Speaker 1: Hello everyone. You're probably wondering, why did I not just
Speaker 1: hear it? Little school bell? Where's Kate, Where's Emma?
Speaker 2: Well, sorry to break it to you.
Speaker 1: They have graduated college, but we have just started and
Speaker 1: we are here to bring you along with us on
Speaker 1: our journey, along with all of our dilemmas. I'm Svetlana
Speaker 1: and I'm Lana, and we are both freshmen at cal
Speaker 1: Poly San Luis Obispo. Yeah, yep, I'm a communications major.
Speaker 1: I am from the Bay Area.
Speaker 2: And I am from the LA Area, South Bay originally
Speaker 2: from Chicago, but ever since I moved to LA I
Speaker 2: feel like I've just been immersed with all of the
Speaker 2: Hollywood culture, yeah, entertainment, business, and industry, which is kind
Speaker 2: of why we decided to take this role as podcast hosts.
Speaker 1: We actually met in one of our comms, one oh
Speaker 1: one classes.
Speaker 2: Yes, we did, far far back in fall quarter.
Speaker 1: Far far back, and we we met because we were
Speaker 1: working on a podcast together for our final project for
Speaker 1: the class. Oh. We are currently at Linea's Beautiful Cafe
Speaker 1: in San Luis Obispo downtown Slow. So today's episode we're
Speaker 1: going to be discussing the productivity paradox and What I
Speaker 1: mean by that is how one is able to stay
Speaker 1: productive with their school work. We're talking specifically about college
Speaker 1: students university students. What toxic productivity looks like. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: kind of all of the struggles involved with productivity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially since it's spring quarter, I know, we
Speaker 2: only have a couple months left of the school year,
Speaker 2: but people may be experiencing burnout or the seniors have
Speaker 2: their senioritis. But just hold in there. We're only sixty
Speaker 2: days away from the end, and we're gonna share some
Speaker 2: tips and tricks on how to stay locked in and motivated.
Speaker 1: Locked in in, all right, And it's definitely a lot
Speaker 1: to just be a full time student, and especially in
Speaker 1: the stage of like being a freshman, it's a lot
Speaker 1: to kind of like maintain your relationships at home, be
Speaker 1: a student, keep up with your academics, maintain a social
Speaker 1: life at your school, like, keep in contact with your family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: work on like whatever internships you may be working on. Like,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of a lot like to comprehend like
Speaker 1: the stage of your life. Like I think I am
Speaker 1: someone who is a bit of like a chronic overthinker,
Speaker 1: So I tend to like overthink, like all of my
Speaker 1: responsibilities and me too. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember during orientation one of the guys said, like,
Speaker 2: don't settle for just one friend, like try to expand
Speaker 2: your friend group like throughout the year, like keep meeting
Speaker 2: people and such. But you realize it's actually a lot
Speaker 2: harder than it looks like once you've solidified, like you
Speaker 2: kind of meet more people. M h. I think that's
Speaker 2: one struggle.
Speaker 1: I think, like in the beginning of the school year,
Speaker 1: like I feel like I was really overwhelmed because like
Speaker 1: the first week, it already seemed like everyone like there
Speaker 1: was literally friend groups already, and I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know anyone. We've been here literally a week, Like
Speaker 1: how was how are you do you have a well
Speaker 1: established friend group?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Anyways, I think, yeah, overthinking in general has just been
Speaker 1: a struggle for me in regards to like procrastination of
Speaker 1: my assignments and and you know, doing things just for
Speaker 1: myself like going to the gym, my meals, like all
Speaker 1: of those things. I feel like I kind of struggle
Speaker 1: with keeping a schedule for myself. I think before coming
Speaker 1: to college, I honestly had like a weirdly sat schedule,
Speaker 1: like with high school because you have, like you're given
Speaker 1: a time to eat lunch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like you have to wake up at eight
Speaker 2: am nine am every day.
Speaker 1: You're done with school at a certain time every day,
Speaker 1: and then you can do whatever you normally do after
Speaker 1: your sports.
Speaker 2: And now we come to college and we're like on
Speaker 2: the brick of adulthood and you make your own Like we're.
Speaker 1: Telling you go eat your food. No one's telling you
Speaker 1: go to your class.
Speaker 2: No, none of that exactly.
Speaker 1: And it seems pretty self explanatory and like it would
Speaker 1: be kind of easy to navigate because it's so self explanatory.
Speaker 1: But then you get there and you're like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. That's especially. One of the things I
Speaker 2: struggle with is waking up on time. Like I've this quarter,
Speaker 2: I've deliberately signed up for classes that don't start until
Speaker 2: twelve in the afternoon because I know I can't count
Speaker 2: on myself to wake up at eight am or nine am.
