell friends and family about what you’re trying to achieve. Accountability is everything.

4. Plan

Pull out your planner, and if you don’t have one, it’s time to buy one. Go check out this post for some suggestions.

I find that sitting down and planning out my week or month really helps me to get a handle on things and get rid of that chaotic, out-of-control feeling. There are a lot of different ways to plan, and I would highly recommend you experiment with them and figure out what works best for you!

Here are some good planning resources:

If you want to try a bullet journal:

Weekly planners to try:

5. Create Your Own Momentum

If you know why you feel out of control, see if there are small actions you can take to change course.

Maybe it’s a group project and someone is bossing you around on your part. Stand your ground and politely tell him or her, “Hey, this is my part of the assignment, let me give it a shot and if it doesn’t work or doesn’t fit the guidelines, I will fix it.”

Maybe your friend is controlling your social life; let her know that you need to be allowed to have other friends or even stop talking to her for a short period of time. You don’t have to vow to change everything overnight, but small steps lead to much bigger things.

I hope you’re feeling a little more in control after completing this list! If you have other suggestions, share them in the comments below!

The 5 Best Books for Young People with Gigantic Dreams

As a college student and a creative entrepreneur, I am always on the lookout for books and articles all about getting there. I think reading books has been one of the best motivators for me when I feel stuck in my work on my website, my articles for WayUp or my work on Her Track.

If you’re a fellow college student with big dreams and goals for the future, my best tip to get motivated or inspired is to pick up one of these fantastic books!

1. #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

Can I just say that I am obsessed with this book?  Don’t let the title scare you; this book is for everyone, not just women. Sophia Amoruso is very blunt and comical, and she talks about everything that allowed her to get her clothing empire, Nasty Gal, off the ground with no loans or investors whatsoever. Sophia Amoruso emphasizes the idea that a person must earn his or her success and be very smart with their finances. She is also very assertive about her point of maintaining the company values herself, not just expecting them for others.

2. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

This book is often compared to #GIRLBOSS in its comical and blunt tone; in fact, it ‘s described as a “verbal meat cleaver” in it’s Google profile. Jen Sincero is very relatable and displays a bit of that teen angst that millennials tend to enjoy. If you’re up for some comical advice on being a “badass” (excuse my language), pick up this book.

3. Becoming the Boss: New Rules for the Next Generation of Leaders by Lindsey Pollak

I love the title of this book! I truly believe that business does run differently nowadays. As millennials who don’t have a lot of respect in the professional world due to stereotyping, the ways in which to “become the boss,” so to speak, have changed. Lindsey Pollak begins with her story of “becoming the boss,” making her a very relatable writer. She provides clearly defined rules and actions for millennial leaders to follow through with.  

4. Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck by John Acuff

This is an excellent book for college students, especially those who feel they are stuck in the wrong career path and aren’t sure where to go. John Acuff talks all about doing it over and reinventing your work rather than throwing it away. Acuff has said that he took 16 years to write this book, and the long wait doesn’t disappoint. If you need to reset and update, this book will help you do it.

5. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei

This book is seriously amazing! I truly believe that routine is a life changer. Glei talks about various well known people who feel the same way such as Woody Allen, Twyla Tharp, and Ross Bleckner. Glei covers how to lay down a routine and get into your groove. She talks about every possible aspect of a routine, from specific morning routines to utilizing certain tasks such as meditation. If you want a step by step for your day to day, this book is your best bet!

What are your favorite books to encourage leadership, creativity and learning? Have you read any of these? Let us know in the comments below!

6 Tips for Being a Brag-Worthy Student Group Leader

With college comes new responsibilities. One of these is tackling officer positions in student organizations. This is very new territory in comparison to officer positions in high school, so if you want to make a great first impression, here’s how to do it!

1. Know Your Place

As a student group leader, it can be very easy to slip into the mindset of being “above” the other students. It is a very difficult balance to manage peers because you are their friend.

It’s important to figure out how your organization operates in terms of leadership. Are you “in charge” of your peers at a job or in charge of the decisions of a club? That will determine your balance of friendship and management as a leader. For example, for a club leader, it is a 50/50 balance of friendship and leadership, whereas a manager of peers in a professional job has more of an 80% leader/manager and 20% friendship balance.

So, a part of knowing your place is knowing when to be harsher towards your fellow club or organization members. It is likely that you are not the only person in charge. So, let’s say you are the president of an organization, and your treasurer has missed the last two officer meetings. At this point, it is fair of you as the president to step in and speak with the treasurer, but remember to be kind and fair and hear him or her out as a friend and a manager, not one or the other.

2. Make a Plan

Make a plan with your fellow leaders! Consistency is key to successful management, especially among your peers. Figure out how to deal with conflict and how to delegate (who is supposed to deal with money, notes, contacting fundraiser sponsors and other responsibilities?).

The best way to do this is to meet with the other officers and write out a formal plan. Make a list of all the tasks that need to be done, and then distribute the tasks between officers and members. Be sure that it is all written down and accessible to everyone.

3. Lead by Example

A leader leads by example, which means being professional, respectful and friendly to those around you. As a student group leader, you can’t expect everyone in your club or organization to be friendly to new members if you aren’t yourself! In my personal experience, I get along with and respect my leaders more when they lead by example rather than just instruct others.

