Productivity for Success 101: Best Tips to Make Yourself Busy and Productive During the Summer Season
Probably the best thing about the summer season is that people are able to enjoy the pleasures of loosening up and relieving the stresses that comes with fulfilling obligations from school or work. When you think about it, you have approximately three months to just basically give yourself plenty of time to shuck off your responsibilities. For some people, this probably sounds like a great idea that they are more than happy to jump on board. However, the arrival of summer is still not an excuse to just exercise laziness all the time. Taking the time off to enjoy a nice vacation is okay, but it’s certainly unbecoming as a serious student or working professional to just be constantly slacking off once spring ends and summer begins.
It’s important that your productivity levels should be maintained even when the presence of summer is upon you. This doesnt necessarily mean that you have to concentrate on your existing job or studies; there are ways wherein you can still enjoy your summer break while still exerting some effort into being a productive individual. Striking this balance can be challenging, but it’s definitely not so impossible to attain once you have the right attitude and mindset to make positive things happen in your life. It may sound hard to believe but yes, you can have the best of both worlds—business and pleasure—once the blissful days of summer come rolling in your area. But the question you might ask yourself now is this: what exactly am I supposed to do during the summer to be considered productive?
Well, for starters, there’s actually plenty of cool and amazing stuff you can do in summer to help you stay busy while having fun at the same time. Keeping your mind and body active is a great way to avoid the threat of lethargy that comes with the bucolic atmosphere that summer tends to impart upon people. Don’t beat yourself up too hard though if there are certain summer days where you just can’t be bothered to do anything since the season is all about knowing when to relax and when to make the most out of your free time. When you make a habit of staying occupied with enriching activities, you’ll hardly notice the time pass by and before you know it, you’ve already accomplished something amazing in just a short span of time. To that end, here are some wonderful suggestions to make your summer itinerary less lethargic and more purposeful.
Catch up on your reading
You often hear people in your social circles complaining that they never find the time to read the books they want to enjoy due to work or school committments. You might have even wailed this particular sentiment yourself to your friends or colleagues. But the good thing is that the free time you’ll be getting during summer means that it’s the perfect opportunity for you to catch up on everything you’ve wanted to devour on your reading list.
Whether you’re a slow or a fast reader, it’s important for you to read something substantial or entertaining in order to stimulate your mind and your imagination. And why stop at printed books when you can also enjoy some well-written articles on the internet? Now that we are living in a digital world, you can get up to speed with all of the latest news, editorials, and essays from some of the best and reliable current event media sites.
Make your post-summer plans
When you want to make sure that you’re not wasting your time in summer, then the best thing you can do during this period is to be prepared for the future. Take a few hours of your typical summer day to plan any and all upcoming activities or events that will happen once the season ends. This will give you plenty of time to determine how you’ll be able to arrange your schedule in a logical and sensible way so you won’t have to spread yourself too thin trying to accomodate different things all at once.
Plotting your schedule weeks or months ahead of time should make things easier for you once summer ends since you won’t have to feel the added pressure of managing your time in and out of your work or studies. Furthermore, a preset schedule means that you’ll have the insight to determine whether you’ll be able to accept or decline any spontaneous plans being made.
Declutter your home and your life
The unfortunate effect of being so busy at work or school most of the time is that people tend to neglect the cleanliness of their homes. If you know that your house is a complete mess, then there’s no better time than summer to make sure that everything is clean, sanitary, and in order. This is also a great way for you to make some interior design changes you’ve always wanted to do like rearrange the positions of your furniture or install some brand new artwork to make your living spaces look like they’re brand new.
Additionally, the concept of decluttering doesn’t just apply to physical surroundings, but this also applies to your digital life. Clean out your email inbox so you can get rid of spam, old messages, and other data that might compromise your email account. The same goes for your computer and mobile devices—delete any unnecessary files taking up precious storage space so all of your gadgets will run faster and smoother.
Earn some extra money
If you have to be busy during the summer, then you might as well earn some money while you’re doing something productive. There are countless ways you can earn some extra money on the side, and they largely depend on the kind of skills you possess as an individual. For example, if you have a really impressive knack for creating handmade fashion accessories such as costume jewelry and other trinkets, then you can easily sell them via the internet through specialty online stores where people are able to purchase your goods.
The internet is a great medium for you to not only sell your products or services, but it’s also an effective place to advertise yourself to others on a broader scale so you could increase the chances of generating more business. Whatever you choose to do to earn some extra money, make sure that you play to your strengths and that what you are doing is well within the laws of your general area.