Speaker 1: I think, like a little life hack for waking up
Speaker 1: early is like waking a funny alarm sound, Like for
Speaker 1: a whole minute, I had an alarm that was like.
Speaker 2: West up because it's time to smoll shit.
Speaker 1: So like that was my alarm for like a.
Speaker 2: You will not believe what my roommate's alarm is. I've
Speaker 2: only seen these in movies or like as a joke,
Speaker 2: but it's like death metal, like really hard rock every
Speaker 2: morning at six and in the morning. Ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, because at this point, like I can't have
Speaker 1: my alarm as like the regular iPhone like ringer, because
Speaker 1: that sum literally gives me anxiety, Like it literally does,
Speaker 1: like if I'm just chilling, like if I hear like
Speaker 1: a phone call, Like I don't know, like at this
Speaker 1: I just it's a lot for me he having a
Speaker 1: phone call or hearing an alarm. It's quite a bit.
Speaker 1: I think. Another thing that is is a big struggle
Speaker 1: when you get to college is like not doom scrolling.
Speaker 2: Because you're scrolling is dangerous.
Speaker 1: I think we were talking about this earlier, Like if
Speaker 1: you have a busy day of classes, like if I
Speaker 1: have like like classes from eight am in the day
Speaker 1: to like six or eight pm in the day, Like
Speaker 1: what gets me through that is like looking forward to
Speaker 1: just chilling on my bed on my phone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it can be a reward, but it could also
Speaker 2: be very detrimental, like you get stuck on there for hours.
Speaker 1: It's no and I think that's that's exactly why it's
Speaker 1: like one of those really big issues with productivity, because
Speaker 1: scrolling on your phone, it's so so easy to lose
Speaker 1: track of time.
Speaker 2: Yes, all the brain rot my Instagram reels right now
Speaker 2: is full of Minecraft brain rot. Yeah, Minecraft movies. Have
Speaker 2: you seen the microft Chicken Jockie? I haven't yet. I should,
Speaker 2: I'm a big Minecraft fan.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then another big thing is distractions and temptations.
Speaker 2: I have a really funny story. So you know, you
Speaker 2: come into college and of course there's like a very
Speaker 2: big party scene, like you can choose that life or not.
Speaker 2: But a lot of girls on my floor will all
Speaker 2: collectively decide to go and like get ready, and I'll
Speaker 2: have an assignment due that night at midnight, and my
Speaker 2: friend will be like, no, it's fine, you can. We'll
Speaker 2: bring our computers to the frat and you can do it.
Speaker 2: You can do your assignment at the frat. And it
Speaker 2: has been something. But I've I've been i've felt strong,
Speaker 2: I've refused, I've gone our our assignment's done right before
Speaker 2: we went out. But the fact that that was even
Speaker 2: an option was just Hi, Larry, you an option? Yeah,
Speaker 2: working just around like count Polly culture and like party culture,
Speaker 2: you really have to like evaluate your values.
Speaker 1: Yeah, learn how to prioritize, prioritize yourself. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of what we're gonna be talking about next, is kind
Speaker 1: of what works for us. Fall quarter, I took four
Speaker 1: eight ams and then I had classed until six pm
Speaker 1: pretty much every day, and so yeah, over summer though,
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, I don't even care what everyone says.
Speaker 1: Like I got multiple people, I advice for multiple people
Speaker 1: telling me, don't take eight ams. You think you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to do it and be capable and
Speaker 1: whatever because you did it in high school. But for
Speaker 1: some reason in college it's so hard to wake up
Speaker 1: before nine am, And I thought that was a myth.
Speaker 1: But it's definitely not. For some people though, that's it works,
Speaker 1: But for majority, I would say, does not.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, so yeah, but the alarm alarm clock sound
Speaker 2: sounds like a good solution.
Speaker 1: To that, Like maybe, but I mean, what are other
Speaker 1: I think? Switching my schedule like genuinely worked a lot
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: Like me too, I'm way happier this year than I
Speaker 2: was waking up at eight am nine am. I had
Speaker 2: a public speaking class at eight am, and everyone would
Speaker 2: just drove up to the class like a zombie, like
Speaker 2: they weren't even awake and they weren't ready to speak
Speaker 2: in front of everyone. But now that I changed it,
Speaker 2: my life has been a lot more easier, for sure.
Speaker 2: But do you have any other solutions to being productive?