4. Show Initiative

As a student leader, you are in charge of yourself, obviously! You need to come up with your own ideas and initiate tasks for your club, because you are the boss.This has a lot to do with time management. Whether you want to use a planner or a digital calendar, it’s up to you. Write out goals and ideas for the club, and make time to talk with the other officers about it.

5. Be Fair and Listen

When you are in a position of leadership, it is easy to fall into playing favorites with friends and people who have been around longer. Be sure that as a leader, you can put aside bias when you are making decisions in regards to the club or organization. The best way to do this is to focus on the facts, not the feelings. If you need to, write them all down, and look into the pros and cons. You need to listen to everyone in your organization openly and without bias, but make your own decisions at the end of the day.

6. Enjoy Your Time

Being a leader in an organization is a special experience. When you’re a leader, you have a lot more say in the direction the club or organization goes, and you really form solid relationships with the other officers, so enjoy it! Don’t get caught up in the stress. Take a moment to talk about something besides officer related things and just talk like friends. Go out to eat with some of the club members and put away the paperwork.

These tips should whip you into a brag-worthy student leader in no time at all. Be sure to share it with your fellow officers and friends!

7 Workspace Mistakes That Are Wrecking Your Productivity

Picture this. You’re sitting down at your desk, getting ready to work. You look around your workspace, and all of your motivation disappears and work time turns into a Netflix binge. Why is this? How do you fix this issue?

1. Working in the Dark

Bad lighting is hard on your eyes and makes it much more difficult to focus on your work. Make sure you have a good lamp and use it. A good lamp is not too intense, but bright enough to focus! Check out this article on different lamps for moods. There is a list of good lamps to boost your mood, as well as lamps for the evening before bed and focus friendly lamps!  If you are able to place your desk where you get natural light, that is the best. Sunlight is a mood booster and is usually a very ideal level of brightness. It’s not too harsh and not too soft.

2. Refusing to Purchase Supplies You Like

Office supplies are a necessary accessory for your desk. For example, if you don’t have pens that you actually like to use, you are not going to want to use them. If you have to constantly get up to find a stapler every time you sit down to do work, it’ll get hard to stay focused.

A good pen will do wonders for your planning, writing and feeling of productivity. Target is my favorite place to find office supplies! They have so many cute and functional supplies. My all-time favorite pens to use are the Sharpie pens; they don’t bleed much, and they don’t smear easily. The Pilot G2 pens are another great option if you like the retractable or “click-y” pens. And, of course, you can’t forget the Papermate Flair pens that are great for color coding and using to write your headings on notes. For sticky notes, Target has some cute girly options and some fun options, but you also can’t go wrong with standard Post-It sticky notes!

3. Piling Up Stacks and Stacks of Paper

Those stacks of paper cluttering your desk? Get rid of them. It’s just clutter that doesn’t give you room to work.

My favorite way to get through papers is to make three piles: One pile is trash, one is to file and one is to work on. Sort everything into these groups. Now, immediately throw away or recycle the trash pile; shred anything if you need to. File the papers that need to be filed, and for the papers that contain to-dos, grab a pad of sticky notes and write down what needs to be done with that paper and stick it on there.

Now, find a place to put the “to work on” papers. I personally like to use magazine storage containers, but you could also use a tray. Anything that keeps everything neat and tidy works.

4. Using Your Desk as a Landing Space

It is so easy to throw your stuff down on your desk when you walk in the door and use it as a landing space. Try to avoid it! The clutter will build up very quickly. My solution to this? A catch-all basket at the door. It doesn’t completely rid you of clutter, but it is all contained and it isn’t all over your desk tampering with your productivity.

5. Tempting Yourself with Junk Food

Uh oh. See that chip bag? Mindless eating is no good for your health. It also doesn’t help you focus. Keeping healthy snacks at your desk, but out of sight, is best. Certain foods will help you focus and be more productive.

For example, blueberries can be great for memory as well as focus. Nuts and dark chocolate are a great snack as well. I know it is easy to sip on energy drinks to try and focus, but green tea is the best option. It has enough caffeine to perk you up as well as vitamins and antioxidants. So, toss that junk food!

6. Leaving a Mess of Electric Cords

Cords create a visual clutter that can be distracting, depending on your preferences. There are several different options to help with this (and you can find lots more all over Pinterest!).

For cords that you don’t have to ever unplug or take somewhere else, this option with a PVC pipe is awesome to tuck away those hideous wires. This command hook trick is great for lamps or coffee pots. My favorite and most dorm friendly option is this DIY shoe box with holes for cords. It allows easy access as well as the option to tuck the cords back in the box when you aren’t using them.

7. Letting the Few Random Scraps Become Millions of Scraps

Random paper scraps, wrappers, and other junk often clutter my desk. Try your best to keep that at bay by giving yourself adequate storage and having a trash can nearby. Dusting your desk off once or twice a week can also help a lot. That way, you have to keep all those other cluttered items off of your desk, and it’ll get rid of the scraps of paper and other things.

What items often clutter your desk? Do you have any must have items for productivity?