Hey guys.
It’s Lay.
So I realized lately my blog has been taking the backseat and I feel very sorry about that. I am preparing for back to school 2020, if you seen my YouTube videos you would know. On top of that, I have been doing a lot of cleaning, building, and organizing to prepare for back to school. I’m hoping to finish up soon that why I can have some pre-scheduled blogs before school starts because I realized with school activities that I love like blogging and creating YouTube videos becomes too overwhelming for me. This semester I am taking a lot of courses but I am doing another semester of working from home. Also since I want my blog and my YouTube to be connected in some way I decided that instead of doing a skincare blog. I want to push up this post which will tell you how to work from home in a way that I haven't seen before. The last post I did about working from home was about being productive. This one will be more about things that you can do to make it a more tolerable environment. If you’re like me working from home at first was okay at first but somewhere along the line, you felt unenergized and unmotivated to do even your regular work. I feel like there are many reasons it can happen but the biggest one prominent to me is creating an environment that enforces work-life balance. So I got a lot of new things since my room became more than just a place that I sleep and a lot more strategies to make this new way of living more sustainable to you.
1. Get rid of the things you don't need
This is the very first step. One thing that made me unmotivated was seeing how much clutter I had in my room. I don't have a work office and I can't use my living room or dining room for workspace. Since I'm not the only one in my household, so the only place I have for myself that I won't have any noise distractions or interruptions is in my room. The problem is before my room was always cluttered and honestly, I didn't mind it before because the room was just the place I rested. The majority of my days were spent at school, at Starbucks, at the mall, etc. so being home wasn't that common to me. My room is now the place I sleep, my personal classroom (keep in mind I am a college student), my gym, the place where I go when I need time for myself, etc. I am very grateful that I don't share a room but if you do, try to get rid of things you don't need to give yourself a more comfortable, decluttered space.
2. Get furniture that is efficient for small spaces
If you follow my youtube channel, my latest video shows me building a small table that is made for students who are going to live in a dorm. While it's clear I'm not living at the dorm (actually when I was choosing where I wanted to go for college, whether or not I had to dorm was a big consideration since forming is way too overpriced), having dorm-like furniture saves a lot of space and makes it easier for organizing. The furniture I got so far was $20-$23 because a lot of them were on sale at the moment. If you have the money to do this I would suggest this because it makes your room more open.
3. Get kitchen appliances that make it easier for a healthy
This is a luxury and I know not everyone can afford this but if you have the funds to, getting something like Nutribullets, Ninja foodie 5-in-1 air fryers, Keruigs, etc. will change your life. One thing I fell a victim to last semester was eating a lot of unhealthy food. I know a lot of people may be confused on that concept because going out more makes it more accessible to food places but I started using deliveries services more and on top of that bought easy food things like ramen noodle or hot pockets because doing online school completely was a huge adjustment mentally and instead of dealing with my emotions I threw myself into things because I didn't want to see the negative in 2020 (i.e toxic positivity- I did a post on it which you should check out if you want to here more the subject). I had the Nutribullet for years and it's been the way I made healthier breakfast options like smoothie bowls. We recently got the Ninja foodie grill and I'm in love. It makes cooking so much easier by not overheating the kitchen (the oven does that frequently) and I don't have to watch the same way when I use the stove. However, it is pricey and better for smaller households in my opinion because you can only put a certain amount in it. However, I also believe it helps with having healthier food options and can make meal-prepping a lot easier. Meal prepping is something I really want to get into this year. Also, I should add I don't have a Keurig but I want one so badly because in high school my friend had one when we were working on a project and it makes things seem so much easier.
4. Use calendars and planners to stay up to date
It is a preference thing to still use physical planners and calenders however if you prefer to keep everything digital than keep everything on something you look at constantly. I prefer physical planners because they motivate me more than a screen and it feels a lot more personalized. Make sure to actually use it and put down deadlines, birthdays, and goals for the month. I also would keep a personal to-do list for daily activities.
5. Use an actual alarm clock instead of your phone
I personally think I make up more by using my alarm clock because I'm extremely used to my phone plus my phone is next to me so I would repeatedly hit the snooze button. So instead I'm placing my alarm clock in a place where I have to get up to turn it off so it will force me to wake up. I have an entire blog post that gives more tips on how to become a morning person.
6. Make your environment a motivating place
This is the last tip I have since this is the most personal one to you. We all have things that make us feel happier, more motivated, and if your space doesn't portray those positive emotions then it time to go on Pinterest and youtube to find some inspiration on what will make things more comfortable for you. I believe the organization, the aesthetic, the scent of your room, etc. all play a role in how motivated you feel.
So that is all of the tips I have so far in terms of equipment and organizing for the year if you want to know how to stay productive or to have a productive mindset for working from home, I did a post on that in April. I also want to remind people it's okay not to be creating things, making a side hustle right now, etc. I feel like to be successful in those things and creating things from scratch you have to be in the right headspace and don't let what others are doing impact your own self-esteem because we all will do things on our own time. I hope you enjoyed this post. Don't forget to like, comment, and share with your friend and family who may be looking for advice on what to get to prepare for working from home. Have a good day, evening, or night and make sure to stay healthy and safe.
Until next time,
xoxo Lay 💋
Last blog post- Thoughts on: cancel culture
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