Speaker 1: So what has also genuinely really helped me is like romanticizing,
Speaker 1: romanticizing all of the things I do. Like, this cafe
Speaker 1: is absolutely beautiful, and I see people here who probably
Speaker 1: go to Cap Holli or one of the local community
Speaker 1: colleges studying with their cute outfits on with their little
Speaker 1: macha or their little iced latte and their little carrot cakes.
Speaker 1: And honestly, that is exactly the way to do it.
Speaker 1: Because if you're sitting in your dorm like the place
Speaker 1: you sleep and like just chill, like you want that
Speaker 1: environment to be your chill safe space, and then you're like, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work on this five page essay and get
Speaker 1: it done in my same dorm that I chill and
Speaker 1: doom scroll in. It's I mean again, sometimes that can
Speaker 1: work for some people, but like, if you really want
Speaker 1: to find ways to get yourself motivated, like explore your
Speaker 1: local community, change your.
Speaker 2: Environment, shop, change your environment environment for sure. Definitely just
Speaker 2: romanticize your life a little thing you can if you
Speaker 2: can motivate yourself enough to simply, like when you start
Speaker 2: your day, put a cute outfit on, get ready, maybe
Speaker 2: do a little.
Speaker 1: Something something little care to coffee, Yes, bro, get a
Speaker 1: little macha.
Speaker 2: Will brighten up your day and make you just a
Speaker 2: bit happier. I think another thing for me, especially because
Speaker 2: I'm a musician, is just music, like setting the mood
Speaker 2: and waking up and listening to your favorite kind of music.
Speaker 2: I can really just change the way you see things.
Speaker 2: I think something that works for me if you get
Speaker 2: distracted by like songs with lyrics or like pop songs
Speaker 2: a lot, I listen to like low fi beats or
Speaker 2: like classical music. It like doesn't like distract you from
Speaker 2: what you're reading, like especially if you're doing reading, but
Speaker 2: it like puts you in the.
Speaker 1: Zone and it like yeah, in all honesty, I do
Speaker 1: listen to classical music at the gym.
Speaker 2: At the gym interesting, I try it out. And then
Speaker 2: another thing is to do lists and calendars. Those are
Speaker 2: crucial to do lists in college. I think one that
Speaker 2: really works for me is the app notion. It's kind
Speaker 2: of like customizable to your own aesthetic, and you can
Speaker 2: put all of your assignments just like a calendar, but
Speaker 2: just check them off every time you finish. It's just
Speaker 2: it's very acazing to see I think you cross it off.
Speaker 1: There's like, definitely I think there's a a range of
Speaker 1: tasks you can add on your to do list because
Speaker 1: I've like seen some girls in college or just like
Speaker 1: people in college, you have like they'll like wake up,
Speaker 1: drink one cup of water, go brush my teeth, shower,
Speaker 1: like and that's there. That's the to do list that
Speaker 1: works for them is like every single kind of their day,
Speaker 1: every hour is planned, and that's that's an effective motivational,
Speaker 1: like I don't know process for them. But then there's
Speaker 1: also like you definitely don't have to be that like
Speaker 1: that that nitpicky about like all of your tasks. You
Speaker 1: can totally just add maybe your assignments for the day.
Speaker 1: This is like personally what I do. I add all
Speaker 1: my assignments for the day, and then like things that
Speaker 1: I generally know I want to get done, Like I'll
Speaker 1: add gym, I'll add like read, I'll add I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'm like, if I have an event like
Speaker 1: a little I don't know, a little function a little
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's so like something you can you
Speaker 1: know you're doing that day, like something you can put
Speaker 1: on your to do list and then whenever you do
Speaker 1: the Like, I think it's a good thing to have
Speaker 1: a realistic to do list set so that you can
Speaker 1: check every box off of the day that you have
Speaker 1: that to do list, because like, if you have unchecked
Speaker 1: boxes at the end of the day, that kind of
Speaker 1: will leave you with the feeling of unproductive.
Speaker 2: You'll get that guilt. Yeah, like, oh I could have
Speaker 2: done it earlier, but now I have to take other
Speaker 2: things out of my day to this.
Speaker 1: So I think setting like realistic goals and building realistic
Speaker 1: habits for yourself overload yourself with things. I think it's
Speaker 1: totally important to show yourself a lot of grace in
Speaker 1: this period of your life, just because it's like, honestly
Speaker 1: one of the biggest transitional stages of your life probably
Speaker 1: and definitely Yeah, you're you're learning habits that you will
Speaker 1: hopefully be able to carry with you for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life, and habits that don't work for you,
Speaker 1: like eight am toxic productivity. So do you feel guilts
Speaker 1: around not doing enough? And how do you handle this guilt?
