Saturday, September 27, 2008
Top 10 Ways to Stay Energized
Lifehacker : "Even if you're a hyper-organized, task-oriented worker with an expansive mind and endless ambition, you won't get a lot done if your mind and body are demanding you curl up and doze off. Luckily, you can overcome a late night of net surfing, a rough morning, or just the post-lunch stupor without becoming an over-wired mess. We've put together 10 of the best ways to jumpstart your brain and get back into a productive groove, and all of them are tricks you can put to work this Monday."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
This is a great article to include on this website! Some of the tips I have already tried and really do work. I try to schedule all my "thinking" work in the morning and all my mindless tasks after lunch. Going outside and running around Purnell are also two big helps. One thing I didn't think about was listening to Mozart or Bach. When I am tired, music with lyrics can be an annoyance. I can see how classical music can help you stay focused without distracting you. Anyway, really great article. We should have more time management articles on this website too!
I think that this is a really helpful article. Like Alli said, we're always hustling and bustling around Purnell. I think that the "make your own energy drink" bit is really helpful, it will also allow you to know exactly what is going into what you are consuming. Also, getting outside the building can be very refreshing, exactly what this article proposes.
It was great to see an article like this in an area that the overworked could easily see it. I do think some of the ideas were no brainers, but even in those cases they expanded in fairly interesting ways. I especially liked the part about how to make your own energy drinks/bars.
Exercise in the morning is great, even if it's just biking to school. It makes you more alert and gets the blood going.
A lot of these are things that are better learned by experience than from an article, but I agree that some of them are useful tips. But who honestly has time to make their own energy drinks?
I always find it interesting how simple things can go a long way when you're stressed, bogged down, overwhelmed, and super busy. It makes a huge difference for me to just put on some headphones and play music that has no lyrics. I find that jazz music works great because the tempo keeps me alert but I can sort of be in my own world at the same time. Eating right is also a huge factor for me though I've never been able to master the nap technique. I inevitably feel worse than I started when I try it.
I do believe that strategies like this can be helpful if applied correctly. However, in my experience with such strategies, I find that the time spent strategizing sometimes overtakes the time used to do what actually needs to be done. That aside, I do think that this article provides some tips and tricks that can be directly applied to life here at CMU. Taking care of yourself is very important, and although these kinds of articles can be helpful, everyone must find their own way.
I really like the articles that center around the ideas of "get your life together" stuff. It seems like I am always looking for new ways to keep it together. This article offered good ways to get things done, and stay awake and doing it. I really liked the idea of many, smaller doses of caffeine seeing as i am not a big coffee person, I do not down the ultra venti quadra shot with extra caffeine every morning, but caffeinated snacks may be better than the obligatory 3-5 diet cokes per day.
Kendra's comment about who has time to make energy drink was quite funny. I agree with everyone here that this article makes good points. Most of these I will have to try on nights after crew when I have huge assignments due. I have found though that if you don't like Mozart or Bach you can just listen to movie scores they work too.
None of this is new information. However, the problem is implementing these ideas. I think the hardest to implement but perhaps the most useful would be the "Power Nap." The problem comes in when it is seen as "sleeping on the job." How are you supposed to explain that one to your employer or professor. At this point we are in to fast paced of an environment.
This also applies to scheduling around your peak working time. That is almost an impossible thing to schedule, especially if your are a night owl. So while all this looks nice on paper, it will be a challenge to implement in your life.
Dear god it would be awesome if we could come full circle and bring nap time back. But sadly nope. However the boston globe's cheatsheet thats linked of the articles had some decent points on how to help get a regular nap thing going on.
I think that having your own spins on some of the tips is the way to make it effective for you personally. Like I love to work out in the middle of working so that I can get an energy boost and finish. Tailoring the ideas for yourself is how they will work best.
i think it is quite basic things that are hard to achieve. we all know eating healthy food, exercising under the sun and listening to Beethoven are great way to stay healthy, but whatever the reasons are for us, it is always not very easy to follow. and i also think that these lists can be all different for everyone. for me, when i can't sleep, i have to listen to Coldplay. i am not very sure why, but after third track of X&Y, it just puts me right to sleep. so i just think we all need to find what works for us.
i've already been doing some of these for a year or two now, but it's hard to keep on top of them. i've recently realized how I can use caffeine/sugar/vitamins to boost my energy, rather than being dependent on dr. pepper to make it through the day
the music thing is also a great tip. I recommend Hearts of Space (sounds geeky, but it's not) at www.hos.com they've got a weekly program that has a different theme each week, all pretty good stuff
Most of this list is rather standard for those who don’t sleep enough. The ones that I found interesting were the listening to classical music and adding good smells to your work station. I wonder if bad smells would work better. However nothing works as well as good old fear of failure to keep you awake.
I love the "cup of coffee, then a 15 minute nap" trick. That works every time for me. Caffeine is supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour to take effect, so just downing a cup of coffee right before your first class doesn't really work.
Post a Comment