Robin Laird, Daily Trojan

Mark Twain once said that a classic is “something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” I’ve doctored this a little bit regarding time management: It’s something that everybody wants to be good at but nobody wants to figure out how.

I went to boarding school when I was 15, and ever since I’ve been the quintessential white girl, juggling academics, a social life, jobs, and all kinds of extracurriculars, yet i’ve never pulled an all-nighter and I always have time to keep up with my favorite T.V. shows. So here’s the quick and dirty on how you too can get enough sleep and catch this week’s episode of 30 Rock.

Use some forgotten muscles

Remember those hours spent in grade school perfecting your handwriting? Don’t let them go to waste. Physically write down everything. Monthly/weekly planners are pretty cheap and most colleges give them out for free anyway. If you really can’t find the $8.99 for a planner, print out calenders and staple them together. The point is to write down when your assignments are due, when you have meetings and appointments, etc.

Write down the big picture (i.e., paper due dates) and then the smaller picture (i.e. readings for the week). Next, make your daily to-do list. Figure out everything that needs to be done in one day and write it down. To get you started, you can even write down mundane things. Inhale. Check. Exhale. Check.

If your to-do list is relatively light one day, here’s a shocking idea. Get cracking on tomorrow’s list. Especially if tomorrow’s list might be looking especially long (and not just because you wrote down every breath for tomorrow).

Make like a Toyota Prius…

….And be efficient. If you sit back and look at your day, you would be amazed by how many little pockets of time there are. Sure, 10 or 15 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but over the course of the day, they add up. Find your pockets and utilize them.

Carry around the book you’re supposed to read four chapters from, and every time you have a few free minutes, read a couple of pages. Stash your notes for your test on Friday in your backpack and when you have a second, review.

Cramming is ineffective and it’s proven that we can only retain a certain amount of information at one time. If you spend the week leading up to a test studying small chunks of information, you’ll remember a lot more come test day.

Borrow a step or two from the 12-step plan

Take it one day at a time. The point of time management is to stay on top of things, but even that can be overwhelming. On days when everything is really piling up, tackle one thing at a time. Choose the easiest or quickest thing first (yes, paying the water bill or your Netflix account balance is painful but only takes a minute).

Buoyed by your success, you will be much more motivated to move through your list. However, if you have a day where you feel overwhelmed, set limits. Make your list and when you’re done with it, you’re done. If you need to erase a few items one day, that’s perfectly fine.

Time management should really be called time balancing because it’s all about striking a balance between time, work and you-time.

Treat yourself

Accomplishing your goals for the day is reason for celebration. Treat yourself to watching a movie, getting coffee or dinner with a friend or just having a guilt-free hour trolling the internet for hilarious pictures of cats.

The idea is to reward yourself for not putting your work off and to make positive associations with the feeling of successfully getting your shit  done.

But you can’t put a price on the best feeling of all: It’s the feeling of schadenfreude  when everyone around you procrastinated and is stressed on Saturday and you’re getting ready to go out all night and sleep all day Sunday.

The post Zen And The Art Of Time Management appeared first on The Campus Companion.

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“Detox” is a trendy buzzword among dieters, health nuts and recovering addicts but when most people think detox, they think of 14 days of drinking maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper – essentially, turning into a solid food-starved maniac. We’re into the second month of the new year and already those “eat right, feel great,” resolutions have started to wane. A detox is a great way to get back on track to a healthier 2012, battle the effects of that favorite college pastime, binge drinking, and curb, or even cure, your processed food addiction. So ditch the Master Cleanse- there are other ways to feel lighter, brighter, cleaner and meaner than following a plan that some dude made up in the 40s (when arsenic was used to treat syphilis).

This detox, created by Dr. Elizabeth Lipski (author of Digestive Wellness) is simple, but not necessarily easy. Here are five tips to help you get through the detox:

CUT THE CRAP:

For seven to 10 days, say good-bye to those oh-so-tempting late night pizza and beer runs, ignore the seductive whisperings of the vending machine and break up with anything effervescent (unless its sparkling water).

EAT MORE:

And more often. You can eat whatever you want, whenever  you want, as long as it’s veggies, fruit or rice. Err towards eating more vegetables than anything else- eating 14 cups of rice a day isn’t going to help you out much. Dr. Lipski recommends eating every two to three hours to ward off that inevitable slump and crankiness that comes with low blood sugar.

