Nerdify Reviews 3 Benefits of Joining a Freshman Orientation Program in College

Life success is dependent on numerous factors, such as intelligence, professionalism, and ability to communicate effectively. Strong social skills also help students enjoy their college years by ensuring easier interaction with peers and teachers. Today, many people stay at home for self-isolation from the coronavirus outbreak and find it challenging to entertain. Why not use this time for personal growth by improving your social skills? Here are the five strategies from Nerdify that can help.

1. Maintain Contact with People Through Social Media and Messengers
Coronavirus outbreak is the period, when people are limited in live communication. However, the modern world provides us with numerous media for distant communication, such as social media and messengers. Use these means to stay in touch with people you know. It is good to start the conversation by sharing some interesting material you find. Do not just resend it, as people are often annoyed by suggestions to study something they were not looking for. Instead, introduce that content by stating the most exciting points or giving your impression about it. It will help start a conversation.

2. Ask People About Things That Are Currently Important
Today, many people are anxious and frightened, and the best way to manage these emotions is to talk about them. Ask your friends and acquaintances about their health and the possible dangers they feel. Many of us have grandparents and other family members in the risk group. You could ask your friends about such relatives, as it is likely a topic of their concern. Think of the other problems your important ones could be facing and communicate them about these issues.

3. Formulate Questions in A Way That Demonstrates Your Real Interest
Often, people consider interest in their lives as a sort of politeness and conventional manners. Your task is persuading them in your real engagement. Give some introduction to the question, as it highlights your interest and provides a person with the context of the question, which is often missing during communication through social media. Prefer open-ended questions, which suggest a description of the situation in several sentences rather than words. For example, asking “They say that coronavirus is especially dangerous for older people. How is your granny doing these times?” is much better than “Is your granny ill?”

4. Avoid Emoji and Express Your Feelings in Words
Although emoji were designed to facilitate communication through social media, they actually reduce social skills and emotional intelligence. You just substitute your facial expression, tone of voice, and other non-verbal clues with a picture that still could be interpreted slightly differently by another person. After you have chosen some emoji, stop and think, what emotion it expresses. Now, substitute this symbol with the words describing your feelings and ideas.

5. Be Patient to Alternative Opinions
Coronavirus is an issue of current interest and importance, and many sources are trying to benefit by creating “fake” news. Some people could believe them, repost, and try to discuss it with you. It could be annoying, but do not get anxious. Try to listen to them and focus on their emotions rather than unrealistic information. It is excellent, if you are aware of the real situation and have facts that disprove the “fake” news. But do not give them solid knowledge. Instead, acknowledge the fears and emotions of the person, then give your opinion without neglecting the information they state. It will maintain a positive relationship and make your opponent open to your position.

Following these Nerdify tips will help you maintain and improve your social skills while staying at home, as well as make your personal relationships with other people better.

As a college student, studying is likely an important part of your daily and weekly routine. According to the 2019 results from the National Survey of Student Engagement, “the percentage of first-year students who spent more than 15 hours per week preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work, etc.) increased from 34% in 2004 to as high as 45% in 2017.”

Nerdify Reviews experts state that you can utilize those hours spent preparing for class efficiently if you use the proper productivity tools. 

Which productivity tools are the best? 

Read on to see the Nerdify Reviews team’s research of the best productivity tools for students. You will find something you can add to your workflow that will make you much more efficient with your study habits.

Nerdify Reviews Why Are Productivity Tools Important? 

Productivity tools are important for students for a couple of reasons. A productivity planner allows students to keep track of crucial daily assignment deadlines while also helping them get things done faster.

Trying to keep track of everything for all of your classes can be a stressful experience, but using productivity tools will help alleviate some of that stress before it becomes an issue.

Keep reading to see which apps the Nerdify Reviews team selected for this list. 

Nerdify Reviews 5 Productivity Tools For Students

1. Spotify

You might be surprised to see Spotify on this list. But according to study.com, “Background music may improve focus on a task by providing motivation and improving mood. During long study sessions, music can aid endurance.”

Many students, 75%, according to some research, listen to music while studying. One potential benefit is the improved focus the music can provide. The type of music might vary for each student, but this tool could be worth trying out.

2. Dropbox

One of the best features of Dropbox is the fact that you can access it on any device that has an internet connection. It also gives you access to all of your important documents in one place. This will make you more efficient since you won’t search for material elsewhere.

Another benefit of using Dropbox is its ability to create shared folders. These can be used for group projects when all group members can’t be in the same place simultaneously. All materials can be stored in the shared folder, so everyone has access. 

3. Evernote

Evernote has quite a few features that make it great for student productivity. If you take notes in the app, you have the ability to attach tags to them. The tags allow you to easily categorize your notes and find them again later.

If you are researching information for an assignment, another beneficial feature is the web clipper. This tool lets you clip anything important you find and put it into a note. Once you have all the information you need, it is all in one place, which will save you time in the long run.

4. Litero

Litero is an indispensable AI co-writer and editor designed specifically for students, serving as a comprehensive all-in-one writing tool. It goes beyond the capabilities of free alternatives like ChatGPT by offering features such as paraphrasing, expansion, simplification, summarization, and more.

