Low Lift Ways to Progress in Your AP Class

Be A Friend To Your Future Self

    Clean and Organize Physical Spaces

    Clean and Organize Digital Spaces

    Update Your Calendar

    Free Up Time

Be A Friend To Your Current Self

    Take Care of Your Physical Health

    Manage Stress   ​

I first encountered the phrase "be a friend to your future self" over at the Learn and Work Smarter podcast.  The play is to ask yourself, "What could I do right now that would be good for my future self?"  By thinking forward in time, we can often identify things that will annoy, frustrate, or confuse our future selves.  Then, you can literally change the future by solving those problems now.

There are a ton of low lift things you can do now that can help make your future self calmer and happier.  If you can't take on a big thing now, doing a small thing helps your future self have more capacity and time for the big thing.  ​

Thermodynamics being what it is, everything gets messier over time.  It's very human, and very common, to have a messy folder, locker, backpack, room, or desk.  These are all places that attract extra stuff.  No shame.  

But that mess can create obstacles to succeeding in your AP class.  First, the more things we have out of order, the harder it is to find what we need.  Regularly sorting, organizing, and disposing of papers, pens, and other objects helps make it easier to find the things you need.  There's just less stuff to go through.  That means your future self won't be discouraged from studying because you can't find your lecture notes.  Also, all that clutter can be mentally draining.  This study found that people vary in their ability to ignore physical items surrounding them.  When participants could not ignore objects, it reduced their working memory.  That's a critical part of your capacity that you need to study effectively.  Also, if your space looks nice it's more inviting then you'll want to spend more time there.

Often, there are things we can remove from our space without much effort.  This includes trash, dishes, library books, papers from old classes, and so on.  A low-lift activity can simply be moving these items to the trash, or to a place where they belong.  A library book could be returned.  Dishes can go in the dishwasher.  Trash can go in the garbage.  Find some late work?  Turn it in!

This is also a prime time to organize your space.  You may find paper smashed into the bottom of your backpack.  Maybe you took notes for one class in two different spots.  Put like things together in a place where your future self will know where they are.  You're probably going to forget that you have one day's worth of history notes in your science folder.  Move those to your history folder so your future self can use them to study.  ​

Just like physical spaces, digital spaces also need a little tender loving care.  Common stress points include the downloads folder on your computer, email, and Google Drives.  The second one can be particularly rough if your school uses Google Classroom.

Again, look for easy wins.  Your downloads folder may have multiple copies of the same assignment.  Or things from middle school that aren't important anymore.  You can probably let things good.  Similarly, you probably don't need any invites or information about events that have already happened.  The Fall Formal invite doesn't need to live in your Google Drive in January.  Trash!  Untitled Documents?  Also trash!

As you work through your files, you can also sort things into folders.  Giving assignments clear names also makes it easier to find them later.  For example, you may wish to include a brief description of the assignment and the class it's for.  Nothing is more frustrating that knowing your teacher gave you a study guide, but being unable to find it.  If the name of that guide is "AP US History - Final Exam Study Guide" it's easier to find.  Your future self will thank you.

Remember that you do not need to do everything at once.  Deleted 10 random things?  Great!  That's a win.  It's okay to tidy up part of something.

Another thing to take a look at is notifications.  Most Learning Management Systems (Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) will allow you to change your notification preferences.  I know many students are stressed out by getting a notification every time a teacher makes a minor edit to an assignment or updates the grade book.  If you're in multiple classes, it can amount to dozens of pings that happen all the time.  It is 100 percent valid to turn off those notifications, mute them, or direct them to a centralized spot where you can review them on a regular schedule.  You could also consider your personal app settings.  Digital clutter also drains our mental resources and stresses us out.  ​

Many AP students participate in many activities, sports, and clubs.  On top of that, you may also be trying to keep track of the due dates and test dates for multiple classes.  Plus, there are personal commitments.  This category includes agreeing to meet a friend or help your parents with an event.

Calendars and planner can significantly ease the stress of tracking these things.  It gives us an easy place to "park" the information we need so that we don't have to rely on remembering that information.  This is important for a few reasons.  First, writing information down is more reliable that our memories.  It's easy to forget important details and be caught off guard.  It can also lead to a situation where the details of the event keep popping into your brain at random, unhelpful times.  This is really stressful and distracting.  Second, if the information is written down in a lot of different places, then it's difficult to take stock of the situation all at once.

Important dates don't live in your memory!  That space is needed for more important things, like the differences between the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans.  So, if you have dates that aren't on your calendar, now is a great time to add them.  New sports schedule?  Check.  Final exam schedule was released?  Add it!  You can also update any events that have changed.  For example, may be you had to reschedule a get-together with a friend.

Your future self will be way stressed if you clean up your calendar.  ​

Sometimes, all your future self needs is time.  Time to study.  Time to sleep.  Time to write an essay.  Time to research primary sources.  In some ways, all of these tips can be boiled down to making better use of time.  If your space is clean, you won't waste time looking for things.  If your calendar is up-to-date, it's easier to decide what to study first.  If you do things now, you give your brain time and mental space to focus on AP later.

The other way you can free up time is by doing things for other classes early.  It may be that you don't have energy to take notes from your textbook.  But you may have energy to review your Spanish flashcard.  Or, perhaps the book you're reading in English is pretty straightforward.  Maybe you are scheduled to work the night before three major exams.  Could you switch shifts and work an earlier shift so that you can focus the night before the exam?

Admittedly, doing other work work requires more effort.  But sometimes we're not in the mood to do one thing, but another thing would be fine.  If that work is legitimately easier, then getting it done in advance is going to be great for your future self.  The trick here is to be intentional and strategic.  We're not trying to procrastinate or avoid hard things.  We're trying to give our self space and time to focus on difficult things so that we can do them to the best of our ability.  ​

It is difficult to be at your best if you're not taking care of your physical body.  Your brain is directly connected with the rest of your body.  One of the jobs our brains do is try to keep us safe from harm.  If your brain senses that something is off with your body, it redirects a lot of energy towards fixing that problem and avoiding any further imbalance.  That makes it very difficult do work towards more abstract or long-term goals.

The same principles of using time effectively apply as they did when thinking about your future self.  If you do some of this stuff now, then you don't have to do it later.  But your current self also needs a friend.  If you're feeling a little off, it's time to check in with yourself.  You may realize that you haven't eaten recently, or that you've been eating a lot of unhealthy foods.  You may find that you haven't exercised recently or that you've been staying up way to late.  It may be that you're sick or tired, and you need to rest so your body can repair itself.  Be kind to your body and brain, so that it can return the favor later.  ​

Sometimes relatively simple tasks can help manage and relieve stress.  These things are not a substitute for intense stress or professional mental health care.  But lots of stress doesn't fall into either of those categories.  A quick reset can help us move forward more productively.

Some low-lift stress busters include spending time outdoors.  Exercise, including walking and sports, can help us resent.  Socializing with friends and family can relieve stress.  You may also consider solo activities, like reading a book, enjoying a hobby, or writing in a journal.

I help ambitious students improve their skills and master the AP exam.  Learn more here!

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