BE PREPARED:

Amidst the crush of college life, it’s obviously easier to turn to pre-packaged and pre-prepared snacks and meals. So make like a Girl Scout and BE PREPARED. Though you might feel like an anal soccer mom, use the morning to plan out your meals and carry easy snacks like carrot sticks and apples for in between meals.  Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables can be a little pricey (especially if you buy them fresh) so figure out what’s in season and on sale before you go to the grocery store. If you’re on a meal plan this can be trickier (but you can always be a diva and demand the caf serve vegan food if they don’t already).

LET THAT RIGHT BRAIN WORK:

Although there are all kinds of fruits and vegetables, you will have to flex your creative culinary muscles a little bit to make eating them more interesting. Olive oil, spices and herbs are fair game to season your dishes. You can make “detox” version of your favorites- put marinara on broccoli or spaghetti squash, julienne potatoes or sweet potatoes and bake them, and try out different combinations of fruits and veggies for smoothies.

TIME OUT:

The first few days will probably be hellacious (imagine being hungover and then hit by a truck). You will just want to hide in a dark room and avoid human contact. So, make sure you start your detox on a Friday or during a short break (or just use it as an excuse to play hooky).  ”Why on earth would I inflict this torture on myself?” you ask yourself, puzzled. Because, after the fourth or fifth day you will be bouncing off the walls and have that healthy glow that girls weirdly always have in birth control commercials.

Keep in mind that before starting this, or any new diet or exercise regimen, ask your doctor if it’s right for you. If the seven day plan sounds too intense, try it out for just a day or have just one “detox” meal daily. If you do the full seven days, don’t end it by eating an entire beef and cheese burrito. Slowly incorporate healthy, whole foods back into your diet (stuff we all know is good for us but like to avoid, like oats, tofu, lentils, etc).

RECIPES:

Don’t know where to begin? Try out this adaptation of a traditional Portuguese soup for a simple and filling meal that costs less to make than a large cheese pizza from Domino’s and case of beer.

The post Is A Detox Right For Me? appeared first on The Campus Companion.

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We’ve all heard the canned, after-school special reasons to study abroad: you’ll make new friends, your life will change, you’ll never be the same. Cheesy as all that is, it actually is true. But living your life in another country means living ALL of your life, every day things included. Here are a few things you might not have considered when deciding whether to study abroad.

Your patience threshold will go up. Way up.

When in Mexico you probably won’t be driving yourself. Drivers are crazy and, unless you’re planning on living there for an extended amount of time, you won’t have a driver’s license. For the most part, you will be walking or taking public transportation, neither of which are very efficient. Walking seems to take forever in equatorial temperatures, unless you’re there in the winter (and even then, it will be “cool” for one week). Public transportation runs on Latino time, which is to say, at least 30 minutes late. No matter what. You will spend a lot of time waiting. But, in Mexico, that’s ok. Americans are so hard-wired to be constantly moving and constantly productive that having to just sit down and patiently wait can be frustrating, but it is important to learn how to appreciate the downtime.  Once you do, it will become quite refreshing.

You will sweat off at least 5 pounds.

Most of Mexico doesn’t have air-conditioning and, chances are, wherever you stay won’t either. Besides giving you an appreciation for air-conditioning that people in the States just don’t have, you will sweat out all of your toxins. True, it’s a little gross, but we college students can all benefit from sweating out a few Saturday nights. Just make sure to drink plenty of water (bottled water of course).

Siesta then Fiesta.

Hands down the greatest part of Mexican culture is the afternoon nap. Every afternoon. Remember in kindergarden when we had nap time every day after lunch? You can relive those glory days once again. In Mexico, everything shuts down for the afternoon so it’s not like you’re missing out on any great adventures (and it’s usually too warm in the afternoon to do much else besides pass out). Besides, you need your afternoon siesta to get ready for the evening fiesta.

How do you say…?

Sure, there are people who speak English in Mexico, and you will probably hear more American pop music than at a pre-teen slumber party, but the majority don’t. No matter what level of Spanish you go in with (or without) there will be times when all you want is to go into a McDonald’s and be able to order something without mayonnaise and have the cashier understand you the first time. But the satisfaction of being able to communicate in another language is so great that you usually forget your frustration. And, unless you spend your entire time abroad under a rock, you will come back more fluent than you arrived.

