Being an adult means making decisions. All. The. Time. Including menial things like what to eat, every day, for the rest of your life.

Reduce some of the stress of decision making by deciding things like this in advance.

When you’re right in front of a choice - what to eat, which class to take, which club to join - it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Not only are you feeling the pressure to pick, it’s made worse when you’re tired, hungry, and dwelling on other things.

Whenever possible, make decisions like this in advance.

• taco Tuesday, pizza Friday, oatmeal for breakfast until it runs out

• next semester, I’ll pick available classes in this order _____

• I’ll say no if I can’t make the meetings or it’s unrelated to my major

If the circumstances change, you can, of course, change your mind. But by making decisions when you’re not in-the-moment and emotionally invested, you will learn to trust your choices and move forward confidently.

Learn to make stress-free decisions quickly:

  August 27th - Reduce decision fatigue

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School can feel like a constant rush — assignments, exams, club meetings, and social events all competing for your attention.

But not everything that feels urgent is actually important. Not everything with an impending deadline has high value in your life.

Urgent tasks demand immediate attention (like a paper due tomorrow).
Important tasks move you closer to your long-term goals (like prepping for next week’s exam or planning your study schedule).

Learning to tell the difference can save you stress, help you focus, and allow you to get more done with less panic.

Do you know the difference?

  August 26th - Urgent vs important

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 “Don’t mean to interrupt…” they said, as they were obviously interrupting.

It’s easy to feel like every knock, text, and “quick question” is urgent, but most distractions aren’t emergencies. Even so, they can quickly break your focus and throw your deep work sessions off track.

Not every request for your attention has to be dealt with immediately. You can set or ask for a reminder at a later time. You can decline entirely. And, the best way of dealing with interruptions is to make them hard to happen. 

Today, learn how to:

• decide which interruptions are worth dealing with immediately

• decline an interruption and get back to work fast

• avoid interruptions altogether

  August 25th - How to deal with interruptions

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“She needs to sort out her priorities.”

~ Ron Weasley

Nowadays, most of us think about our priorities, as in multiple. We juggle a variety of tasks and areas of focus, always trying to figure out which one is more important in the moment, and we end up feeling stressed, scattered, and behind.

Up until the 20th century (thanks, capitalism?) priority was singular. The Latin root word prioritas means “first in rank, order, or dignity.” In this way, priority means “one.”

Then we decided more must be better. “Managing multiple priorities” is one of the most common requirements of job postings. Much like “multitasking,” this is a misleading concept. Just like real achievement comes from single-tasking at any given time, real focus comes from picking one singular priority at a time and giving it your full attention.

But with school and work and laundry and sports and friends and sleep, how can you choose? By first managing your very top priority. Once that’s squared away, you’re free to manage the next one.

How does this all fit together?

  August 24th - Priority means "one"

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