Flex your networking muscles
With the influx of parties and major social events that happen every summer, you’d be foolish not to attend such gatherings since they’re ideal places for you to do some serious networking. You just never know who you’ll meet or encounter in a summertime party, so you always need to be on high alert if you are introduced to people who might prove to be a useful contact for school or work. Furthermore, the generally informal setting of summer parties allows people to be less stiff and more relaxed with other people, and you should definitely wield this to your advantage.
Socializing with a cold drink in your hand is a common occurrence in such situations, so you shouldn’t feel too consciou when you’re actively engaging in scintillating conversations with other individuals who you know can help you advance your personal goals. Bear in mind that you should always present an aura of subtle confidence and intelligence whenever you’re talking to people since you don’t want to come across as a crass, uncultured, and rude individual to others.
Step outside your comfort zone
We all have our personal fears and anxieties and such negative aspects are often the reason why we tend to hold ourselves back from truly reaching our full potential. So if you really want to face some of your worst fears and conquer them in the process, you can do no wrong by chasing your triumphs during summer. The season is the ideal time to step out of your comfort zone and do things that you normally wouldn’t do at any other time. Think of it as a way to challenge yourself so you can emerge as a better and stronger individual.
For example: if you’ve always been scared of heights, then push yourself to the limit by signing up for a tandem skydiving adventure session where you’ll be able to experience the exhilarating thrill of jumping off a plane and parachuting down to the ground. The point of this type of exercise is to find an activity that confronts your fears and gives you the chance to conquer them while also having tons of fun in the process.
Host dinner parties with your friends
A perfect way for you to really celebrate the summer season is by hosting a nice and intimate dinner party in your home and inviting a bunch of your close friends along for the gathering. And because you’re hosting, then you’ll have all the good reasons to get busy since it’s your job to do all the necessary preparations. It’s a great way to get your home and yourself in the party mood since most people love to attend house parties.
It might be a tough task for one person to do, but there’s a certain kind of personal fulfillment you’ll get when you’re preparing and cooking the food, mixing the drinks, setting up the dining area, curating a house party music playlist, and other miscellaneous tasks needed to make your dinner gathering a success. Furthermore, once your friends are all present and accounted for in your home, you’ll be able to catch up on all the latest news, gossip, and updates that you’ve missed since your friends will be eager to fill you in on all the great details.
Embark on an overseas journey
When you’re tired of the same old routines and the usual haunts that you often go to during the summer, it’s time for a complete change of pace and shake things up to a whole new level. Traveling abroad is something that you should totally do at least once in your life, as this allows you to open your mind to worlds and cultures beyond your own. Traveling to other countries also gives you so much opportunities to learn new knowledge such as foreign languages and understanding social customs in everyday situations.
But embarking on a foreign summer trip isn’t something that you can do spontaneously; you have to plan this out carefully ahead of time since you don’t want to run the risk of getting into trouble in an unfamiliar setting. Only after you’ve done the important preparations are you able to fly off to distant lands and enjoying the sights that your chosen international destination has to offer. Best of all, the people you know back home will be so enthused to hear all the juicy details of your summer getaway the minute you come back.
Focus on your wellbeing
People tend to be more conscious about their bodies during summer since they often associate the season with wearing less clothing and exposing more skin in public places such as beaches or swimming pools. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with trying to achieve a beach-ready body in time for summer, a better way to approach this is to think about your health in a more holistic manner. Aside from getting your body into physical shape, you should also think about nourshing your mind and soul to ensure that your entire being is in harmonious balance.
You could, for example, do some rigorous exercises at home and following that up with a calming meditation session and then finishing off with a relaxing massage at a spa. It also helps if you focus on consuming a healthy diet that not only tastes good, but makes you feel good while eating. Always bear in mind that you should always think about the bigger picture when you’re aiming to look and feel your very best when rising temperatures of summer approaches.
Give back to your community
A lot of people tend to be quite selfish when summer comes because in their minds, the world often revolves around them and their exploits. Don’t be like these self-centered individuals and instead focus your energies into helping others now that you have the free time to do some good in the world. There’s plenty of options where you can help the community in small but significant ways. For instance, if you happen to love animals, then you could visit a nearby animal shelter and become part of the workforce trying to rescue injured or abandoned animals.
If you’re big into nature, then a good place for you would be helping out at a community garden. You could even volunteer to help cook food at a homeless shelter so you could feed disenfranchised people. Such acts of altruism will not only help you grow as a person, but they will allow you to establish a stronger sense of compassion and empathy which is crucial when you’re trying to succeed at school or work.
