TheĀ ā100 days of productivityā challenge can be an overwhelming experience, thatās not a big surprise. 100 days of doing something productive every single day?, itās not always that easy. Not everybody can manage to finish the challenge when they start it, which is ok, but nothing is impossible either! Here there are some tips to help you on your journey through the most (in)famous challenge among studyblrs:
1. Redefine āproductivityā. Productivity doesnāt need to mean homework or studying for an exam, but it can go from visiting your grandparents to grocery shopping or even travelling. There are going to be days within the 100 in which you are going to be unable to do study-related things because youāre sick, itās a big day like Christmas or a birthday, or because you are on vacation away from home. But thatās totally fine! āProductiveā is anything that makes your day worth it, that will make you go to bed with satisfaction and the feeling that you made that day count. Iāll for sure consider āproductiveā a day in which you had an important conversation that you were postponing with your parents, an unexpected date with someone you like, or a visit to Ikea to buy furniture for your new room. But try to do as many āstudyblrā-related things as possible as well, as thatās the spirit of the challenge!
2. Take pictures ahead if you need to. There are days in which inspiration is not at its peek or you just canāt be bothered to snap a photo of what youāre doing. I usually keep a couple of extra pictures of things that I do almost daily so I can use them other days. The book that youāre currently reading + a coffee, or your laptop + your planner, you know, that sort of things that are representative of most of your study days. I believe itās totally fine to skip posting a picture some days, or even upload one for two or three different days, but this is a useful trick for those who at least want to try to post photos almost every day of the challenge.
3. Plan properly, divide your tasks evenly among your days so none of them ends up being too bulky and drains your energy. Iāve found out that when I have a week of crazy work I find myself procrastinating more the next one, as Iām too burned from the previous days. I also use this idea of planning for dividing my errands among days, so I have to go outside the house and walk around the city doing stuff ever single day, to achieve my goal of 10k steps per day. Obviously this is not for everybody, itās just an example depending on your goals, as you could easily do the opposite: run all your errands in one day so you donāt waste a lot of time in the afternoons, for example!
4. Try to follow a strike on something. Use the challenge as a way to track a strike on a thing that you want to incorporate in your habits. Mine is Duolingo, but it could be reading every day, making your bed every morning, or not drinking soda, whatever you want to achieve! Iāll say that if you actually want to do a 100/100 you shouldnāt pick habits that can vary easily, like waking up or going to bed early, as it is very possible that one day you wonāt manage to do so because youāll be on a party, have had a bad night sleep, or any other thing.
5. Think what you want to get from the experience. Itās kind of related with the previous point. ā100 days of productivityā doesnāt need to be only a āIāll work for 100 days straightā-thing but it can be the path to achieve a goal. Vision yourself gaining something from it and youāll be more likely to finish the challenge. It can be something very specific like learning the first steps of a new language or, like in my case, something more broad like achieving better discipline or learning to plan more efficiently.
6. Use the challenge as a journal. Especially if you donāt own one, it is nice to be able to read what you did on the previous days of the challenge to check how your overall performance is going. Express yourself, tell us about your day in the description of those cute pics you took early on. I donāt like to write a lot nor get too personal, but itās nice to describe better how you think you did one day or which other things that are not related to the challenge happened to you that day, very briefly. Itās a very nice way to engage with the studyblr community and get to know each other as well!
7. Not all days have to be extremely productive. Itās ok to be tired, sick, or fall a bit out of track! It is enough if in a low day you manage to do something tiny like tidy your room, as I would for sure consider a success to fight tiredness to do at least one thing. Donāt be too hard on yourself, normally itās not possible to be an excellent student for 100 days in a row.
8. Tips on pictures. Last but not least here I have a compilation of easy and quick tips for those who are a bit lost in the āWhat to post?ā department:
Things you can photograph that might look cute: your notes, your planner or bujo, the book youāre currently reading, your desk, some stationery, your computer, the library, your textbook, the trees you manage to plant in Forestā¦
Things that you can add to your picture to jazz it up: stationery, beauty products (hand cream, lipstick/lip balm, face maskā¦), snacks (fruit, cake, pop corn, sweetsā¦), drinks (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, smoothyā¦), a cozy sweater or blanket, jewelry, your pencil case, your glasses, a plant, your bag, electronics (tablet, headphones, mouseā¦), your watch, a candleā¦
Vary your background once in a while. Very optional, but itās a way to not have very repetitive pictures. Use your desk, your floor, your bed sheets, a piece of paperā¦ depending on which āvibeā youāre feeling that day.
Be true to yourself! You donāt have to go with whatās ātrendyā in the community if you donāt like it. If you like pictures au naturel, donāt edit them a lot; if you like greens to pop a lot, add a filter that makes that effect. You do you!
If you can, take the pictures in the morning. It is less likely that you forget to do it if you donāt postpone it, plus most of the people find natural lighting more beautiful than artificial.
You donāt have to post something study-related if you donāt want to. What you did in your break, your work-out session and your meal outside with a friend are also valid, if you consider them part of the productive stuff you made that day.
Donāt overthink it. I just grab a couple of things that Iāve been using and the first things I can think of to ādecorateā the picture. I do a quick arrangement and a very simple editing and done! The whole process can take me as much four minutes of my time in days in which I am not very inspired. The challenge is call ā100 days of productivityā, not ā100 days of studyblr aestheticā, so donāt worry a lot about it. Honestly, your favourite pictures may not do as well as you thought, while that one that you didnāt fancy as much might get a lot of feedback, you can never guess it beforehand. The most important thing is to remember that this challenge is to improve yourself, not your studyblr account, and your success in it is measured by your work, not the number of your notes.
All I have to say is good luck to anybody that wants to give this a chance! Enjoy and learn about yourselves (and about a bunch of other things), weāre all cheering for you!
theartofmadeline
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
vaporwave
