Hey everyone is Neha with College Shortcuts. I am so excited today wearing my really cute little Santa hat because well it's the holidays. Everyone loves the holidays right. I mean let's be honest, the holidays are hands down. One of my most favorite parts of the year. I can't even help myself but get into the whole spirit. Actually, I get you know things like pumpkin spice and gingerbread stuff. We love to write handwritten notes to everyone. We're just that type of company. We just love doing things like that. So today I actually wanted to give you guys a recommendation of one of my favorite products that I use because so many of you guys you know you're totally trying to plan out the next year. I'm sure to pull up this little thing for you so I can get it to you guys right here. But you guys are always looking for you know kind of a great gift. At least, I am always looking for a great gift for the holidays. I want to recommend this once you guys because it's hands down one of my favorite, favorite ones. So hopefully this works. Let me take a look here. Perfect it's working. Alright awesome. I put a little comment there.

You guys can see it right below. So, I want to talk to you guys about kind of my little life pack that a lot of people don't know about but it's actually my planner. Now we tell students this all the time about making sure you have a planner. Making sure you know what to do because what a lot of people don't realize is schools say they put things on a portal but not every teacher does it properly. So, your kid can have a class and then they don't even realize it but literally they have a class and they don't wait the homework done. They think it's going to be on the portal. Then the next day they come in and teachers like "Hey where's your homework?" The students are like "I wasn't on the portal." They're like "Well, put it on the board is your job to handle it." We see this every single day at College Shortcuts. So, one of the things I always say is you know definitely use a planner but one of the things that I really don't like about planners especially the ones that schools give is that they're actually really ugly. I'm all about gorgeous school supplies so I want to show you something I used. I was actually recommended this specific planner by mom. No joke. A few years ago, I saw it on her desk and I was like "Dude what is that?" She goes "Oh my god Erin Condren is incredible. I buy all her stuff so put a link below for you guys in the comments. Please check it out. This is hands down my favorite brand. I spent a lot of money with Erin Conren. I chat with them. I love what they're doing. So, let me show you what makes this planner so special.

I want you to know what got me through school and since then to achieve all my dreams has been writing my goals down. You know if there's anything that I have to tell you that is so important. It is writing it down makes a difference as much. Yes, we have. I still have Google calendar and I get that. There's something about remembering things if it's been written that's completely different. Now you can even ask your student this "Hey quick question when you took notes in class today can you recall it?" The next day I asked them to handwrite the notes and then asked them to recall something and they will remember it 5 times more if they handwrote it versus typed it out. So as much as we're focus on technology and all that. There's still something to be said about the written planner. So, I kind of want to show you this. You can actually customize it. You can put your name there. I put the universe by your side this year and it definitely was. It's absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen planner more pretty than these guys. It's totally affordable for the print costs you'd think would be to make one. I actually made my own planner at one point because I'm such a weirdo about organization.

Even then I still think this is the best planner. I made my own. It was very expensive project and in the end, I still went back to this. So, I've tried all sorts of different ones out. I've tried the cubby system. I've tried a bullet journal entry to all sorts of things. This the hands down are my favorite one. As you see it's really beautifully. Really pretty pages. You know just like super colorful so students love this. Moms love this big time. It's just really exciting to start your new year right. Right now, you can get it at erincondren.com. It's called their life planner. They’ve come out with two different versions for the first time. This one is a spiral bound which I love because I like to just like go right on and go for it. But they also have a thinner small one which is just like a hardbound. You could throw it in your purse, It's perfect. So, I just want to kind of show you through why it's so amazing. Definitely put in all this information. You can write down all of your goals and what not the beginning of the year. I highly recommend you do this. You know starting off your new year and then you could literally write down all of the stuff in the month plus like all the things that are your goals for the year. Now I am going to show you something that might freak you out a little bit but my schedule can be a little nutty.