Speaker 2: Definitely? I mean every time the weekend comes around, I'll
Speaker 2: take like the time just to watch movies and relax,
Speaker 2: and I have things in the back of my mind
Speaker 2: that I need to do. When I do procrastinate and
Speaker 2: I don't do my reading, I feel just very guilty,
Speaker 2: like what if I had done that.
Speaker 1: College. It's one of those times where you are like
Speaker 1: able to find yourself so much and like I don't know,
Speaker 1: just like learn what really really works for you.
Speaker 2: We're still very young. We have like our whole lives
Speaker 2: ahead of us, especially since we're sitting here like as freshmen.
Speaker 2: Like we're not saying we know everything, but we are
Speaker 2: trying our best just to navigate navigate life.
Speaker 1: I honestly felt a great deal of imposter syndrome coming here.
Speaker 2: I was waitlisted and I got in like the last round,
Speaker 2: and so they put me in like a random housing situation,
Speaker 2: and all of my building are like singe like engineers,
Speaker 2: and yeah, they're all engineering students, and so I kind
Speaker 2: of felt like the imposter, Like no one else here
Speaker 2: is liberal arts major.
Speaker 1: And I think it's really easy to like because when
Speaker 1: you're in high school as like as a freshman, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're in high school, like getting accepted into a university,
Speaker 1: like this kind of gives you like some confidence because
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, like I did do good in high school.
Speaker 1: I got like whatever would it four point zero four
Speaker 1: point whatever I did. I took all these aps, I
Speaker 1: was in extracurriculars, I was a good student. And then
Speaker 1: you get here and you're like, okay, that was everyone here,
Speaker 1: everyone here did that. Yeah, and then some it's just
Speaker 1: really hard to like not compare yourself exactly. It's very
Speaker 1: hard people who are that I don't know, so similar
Speaker 1: to you and have done more than you. And there's
Speaker 1: also like that kind of lesson teaches you about self
Speaker 1: confidence in general and how your academic achievements and all
Speaker 1: of that. Well, first of all, you're you're at the school,
Speaker 1: like we're here. We made it so weird you're here.
Speaker 2: It was literally a miracle that I made here.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but you're here because you deserve to be here.
Speaker 1: And and also like academic achievements are are literally just
Speaker 1: that academic achievements. They are not indicative of your worth
Speaker 1: as a person and should not be indicative of your
Speaker 1: confidence as a person. Like I think here in college
Speaker 1: it's really important to like be literally just be a
Speaker 1: good person, and like that's where you can find your
Speaker 1: self confidence and self worth and not tie it to
Speaker 1: your academic achievements because.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, definitely, it's.
Speaker 1: Like there's no way you're not gonna fail a class.
Speaker 1: There's no way you're not gonna forget you have a quiz,
Speaker 1: there's no way you're not gonna do bad on an
Speaker 1: assignment or whatever it is. So if you tie your
Speaker 1: self worth to your academic achievement and like ability to
Speaker 1: be productive and all of that, like you're gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna lose sight of of what really makes your makes
Speaker 1: you worthy as a person here.
Speaker 2: Exactly, And those are like the experience and the memories
Speaker 2: you make along the way. Yeah, like your academics count.
Speaker 2: Definitely those are some of your memories. But mostly like
Speaker 2: for me, I'm big on like doing those side quests
Speaker 2: and stuff, and sometimes I get sidetracked.
Speaker 1: I think, at the end of the day, being productive
Speaker 1: it varies between like per person, yeah whatever exactly subjective
Speaker 1: like me being productive in a day is gonna look
Speaker 1: different than you being productive in a day, and I
Speaker 1: think now is the time to find exactly what that
Speaker 1: looks like for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially for those of you that are like signing
Speaker 2: your first lease and about to live in your own
Speaker 2: house apartment for the first time.
Speaker 1: That is big girl, big girl activity, big girl activity. Yes.
Speaker 2: Yes, Well, on that note, I think that wraps up
Speaker 2: this podcast.
Speaker 1: So this is our first podcast episode ever. So if
Speaker 1: you are don't like it, don't tell anyone that you
Speaker 1: didn't like it. Just keep that to yourself. But if
Speaker 1: you did like it, which I know you did, stream
Speaker 1: this episode on Apple Music, Spotify, anywhere else and tell
Speaker 1: your friends about it because they're gonna want to know.
Speaker 1: This is really good stuff, really juicy stuff, And stay
Speaker 1: tuned for the next episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, peace out, Girl Scout.