Welcome to real college life where I interview amazing college students and get their insights, strategies and advice for navigating life in real time.

Meet Elizabeth Grace

Taking notes feels productive so we do it, we feel good about it, and we move on. But the notes themselves are not the studying. They are the raw material and we just need to transform that info into something that works for your brain.

While my time in school has passed, I am no stranger to the concept of stressful late night studying. Long hours of note-taking and cramming for exams can easily become consuming.

Time blocking is one of those productivity strategies that sounds a little too "planner influencer" at first. But it is genuinely one of the most useful things you can do when your schedule is full and your brain is tired of making decisions about what to do next.

This interview with Lily is so great because she is almost at the end of her college journey and it’s cool to see her perspective and hear her goals with that in mind.

You're sitting there eating lunch and someone says "So where are you going to college?" and your brain is like — please do not perceive me right now. I just want to eat Cheetos in peace.

Monday hits and you realize there are three things due, you cannot find the worksheet, and your brain already feels behind before you have even opened your backpack. A Sunday reset is not about becoming a perfectly organized person. It is just a short routine that helps you start the week with a plan instead of a panic. Think of it as setting future you up for an easier week.

If focusing feels impossible lately, it happens. Your brain is jtired of trying to do everything at once. The good news is there is a super easy method that helps you lock in without forcing yourself to grind for hours.

It is easy to call it quits on the ideal week. You write down everything you want to happen, plan it all out, and then the actual week looks nothing like it. So you figure the whole system is broken and stop trying.

Your 20s are a lot. You are figuring out who you are, what you actually want, and how to function as a full human being, sometimes all in the same week. There is a lot of pressure to have it together, and there is usually a quiet voice underneath all of it that knows you do not have it together yet.

Some weeks feel smooth. You get things done, you show up the way you wanted to, and by Friday you feel okay about how it all went. Other weeks feel like you blinked and it is already Sunday night and you are not totally sure where the time went.

Let's create an ideal week without losing our minds. Because things are not always ideal and we both know that — but the ideal week helps you plan your activities, priorities, and non-negotiables so you are actually taking steps toward the week you want instead of just surviving whatever shows up.

Most of the time studying does not go wrong because you are lazy. It goes wrong because you sit down and your brain is like — okay but what are we even doing? So you open a million tabs, check your phone for one second, and suddenly 40 minutes are gone and you have studied nothing.