Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fPIkTBkm8AY

OK, let's be honest. A *full-time job*, great relationships, crushing your goals, maintaining your side-hustle AND dealing with administrative tasks like laundry, cooking, and surprise repairs ... you can't have time for everything. It's impossible, isn't it?! (AND I didn't even include a commute 😲)

I'm a Queen's University Commerce (business) student in 3rd year, specializing in marketing, with my full tuition covered by 2 major scholarships and 5 GPA merit-based awards. Here is how I structured my application essays for Queen's, the 5 steps to get started & write winning scholarship essays yourself, and my advice to anyone going through application season now!

I'm sincerely grateful to the Queen's Chancellor's Major Admission Scholarship and the ADP Henry Taub Memorial Scholarship for enabling my wonderful university education + experience thus far, as well as the DECA Inc. Don de Bolt, Edward King Memorial Award, and the Queen's D.I. McLeod Dean's List With Distinction scholarships! 

NOTE: in high school, I applied for what felt like hundreds of awards and scholarships, so the first step is to try, and do it early so you don't miss a deadline!

It's now easier than ever to create your own podcast for free and - as a result - to find great ones to listen to! In this video, I'm sharing 8 tips to get the most out of every single podcast you hear! P.S. These strategies totally apply to any kind of informational content you consume - whether in book, blog, news, or video format.

I always loved listening to podcasts on my way to class, while driving, or while cooking, but this past year has REALLY gotten me into them as a way of replacing the mini spontaneous conversations I would otherwise have had in the hallways or on my way to class.

MY PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS:

The focus of this episode is on 4 tips to improve your relationships, conversations and meetings using your bullet journal, but I also steered into some personal growth territory! It's really just a long heart-to-heart chat and journal entry mixed into one (which you can now listen to as a podcast!). I chat about something I've been thinking about lately regarding different types of growth we go through, my very inward-focused, psychology growth phase three years ago, and why I'm grateful to have blogs and journals to look back on. Speaking of which, I really should start journaling again... I chat about how you can start your own podcast, and why everyone should write a blog. And I chat about stressful jobs, resilience, some video interviews I've been watching lately and learning a lot from, and the board game Catan. Enjoy!

••••• TIMESTAMPS •••• 

00:00 mistral spirit snapshot is now a podcast!

The focus of this episode is on 4 tips to improve your relationships, conversations and meetings using your bullet journal, but I also steered into some personal growth territory! It's really just a long heart-to-heart chat and journal entry mixed into one (which you can now listen to as a podcast!). I chat about something I've been thinking about lately regarding different types of growth we go through, my very inward-focused, psychology growth phase three years ago, and why I'm grateful to have blogs and journals to look back on. Speaking of which, I really should start journaling again... I chat about how you can start your own podcast, and why everyone should write a blog. And I chat about stressful jobs, resilience, some video interviews I've been watching lately and learning a lot from, and the board game Catan. Enjoy!

••••• TIMESTAMPS ••••

00:00 mistral spirit snapshot is now a podcast!

october 15 || I got back into reading a lot more this summer, and from July to September I read these 5 (technically 7) books! Really enjoyed filming short reviews and summaries immediately after each one, so I decided to compile them and make this into a recurring series. As is classic Mistral Spirit style, I'm focusing on a brief summary, my recommendations, and the themes & main discussion points in the books. Particularly had a lot to say about my first time reading Brave New World, even though I didn't like it! :-P  

For more like this, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mistralspirit  

And on Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/mistralspirit

october 2 || How do you balance productivity with the ordinary, unplanned parts of everyday life? Not only is this a pressing topic as the line between work and personal life gets blurrier, but it's absolutely critical to find a balance for the sake of our mental health! It's also something that many ambitious, self-critical high-achievers struggle with! 

The focus here is twofold: 

First, we don't fall into a category. It's not like we're either Productive People or Not Productive People. Even categorizing your days like that can spiral into negative thinking. Rather, understand that life is made up of fast-paced and slow-paced moments. 

Second, we can't have one without the other. You wouldn't be able to appreciate your most productive moments without having experienced moments of idleness and unplanned lounging around. Similarly, you'll enjoy relaxing without feeling guilty so much more having experienced the constraints of high achievement and expectation. 

QUOTE: Reality is what you are living, not what you are planning for.

september 3 || Chatting about my story and personal experience with hiring for Ernst & Young, as well as 4 of my top interview tips for internships. Are you recruiting this September as well? If so, what industry are you looking to go into, and what are some of your biggest lessons for the interview process?

I'm also coming to you today from Quebec City - my boyfriend and I have moved in and gotten organized at our new place! It's been a fun week and I shared some of the highlights in the update portion of today's Snapshot.

august 19 || A month ago, my 6-cup aluminum moka pot temporarily went out of commission after losing an oxidation battle with the dishwasher. What followed was a week of cold-turkey ending my habitual caffeine intake, and a period of severe headaches, fatigue and unhappiness. I was experiencing Caffeine Withdrawal! This got me thinking about the effects of coffee, and whether it might not be good to decrease my intake a bit. I also wanted to find out if decreasing my caffeine dosage in the long-term would make my quality of life worse than continuing to drink a compound that 80% of awesome people drink on the daily. 

And so I embarked on the notorious Google Search. Realizing this wasn't the way to go about educating myself (I could make a pillow out of the fluff in those articles), I then went down the rabbit hole of reading scientific studies via Google Scholar, and found some exciting tidbits of information! It's confirmed: I'll be decreasing my coffee intake to get a better grasp on my body's fatigue signals, without fear of losing out on my high-energy, productive lifestyle!

august 6 || I'm all about constant self-reflection and self-improvement, but the number one thing to remember when setting goals - productivity, health, fitness, habits - is to appreciate that your current position IS A PART OF THE PROCESS. Don't use guilt to motivate yourself. It's not a long-term solution for change. And it's particularly dangerous when your goal is body image related. Motivate yourself with the desire to BE BETTER because who you are NOW deserves it. 

This snapshot episode #2 is all about the right goal-setting mindset! Tune in every second Thursday for another snapshot of what I've learned, thought about, wondered, loved and read recently.