Mary Vaughan

It's pretty safe to say, not EVERY person in their 20s plans out their entire life for the next 5 years ahead of them, unless you're an obsessive planner like I am. Honestly, the job market crashing before graduation is NOT IDEAL. However, that is what plan B is for and I'm going to tell you how to create a backup to your new 5-Year plan. To start, where do you see yourself one year from today? When creating a backup plan, you have to look at what you value most of all. These values are going to set the stage for where you plan to allocate your time doing smaller tasks. For example, maybe you graduate college in 2021, but have little experience. From there, you look back at the steps that were missed due to the pandemic blow to the job market- this might be an internship or shadow opportunity. Post graduation, if there is no luck in the job search, you can turn towards supplementing your time with experience and search for an experiential opportunity. After creating those n...

Whether it's working your job from home or taking college classes online, knowing when the right time to log off is going to make a major difference in your life balance. While being able to listen to your lectures on a beach somewhere definitely has its advantages, setting a distinct schedule of maximized productivity can be difficult. When trying to find a happy medium between self-care and work, you have to consider creating a routine that you stick to.  The online world is great, but it does have its disadvantages. For some, it may be an issue to motivate themselves to get up and do the work of their normal life before COVID-19 hit in mid-March. For others, it could be a problem of overworking and not knowing when it's time to shut down the computer for the night and spend time within other parts of their life.  Understandably, some people may not want to 'decompress' from their day online if they're swamped with a big project that is demanding to their attentio...

There's no road map for a pandemic and COVID-19 is no exception. One week you're on a college spring break trip with your best friends and the next you're being sent home for the rest of the year. This year has not been easy by any means, but obstacles are temporary. It's important to acknowledge the mental and physical health are equally important during the uncertain times we're faced to stay sane and optimistic for the future ahead. Even though fitness centers and gyms may be closed down for some, it doesn't mean exercise can no longer be used as an outlet for the stress and anxiety built up. Staying active is a valuable asset in keeping your immunity strong and frustrations at outside factors expelled. Staying active can be anything from going on a walk, completing a short Youtube workout, or practicing yoga. Finding creative ways to get moving and maintaining your strength is a great way to keep your daily routine or start one up.  Though physical health is...

There's two types of people in the mornings; there's the blaring cruise ship alarm that yanks you out of bed or the soothing chimes that has you hitting snooze till the last possible minute. Whichever one you are, how much smoother would your day go if you were able to start off your morning with a positive take? In order to increase your productivity level throughout the day, a morning routine is essential to lowering stress levels and giving your body the self-care it deserves. First and foremost, charge your phone in the outlet across the room from your bed. Whether it be your blaring ship alarm or violently calm chimes, this hack will force you to get out of bed and walk over to shut it off manually rather than snoozing it 6 times. Getting up and moving around is a great step toward completing your daily tasks and achieving those checkboxes next to your personal goals. The extra work it took you to get yourself out of bed to walk over to your alarm may just be the extra pus...

It's no shock that 2020 has been a year of unexpected. While most may have set their 'New Year's Resolutions' and goals on January 1st for the incoming year ahead, COVID-19 had other ideas. Whether it was a job, internship, travel, or fitness- many of our personal favorites had to be put to the side in order to combat the unknown. As a college student close to graduation, I experienced this downfall firsthand and I'm going to show you all what I did to give my 2020 goals a complete makeover. For planners like myself, a carefully organized list is essential to being productive and holding accountability. For those soon-to-be college graduates, there's many boxes that need to be checked before graduation and it's never too late to start! In order to reclaim your 'best year ever', you need to write down your most achievable goals in order from 1-5. Disclaimer, it is important to remember that balance is everything and checking the boxes in one week to p...