5. Eat a Healthy Breakfast

• Eating after you wake up can help you face challenging situations throughout your day and keep you focused. Instead of treating the stress afterwards, breakfast can help you prevent it. Even a quick smoothie can do wonders. Try this recipe: apple juice, spinach, a banana, and some frozen pineapple. You’ll get the nutrients you need from the spinach, without the taste.

​6. Meal Prepping

• By preparing in advance, you are saving time and stress later when you need a quick meal before class or work. If that’s too much for the limited time we have as students, at least prepare your next meal in advance. Plus, it is 10x healthier than the Del Taco or Taco Bell you were thinking of grabbing instead.

 
7. Try a Personal Mantra

• When you feel things are getting out of control, try a personal mantra you can associate with remaining calm. I like to use this one: Everything is going to be okay. It works for anything, especially before an exam or presentation. Repeating this over and over while practicing deep breathing techniques can help stress induced anxiety subside.

8. Crying

• This may seem like a tad too much, but crying can work wonders. Bring up a sappy Netflix movie or show and let the waterworks happen. Letting yourself cry can release any built up hormones or toxins in your body. I recommend This Is Us as the perfect crying material and tension reliever.

Written by Nikki Nelson and Mesayla Weaver

We all dream of life after college, our post grad years. We pick a school, a major, a course, that will open the door to endless possibilities. As college students, we are in constant planning mode to ensure we live to be the best versions of ourselves. At times, all of our planning and dreaming of what we want to do after college can be stressful and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be!
 
While we have goals in life, some may seem out of reach or hard to identify. A fun and creative way to visualize and set goals is to construct a vision board. A vision board is essentially a collage of images and text that represent the goals you want to achieve. By creating a visual aid to map out your goals, it’s easier to motivate yourself to be productive. As a bonus, you’ll have a fun project to look forward to at the end of every set of objectives you complete!
 
If you’re interested in making a vision board of your own, we have a step-by-step tutorial you can use to help you get started.
 
Step 1: List the goals you want to achieve.
This step is likely the easiest, especially if you know what you’d like to accomplish by the end of the month/year. If you find yourself having trouble with this step, take a moment to consider your weaknesses and the areas of life that you’re struggling in. By thinking about the things that you’re struggling with, you’ll have a better idea of what you want to improve about yourself/your life, and planning how you’ll achieve your goals will become easier. Considering more positive goals of yours is just as helpful. Your list of objectives could include something as simple as learning to pay bills on time, or as difficult as becoming a more patient and kind person. Whatever you decide to tackle is up to you, as long as it’s something you’d like to work toward.

Note: Writing down your list of goals will make it easier for you to remember what content you’d like to include on your board.
 
Step 2: Gather your materials.
To begin construction of your vision board, the second step is to gather up everything you need. Your supplies list will vary depending on how you want to decorate your board, but a general list of materials will include:

• 1 board (picture frame, tri-fold poster, etc.)
• 1 theme idea (optional)
• Pictures, symbols, words, etc. that represent your goals
• Cardstock/construction paper
• Pencils, permanent markers, colored markers, paint, etc. of your choice (adds a decorative element)
• Creative scissors
• Glue or pins/yarn (use either of them to attach your pictures to your board)
• A “plan of attack”

​Note: If all else fails, Pinterest is always a great site to use for inspiration.
 
Step 3: Set a deadline for yourself.
It’s likely that the goals you set for yourself will be long term, so it’s important to set a deadline for when you’d like to accomplish everything you want to. Whether you’d like to take a few weeks or a year is up to you, but finishing everything in due time means getting serious about how long you’ll take.

Step 4: Plan how you’ll complete your goals.
Everyone has a system they use to accomplish their objectives, and now it’s time for you to find yours. Personally, we suggest using incentives. What better way to motivate yourself to be productive than to reward yourself with something you’ll enjoy? If you don’t believe that this sort of method would work for you, perhaps you could set a weekly deadline to complete a particular goal. As long as the system you implement works for you, use it.  

