— Wake up early
We also thought early mornings were for try-hards until we sucked it up and began starting our day earlier. Early wake ups change everything – you’re able to fully set your own pace and get started quicker. What time to wake up? Simply wake up earlier (start with 7 or 8am for example) and remember that weekends count. Snoozer? Whatever floats your boat (or mattress). Oh and yes, you will probably have to go to bed earlier as well – sacrificing sleep is definitely not the answer.

— Wake up analogue
This is what you should do in the morning: silence your analogue alarm (or wake up naturally #blessed), get out of bed, drink a full glass of water before you do anything, wash-up. Only then do you check your phone if you want.
This is what you shouldn’t do in the morning: silence your alarm, glue your phone to your face 1.37 seconds after waking up, spend 17 minutes doom-scrolling.

Whatever you do – just have that full glass of water right when you wake up and wait a little while before checking your phone. The sad thing is that this so much harder than it looks. “Me? I am not addicted to my phone”. Go on then, prove us wrong, show us how easy it is. Good luck.

— Fall asleep analogue
Try (we know it’s tough) not to use any screens 20ish minutes before you cozy up under your little blanket. Have a half a glass of water before dozing off and maybe meditate? Or read? Something that can slow down that mighty brain of yours.

— Hacks for better sleep:

• Analogue Alarm clock
• CDB gummies
• 8-sleep products if you are looking to splurge

— Drink water
This one’s simple – drink water. That’s it. If you still don’t own a reusable water bottle you are just being silly. You don’t have to buy one of those $60 Swell bottles (or whatever they cost). Just get yourself an unpretentious looking water bottle (reusing of glass VOSS water bottles is allowed) and drink up throughout the day.

— If you are looking to be extra: here’s a water bottle that literally tracks how much you are drinking.

— Those guys at Nike knew what they were doing in 1987 when they curated that tagline. After all, that’s the only way to get stuff done. But what does this sentence actually mean? For us “Just Do It” means a) become aware when you are being lazy or procrastinating b) suck it up – most things in life take effort c) vent to whoever will listen if that sort of thing helps you (pro tip: boyfriends/girlfriend are great for this), and finally c) get on with it.

Here’s a little trick – deadlines. These usually provide some sort of urgency. More importantly, however, they provide the very powerful feeling of guilt when one does not complete things on time. If you are like us, this little bit of guilt can help move us along. Best deadline ever? A shared one. Get friends/family involved in your deadlines – they can help whip you into shape. Don’t overdo it– there is no need to literally create a deadline for everything you do.

— Managing time
Now you can’t ‘Just Do It’ if you don’t know what to do when. So here are a few tips that have helped us (we are really giving you everything on a silver platter here. Note to self – start charging for this):

• Block time. Use your calendar creatively – block chunks of time when you want to focus on something (literally do this in your calendar or use this great app that does it for you).
• Be honest. Take yourself less seriously and be honest with a) how much you can do in one day and b) how much you WANT to do in one day (control your own level of stress).
• Want versus need. Change your mindset. There are actually very few things in life we genuinely NEED. Before you decide on doing something, figure out why you WANT to do it. You don’t need to write a 10-page paper. You want to do it in order to graduate and feel smart.
• Do what you hate first. Find that thing that causes you the most amount of stress, the task that seems the most annoying, and get to it first.
• By the way, greatest app on the planet: Todoist (believe us, we’ve tried all of them).

— Dream a little (is this getting more cliché and serious?)
As banal as that sounds, we mean it. Use your imagination to picture how stunning your day can be. Or how amazing it feels when you finish something.

Our generation works a lot, and this probably will not change anytime soon. Let’s at least feel good when we are doing it, right? You like having good stationary? Then go to Muji and get yourself some quality tools. Like to have a notebook just to make your desk feel sexier? Get a decently priced ($11) Maruman notepad. You are sick and tired of your living room or office? Change your workspace regularly and go to a hotel lobby or coffeeshop (here’s a list to get you started).

Let yourself feel cool when working!

— Take a break
The world won’t end if you take a break… unless you are guarding the Nuclear Red Button, in which case thank you for your service good sir/miss; the world is a safer place because of you. Honestly though, take a breather. Start with a simple 3 deep breaths. Maybe mediate for 3-5 minutes or take a walk and get some fresh air. And before you say anything, you always have 5 minutes!

— Don’t be a Tik Tok zombie.
In his book “Steal like an Artist” Austin Kleon writes “I love ironing my shirts – it’s so boring, I almost always get good ideas.” Our generation is genuinely petrified of being bored so we stick to instant gratification. Yes yes, social media is a lot of fun. but switching off is not bombarding yourself with instantly-gratifying-media. When you are not working, do something that can profoundly and positively activate your brain and that takes longer than 10 minutes. Color the heck out of a coloring book (this one is pure gold by the way). Take 40 minutes to cook something. Read a book or a magazine. Watch a film (without your phone). Think of a random, fun activity and Just Do It (dammit, Nike). Sure, there is a risk you might not like it or get bored, but what is life without a little risk?

— Some hacks:

• Nappucino
• Massage to ease tension