Keep moving!

As school and life start to really pick up I'm finding the need to become incerasingly organized. One way I'm doing this is by planning my day ahead of time using my fun new white board. (Sorry that the quality is not great but I have but 0ne overhead light in my room.)

As the day goes by I'm planning on staying on track by checking off what I do when I do it. I'm hoping this visual reminder will keep me on track for my day.

So why put it on a white board? Well I have spent plenty of time scheduling my day in my head but in the morning or even through the day its easy to forget what I was going to do...or with no judging board just blow it off. Tomorrow I will post a picture with hopefully a lot of check marks to prove this plan a success.

so until then my friends stay productive and happy.

-Bethany

New Year, New Semester, New Me!

So this past week was the beginning of the new semester (my second at CMU) and I am determined to make it better the the previous one. here are a few ways I plan to do this

1. Keep track of assignments, by staying organized and utilizing my fancy new white board.
2. Make daily goals for my self. This semester has a lot of downtime and is more self passed, so I need to keep on myself as to not fall behind.
3. limit distractions to a minimum, this means less television and leisure reading. I might look into scheduling specific time for those activities.
4. Push myself harder, seems simple but is rarely is.
5. Don't dwell on past mistakes but don't forget them either. this will keep me from repeating them. 6. Remind myself everyday what I am working towards and how happy I'll be once its achieved. more long term gratification less instant.

This is going to take a lot of work on my part, but its time for me to put into action what is so easy to type here, words on a screen only go so far. So here is to a new semester and a more productive outlook on life.

-Bethany

Where great ideas are born

Orange Donkey administrative staff held its
first meeting to discu
ss important issues of today at Madras Masala, the finest Indian cuisine of Ann Arbor.

If you are interested in traveling and exposing yourself to various cultures and foods, Indian restaurant is a great place to get started on that. The moment you walk into Madras you get swept away by the aroma of curry, paprika, turmeric and a multitude of other strong spices. If you do not chicken out and leave to settle for plain ol' hamburger, but dare to pursue the unknown you will be

pleasurably surprised. Madras's buffet has a wide selection of lamb, chicken and vegetarian dishes

with radiant smells and colors. Bethany, Ben and I tried many of them without inquiring about the exact content or origin of dishes and gave thumbs up to most. Lemon curd soupy/saucy

dish was the only one Bethany and I turned down. Its odd flavor and texture did not seem to faze Ben so he helped us finish it up. (Sometimes I wonder if there's anything out there that Ben would not feel comfortable eating? Hmmm...)

Throughout the meal I kept taking bites of delicious naan (leaven, oven-baked bread) and Bethany helped herself to at least 2 full glasses of water (as they

did not have milk that she enjoys greatly with her meals) to dilute strong spices of the foods we ate. Mango lassi, which is a blend of yogurt, water and mango pulp, was the culmination of our dinner, its sweet taste and smooth texture calmed our taste buds down after being attacked by all the hotness of the entrees. When paying on our bill at the counter Bethany got intrigued by the bowl of mixed plain and candy coated anise seeds available for the customers to eat. After doing a bit of research on the topic I learned

that it serves to aid digestion and freshen breath.

In conclusion, Indian food is good for you, due to the medicinal spices (ginger, garlic, green chillies, turmeric) and fresh veggies used in preparation but what's most important delicious!

Salut!

Today is the day I make my first appearance here, on Orange Donkey! It is my first blogging experience of any sort thus I am excited and a bit nervous about the venture. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with such great friends as Ben, Bethany and whoever else finds reading this page worth their time. It's almost midnight, so I am not planning on flipping your world upside down with my profound revelations... at least not just yet. More substantive posts that trigger your imagination, question the "truths" you never doubted, and raise controversies are soon to follow. In the meantime lets take our time and enjoy this holiday season and appreciate friends and family that we are so fortunate to have.

Playtime is Over!

Sorry for the lack of updates but since the end of finals I have allowed myself a bit of a breather. Now that I feel revitalized I will commence with goals for each of my days. This way I hope to be productive over break instead of wasting my time. With no school there will be fewer distractions as long as I plan my days they shouldn't be a waste.

So my goals for tomorrow are as follows:
Laundry
tuning up the resume
emailing possible internships
reading

My reward if this is all accomplished is to watch Love Actually with my roommate! I am hoping with a set of specific goals and a reward if I meet them I will be more productive.

another thing I'm hoping to do this break is find out how to best organize my time and motivate myself. I plan to do this by experimenting with a couple of different approaches, tomorrow's being a reward system.

well that's all for tonight

-Bethany

Here's to "do or die"!

I was going to write a post on Orange Donkey, but realized it would be exactly the same as what I just posted on Simple Challenges.  See above link.

Life Lessons, and a New Leaf

So I'm not exactly where I wanted to be when writing my goals Friday, but I am close. I have studied every section of math, finished and submitted my marketing final and set up a time tomorrow to meet with my math teacher before the final.

I feel good about where I am, but wish I felt great about it. This weekend however has taught me a lot about myself, and my habits. I think I may have figured out a way to boost my productivity immensely and that makes me feel great!

The biggest thing that has helped me this weekend has been planning! I never realized how having a plan could completely change the way I think about studying. Having certain check points and goals allowed me to stay on top of things, and better judge how to manage my time.

Also going into it with a do or die attitude helped a ton! I have found that by breaking through the apathy I have towards homework/school work I am far more successful. It is easy to sit back and think "yeah homework I should do that, I'll do a bit tonight stop whenever, and say I'll do the rest tomorrow, whatever." This, I have come to realize is not an acceptable way to think about homework or work in general. I need to fight this urge, and that is just what I did this weekend! I told myself instead "Get this done tonight so tomorrow you wont be behind, the distractions can wait, if you don't do it no it wont get done." this is a simple idea that I have never really followed before, and can't for the life of me figure out why! I feel better about myself, my school work, my life and just about everything. I can't figure out why I haven't been doing this all along!

Another invaluable technique I used to get things done was small rewards. I told myself "if you finish this problem set you can watch one youtube video." this appeased my desire to watch television without derailing me for an hour our more. Youtube videos are great in that they last a few minutes then your back to work feeling refreshed and not like you're missing anything.

And lastly, I can't talk about what made this the most successful finals study weekend ever without talking about this blog. Writing my goals and outlining my plan has allowed me to feel as if I'm accountable to someone. I would hate to post on here saying I met none of my goals and watched a Survivor marathon instead. That would be unacceptable to myself and the point of this blog! so therefore I worked hard all weekend and will continue to work hard in the future, using this blog as a catalyst for success!

So to all those reading this wish me luck tomorrow! hope my hard work this weekend wasn't for nothing

-Bethany