Step 5: Decorate your board!
This is the fun part for all you crafters out there. In this step, you’re able to unleash all of your energy into making your vision board as beautiful as possible. Feel free to use whatever creative materials you like, and remember to pin up all of your goals in a way that’ll motivate you to achieve them.

Step 6: Act!
This is easily the hardest step about this process, but taking action will definitely be worth it in the end. Remember to review and complete as many of your goals as possible every week/month. Every step you take in the right direction will fill you with confidence, so get on it and you’ll feel more fulfilled each year!

So there you have it: six steps to completing your very own vision board. Trust us. The more strategies you have to accomplish your goals, the harder it’ll be to avoid them, and the better you’ll feel for putting effort into your personal development! It’s difficult for everyone, but if you plan on using any self-improvement exercises, you’re already ahead of the game.

Written by: Jennie Britton

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 3:00pm-10:00pm
Friday 3 p.m. - 2 a.m. 
Saturday 12 p.m. -2 a.m.
Sunday 12 p.m-10:00pm
Monday Closed​

Written by: Jordan Farley, Ashley Melendez, and Amber Cortland
 
Let’s be honest. We all want maximum results with minimal effort. In other words, “we all about that hack life.” Lucky for you, we have done the hard work for you and researched the most efficient ways to help you study proactively. 
 
#1 Exercise regularly: Now before you think of a million reasons why there just isn’t enough time in the day for that nonsense, please allow us to make an argument. A research study was conducted by Harvard University and concluded that 120 minutes of moderate intense exercise a week enhanced memory and thinking skills. It has been proven to enlarge the size of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that involves verbal memory and learning.

In other words, our brain would retain information at a faster rate, meaning we won't have to read the same page 10 times to actually understand it.  For those who are still not convinced they have the time to exercise 30 minutes a day let me ask one question. How many episodes did you binge watch on Netflix last week? Give up one episode four days a week and you’ve made up for lost time!
 
#2 Listen to music: The Mozart Effect, a term coined by Alfred A. Tomatis, is the direct result of his study suggesting that listening to music can refine one’s intelligence. Yes, you read that right… music. We’re guessing you’re a little confused at how this could actually help and not distract you from studying, and while many try to argue this, we are here to explain. Music with calm and relaxing vibes, like film scores, can actually help ease the stress and anxiety of students while they study.

In some situations, students have used music for memorization, by creating a favorable mood which indirectly advances memory structure. Also, background music has been known to enhance focus on a task by giving motivation and again creating a favorable mood. Music can help with endurance during long periods of studying, and we don’t know about you but that is one of the biggest challenges for us while studying. 

#3 Download the Flora app: Flora is an app that lets you help the environment, while helping you concentrate. Let's face it, in the modern world of technology there are so many ways we can get distracted with our phones, laptops, and TVs, but flora can help fix that. When you start studying you turn on the app and adjust your time between breaks. While studying you start with a “seed” which grows into a tree if you do not use your phone during the allotted time, but if you do it will kill your tree.

If that doesn't motivate you enough, you can also use money as a motive. Just put down an amount you are willing to lose and if you use your phone, not only does the tree die but you also lose your money. But don’t fret your money is going to a good cause, all the money you lost goes to planting new trees to help our environment. This app can be used alone or with friends in study groups. Also it can be used for more than just studying, but any time you want to enjoy life, technology free.  

Hours: Sundays - Thursdays 8AM - 10PM Friday - Saturdays 8 AM - 11PM
Location: 1518 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818

Rick’s Dessert Diner
Hopefully you aren’t too full after dinner and you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth. If that’s the case, then you can head down to Rick’s Dessert Diner located right on J Street in Downtown. Rick’s Dessert Diner is a 1950s themed diner filled with different European and American style desserts. From cakes to ice cream sundaes this diner has 285 different delicious treats. Pair your dessert with a cup a coffee or a glass of wine; they have all that your cravings may desire. If that doesn’t convince you to try it out, how about the fact that they have been voted no. 1 on Sacramento Magazine’s Best Dessert since they opened in 1986?​