Struggling with writer’s block? Litero acts as a content starter, allowing you to create a basic sample to overcome creative hurdles. The tool incorporates AI autosuggestion to shape your thoughts and autoreference to seamlessly add recommended references and citations. With a built-in ChatGPT, grammar checker, plagiarism detector, and formatting tool, Litero provides a holistic solution to enhance the speed and quality of your writing.

5. Google Calendar

This is an excellent tool for people that have to see everything they have going on each day, week, or month.

How can it help students?

Each class can be entered into the calendar along with your commute time if you don’t live on campus. You can also block off dedicated study time, so you are sure you will get to it.

Color coding each activity is another great feature that will allow you to quickly scan the calendar to see what event is coming up next. Each entry can also have notes attached to it to remind you of important information that is needed. 

In Conclusion

Creating an efficient, easily repeatable productivity workflow allows you to focus on the actual assignments and projects you must complete in a college or university class. 

While it may take more time and work at the beginning, these workflows will improve your time in school. Consider this article from the University of Nebraska Omaha.

They outline four ways in which being organized in college will benefit you. Having less stress is the biggest reason you should consider using productivity tools. Stress can cause many problems, so it is important to eliminate some of it when you can.

Be sure to check out Nerdify Reviews 3 Tried and True Habits of a Successful Student in 2023 and other useful information for students on our blog. There is something for everyone when it comes to making your college or university experience successful. 

It’s been a hell of a year for Nerdify. We’ve helped a record number of students this year and we’ve doubled in size (hooray!). But the New Year is on the horizon… Which brings us to the question of how we can celebrate it? Certainly, most of us will be celebrating it with our friends and family, but what if you want to do something special this year?
We’ve created a list of five creative ways how you can celebrate this New Year, check it out, maybe there’s something in this list that you may wanna try 😉

1. Visit real Santa

That means going to Finland. Yes, that’s not exactly a half an hour ride from your house, but bear with me, there are lots of awesome things you can do once you get there.

Finland has a fantastic national travel-website that has already collected all the main adventures Finland is famous about:

* You can go on a husky ride through the snowy forest (one of our Nerds actually did that – said it’s super cold, so make sure you bring warm clothes and some vodka with you. You gonna need it).
* You can check out beautiful auroras in the night sky (those are free of charge, thank you solar winds, yay!)
* You can go Gold panning (this is a perfect activity for kids – they get to collect their own GOLD, how cool is that?!).
* Cruise on an Icebreaker (and see real polar bears on little icebergs, oh… so cute 🙂
* And, obviously – see the real Santa Claus (that’s what New Year is all about, right?)
And much more actually. In Finland, you truly feel special during the New Year. You indeed think that miracles can happen during this special night, it’s absolutely magical.

2. Celebrate New Year following traditions from another country.

Just a few examples for you, of the crazy shenanigans people do across the world during the New Years Eve:

* In Burma people splash buckets of water on each other to “start New Year with a clean soul”. They certainly can do that in Burma, because it is quite hot during the New Year. I suspect that wouldn’t really work somewhere in Canada, now would it? 😉
* In Russia, people write their wishes on a piece of paper, then set it on fire in a glass. When only ashes remain – they pour champagne into the glass and drink it “bottoms up” before midnight. That way your wish will come true in the following year. For additional tips on how to “Party Like a Russian” we suggest you check out the Robbie Williams video-guide.
* In Italy, Argentina and Bolivia it is a common tradition to wear colorful underwear. It is believed that it will bring luck, love and prosperity to the one who’s wearing either red, pink or yellow underwear 🙂 What can we say, those folks are definitely not boring 🙂
* In South Africa and Peru, people tend to get more violent. In Johannesburg, South Africa, it is common to throw old appliances out of the window. That way locals “step into the new year leaving old things behind”. While in Peru it is common to have a fist fight with a person you have a grudge on. That way you can “wipe the slate clean” before the New Year.

Just make sure none of these local traditions get you in jail. As far as we can tell, no country has a tradition celebrating New Year’s Eve in jail 🙂

3. Be real Santa Claus.

Why not create some miracles yourself? You can be the master of the night by putting on a Santa Claus costume and grabbing a red bag full of goodies. Better still – gather a group of like-minded crazy people who will do a flash mob of Santas in the center of the city. You can build a huge snowman and give away presents and sweets to passers-by or baking a cookie that’s gonna crush the Guinness world record. Let your imagination go wild!

4. Outdoors

Being outdoors on the New Year’s Eve is also exciting. Imagine skiing in the mountains during the night.. Isn’t it magical? Alternatively, you can go full bananas and go camping in the forest. Greeting the New Year under the stars with a glass of champagne and a loved one. Romantic… but also quite chilly so make sure you have a heating pad with you or something. Getting a cold is not part of the plan here!

5. Do some charity-work

New Year is also a great time to think about those who are less fortunate than we are. What kind of a miracle would it be, if you could dress as a Santa and visit a local orphanage and give presents or sweets to the ones in need. Donate to the homeless shelter. Or visit a local animal shelter and adopt a puppy.

Remember, New Year is the time of miracles. It’s the only time when the whole world is celebrating, so why not do something special this time? 😉

Nerdify will be back with you next year to continue doing what it does best – helping students achieve their academic goals all across the world. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you!