Inspired Forward

Cut Through the Confusion and Chaos to Live a Well-Organized Life

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Thirteen

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week thirteen: May 6-May 12, 2018.

It makes sense to change the format of this post occasionally. If you’re a regular reader you’ll notice that the list of past posts is now at the bottom, so not to clutter the bulk of what I want to share with you about my week.

This week was actually a rousing success in terms of getting the planned stuff done! I kept my list SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. I was specific about time spent on things, the number of things, how many words to write, etc.

It looks like it worked out pretty well!

JTM Week Thirteen Instagram

What I Said I’d Do

  • Spend an hour doing email management, since I have almost 800 unread emails. SOB
  • Watch one video from Simple Pin Master Course.
  • Watch two videos from Time Management Magic.
  • Finish and schedule the post for May 17th.
  • Write at least 1000 words for the post for May 24th.
  • And lastly, be intentional about my days and realistic about how much I can fit into them.

What I Actually Worked On

  • Spent an hour doing email management, but didn’t get many emails marked as read
  • Watched 2 videos from Time Management Magic
  • Finished and scheduled the post for May 17th
  • Wrote 852/1000 words on the post for May 24th
  • Was surprisingly successful at being more intentional about what I can fit into a day!

Keep Reading!

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18 Tips for Not Losing Your Mind in College

I have a degree in mechanical engineering. It took me three and a half years to get it at a state school after transferring from a community college. Doing it this way allowed me to skip the obligatory freshman classes and all the general studies requirements. But still…

It was tough.

Sometimes I look back and think that getting my degree was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life.

Losing Your Mind in College Instagram

I didn’t particularly like my classes. Some of the subject matter was interesting, sure, but mechanical engineering wasn’t (and still isn’t) my passion. I appreciated the good professors more than the subjects they taught – in some cases, my worst subjects were taught by my favorite professors. 

However, I somehow made it through with only one meltdown (that I can remember) and no all-nighters. The closest I got to an all-nighter was 2 AM at a classmate’s apartment for a project due the next day.

Now, I’m three years out of the undergraduate grind, but the things I’m going to tell you are applicable to keeping your sanity while still taking classes.

Let’s dive right in!

1. Sleep. For the love of God, SLEEP.

You do yourself no favors by staying up all night and stumbling into your lab class half-awake, having forgotten your homework on your desk. There is research that sleeping helps to organize what you’ve learned, so studying right before bed will help you retain the knowledge – but only if you actually go to sleep! Staying up all night cramming for a test will do you more harm than good.

2. Find a food solution that works for you.

After my first year, I never set foot inside a dining hall again. It was cheap, low-quality food that somehow cost more than it did to go to Winco every weekend and make my own meals. Depending on your college, you might have a stellar dining hall, and will never have to cook for yourself in school.

Keep Reading!

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Twelve

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week twelve: April 29-May 5, 2018.

This week has been an exercise in ignoring my course to-do list. I’ve had Simple Pin Master Course and Time Management Magic (not to mention Intentional Blog) on my to-do list for weeks, and I haven’t made much headway on them for a bit. That goes, I guess, with an evolving list of priorities, the biggest priority of which is keeping up with blog content and not totally losing my mind.

That being said, the biggest things I’m feeling proud about are figuring out how to implement content upgrades through MailerLite – and getting them live on their respective posts:

JTM Week Twelve Instagram

What I Actually Worked On

  • Peak Work Performance videos
  • Content upgrades
  • Brainstorming for some new Fanfiction ideas (totally not blog related but – writing related. And I’m counting that towards my word counts!)

Keep Reading!

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How to Recognize Fundamental Attribution Error

Have you ever heard the phrase “Fundamental Attribution Error” before? Put simply, it’s the term for when you attribute someone’s behavior to their character rather than their outside circumstances. Alternatively – holding someone else to a higher standard than you hold yourself.

Why could this be dangerous, and why is it called an error?

Unless you’re a saint on the road, everyone who drives falls victim to Fundamental Attribution Error.

On your drive to work, you get cut off. You honk at the offender, cursing his bad decision-making and decide he (or she) must be the stupidest driver to ever pass the licensing exam.

Of course, you would NEVER cut someone off.

Fundamental Attribution Error Instagram

Except…you did. Yesterday.

Perhaps… perhaps the person who just made a poor driving decision is late to a meeting. Maybe he’s rushing to the hospital to see his dying grandmother before she passes away.

Now, I’m not excusing his bad driving. I’m saying that there are other reasons to make poor decisions than innate character.

Unless you're a saint on the road, everyone who drives falls victim to Fundamental Attribution Error. Click To Tweet

When you cut someone off, you grimace and squeal “Sorry!!” even though they can’t hear you. You rationalize your decision based on external factors, like how late you are to work. It makes you feel better about what just happened, but the driver YOU just cut off is now thinking you’re the dumbest driver that ever lived.

We all do it.

And it’s dangerous.

Keep Reading!

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Eleven

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week eleven: April 22-28, 2018.

The Journey to Magnificence is a series of weekly summaries of my journey through courses and resources provided by or found through the Work at Home School, hosted and delivered by Caitlin Pyle.

If you missed a post or found this one first, the others can be found here:

I’m starting to feel the demotivation…yikes! It’s time to re-motivate myself!

While this week was pretty busy in terms of life, I still feel like I got some good stuff done. It does feel less than other weeks, and I have to learn to live with the ups and downs of productivity.

That’s for sure!

JTM Week Eleven Instagram

Course(s) of the Week

  • Intentional Blog
  • Simple Pin Master Course
  • Time Management Magic

Sunday, Day 71 – The Cat of the Matter

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” Lyndon B. Johnson

Whatever your feelings are on LBJ, he’s right that we need to stop living in the past. There’s nothing we can do to change past mistakes, but we CAN change our actions and mindset going forward.

What’s done is done.

What’s next is changeable.

Keep Reading!