Just be yourself.

People are often defined by what they do- what their major is, what clubs they are involved in, what sports they play. But when you’re abroad, there are no expectations for you to act a certain way or do a certain thing. Yes, this sounds like an excerpt straight from a new age self-help book, but when you’re abroad you can explore who you are and do what you really want to do. You’re not obligated to do too much of anything, and because of that you can do everything. Your value isn’t determined by what internship you did or what club you are president of— you get to just be you.

The post Things You Might Not Know About Study Abroad: Mexican Edition appeared first on The Campus Companion.

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Lament this no longer…with a little bit of sneakiness, patience and planning, you can at least partially mitigate those hefty price tags.

The best time to act is when VS is running a promotion in conjunction with their Secret Reward Card promotions. Until November 30th, if you make a purchase of $10 or more, you get a card that’s value is revealed after December 1st. VS runs different promotions pretty much weekly–for example, buy $75 worth of merch and get a free bag, or free bag with any purchase of PINK products…etc.

So, the strategy is simple.

Step1:

Buy whatever you have to buy to get the freebie, and get the Secret Reward Card.

Step 2:

The next day, take your merchandise back and keep your freebie and reward card, but get a refund on the merchandise you purchased.

Optional Step 3:

Also hold on to your original receipt because at the bottom is a quick customer survey that you call and take to get $10 off your next $50 purchase.

Step 4:

Wait until December 1st when your “Secret Reward Card” value is revealed. You know it’s going to be at least $10, so now (if you took the survey) you have $20 off your next purchase of $50, plus some free promotional item that you can keep or re-gift.

Okay TRUE, it might seem like a little more trouble than it’s worth, but ladies let’s be honest- we would do a lot more for $20 off at Victoria’s Secret.

Happy shopping!

The post What the Lingerie Gods Do Not Want You To Know: Hacking Victoria’s Secret appeared first on The Campus Companion.

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1) Say “Adieu” to the elliptical 

You can slog away on an elliptical machine for an hour and possibly contract a staph infection or you can burn the same amount of calories in an hour of Zumba and get a much more effective (and entertaining) workout. Zumba is structured essentially like interval training, which is proven to burn more fat than steady aerobics (like using the elliptica; or riding a stationary bike).  Plus, there is also a good bit of toning thrown in.

2) Salsa: it’s not just for chips

To be considered Zumba, a class has to consist of 70 percent Latin and world rhythms. That means a mix of salsa, merengue, reggaeton, cha-cha, bellydance, African, samba and any other dance styles/rhythms that you probably haven’t heard of. Besides expanding your cultural horizons, changing the rhythm and style of dance with every song helps keep your body from falling into repetitive motion (like jogging), which makes your work-out more effective while simultaneously reducing risk of injury.

3) Follow the Leader

Zumba is designed so that people who have never taken a dance class in their lives can follow along easily and have a good time. It’s not competitive—you don’t have to be ready to be a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance to take a Zumba class. There’s no pressure to look a certain way or do a move ‘perfectly’.  If you can walk, you can probably do Zumba (and if you can’t walk they have seated Zumba classes now “Zumba Sentao”).

4) Join the Party

Although there are no kegs at Zumba classes, it’s supposed to be a “cardio party.” Group fitness classes are a great way to meet people and feel connected on and off campus. It’s a lot easier to work out when you know that there will be 50 other people there at the same time (and hopefully at least one of them is your friend).

5) Confidence Building

Confidence.  Not everyone has it….BUT they can!  Zumba is a fantastic way to build confidence by having fun and doing something very positive for your body.  After a few Zumba classes your self-image will improve just based on how healthy you will feel, not to mention the obvious positive effects it can have on your figure.  Further, working out by yourself can be good for confidence, but working-out as a group builds both self-affirmed confidence as well as confidence supported by group-positivity AND  all the new Zumba friends you will make.

Check out your school’s campus recreation center or www.zumba.com to find a class in your area.

The post Top Five Reasons You Should Take a Zumba Class (Gentleman, this applies to you too) appeared first on The Campus Companion.

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