So, I write down, this is the vertical version which I personally like. It kind of schedules out my day. They also have a different version that's horizontal so switching over to horizontal again to see how that works. Regardless, you could just schedule out your day. Let me tell you something. If it's in the planner or if it's scheduled you do it. If it's scheduled, it happens. You know they say things like "You know people dream about things. They talk about things but until it's scheduled it doesn't really actually occur. So, schedule everything that's just how I work that's why I get so much done. You were always surprised at how much I get done. I sometimes color coordinates though I'm a nerd like that. Write all my notes down. Let me see if I can find a good one. But in general, it's a really great way to kind of set up your life and set up your schedule and put it all ready to go because everyone is ready for 2018 to start. I mean 2017 is a pretty rough year for a lot of people and everyone is really ready for 2018. For me I got myself the gift of this planner. I also got a few other things like cute stickers and pencils and pens and all sorts of fun things. They'll let you customize things. I love their product so I have a ton of their stuff. I just wanted it to kind of give you this is a little hack. You know if you've got a kid that just doesn't like. It's the holiday season here at College Shortcuts so we're talking about all sorts of topics in this month. One of them of course is my biggest hack which is my planner and I will tell you the students that use planners always make better grades. I mean it's just the truth. Why not teach your kid how to use it in a beautiful way and start early? Because look when they're older they can't keep track of dates or what they need to be doing. There's nothing worse than if your kid has a job interview and really was looking forward to it but never wrote it down. It's the worst thing ever. Even college interviews, internships you name it. So really figuring it out and making it beautiful is what it's all about in the holidays. I'm like all about. If it's beautiful and it's cool it's fun it's gorgeous. I will definitely use it. Yu know I love it. I mean they've got stickers which is really fun as well. Tons of stickers. I mean just look at how pretty it is. It makes you want to do your goals. Things are about to get really good.

You know all these fun little stickers you can add. I mean I literally spent hours. My sister and I do this every single year at the end of the year. Will be like "Should we change our planner?" And then we never do. We just absolutely love it. Oh, awesome Sandy thank you. So, she says "My daughter is 3 years from college and getting a head start on her preparation." Awesome! Awesome Sandy. It's all about preparing a and getting things ready to go. To me like there's nothing more fun than looking back the room where I was that in January. Any visual written format. Like I said I don't know when schools are honestly going to be on the portal visually and be able to write down the notes properly for the homework is or the quiz. But they never have enough information. I mean we see it over and over. Even with top students, I had a student I worked with recently and he was like. I was like "Okay so tell me why are you not doing well in this class. You know why did you get zeroes for homework. He goes "Well the teacher never updated the portal." So, let me guess you don't have a planner. He just looked at me and he was like "How did you know that? I was like "Because if you had written it down. This is just another excuse. No one cares." He was kind of frustrated that I said it's so direct but I'm sure his mom had said it to him at one point. But I said "Look you know like when you get older like if you go on a date with a girl and you know you say sorry it wasn't on my calendar I forgot." You're probably not going to be able to go on a date with her again. He was like "I didn't think about it that way."

I was like "Yeah dude you got it like write stuff down. This is what it's all about." So, I just had to share this guys with you because this was recommended by a mom. I feel like it's changed my entire business, it changed my life. I've doubled my business just by using this type of planner. No joke. I've seen students get all A's because of the planner. I've seen parents get a lot more done and like figure out what they need to do at the right times just because they had something written down. So, it is I'm a big believer in Erin Condren. Please click on that link that I put up here at the top because I'm here to tell you that this is my favorite brand. You know everyone falls in love with brands. People fall in love with Apple. People fall in love you know with college shortcuts and elite private tutors. To me this is just hands-down. One of my favorite products in the holiday season this year. They do free shipping over 100 bucks. You can get your planner. I got my mouse pad. Let me go to show you my mouse pad. It's super cute. My other order is coming through still. You can take a look and see this really cute little mouse pad that I use. Do what you love and do it often. Every morning I look at it and I love it. I'm getting a new one. It's going to say my name on it. Kids love that. You know I go back to school happened in August and you know but sometimes you want to change you know like even halfway through six months.

I'm always like something different. The best part is these are interchangeable covers. Literally take the cover off and put a different one on. So actually, got myself an interchangeable cover. They're only eight bucks. Not like I'm breaking the bank. But it brings me so much joy like and I know I can't be the only person out there, only mom out there. You know I know moms love this stuff. I know we're highly organized and if you want to teach your kid how to be organized. Why not do it in a beautiful way because they can do it later in their own families and their own lives later on. So, I just wanted to share this with you guys. I know it's not related to getting into college exactly but in a way, it kind of is. You know one of the biggest things I talk about is managing your time better, being organized, writing down your goals, writing down your homework. When you get the syllabus of this, put it in and it's all written. You can literally just add it right into the into the schedule. You know I know most people look at this and they're like "Oh my god Neha you're crazy." But hey I get a lot done I'm running two companies. There's a lot that needs to happen in you know a total week and there's a lot of work at speaking engagements this week. I had calls of different people. I had client calls.

You know sometimes I write like take your vitamins. It just helps me to remind myself to do things and I know not everyone is highly organized and I get that. But I do think 2018 might be the year for you. I think it definitely should be the year for you. So, I just want you to know the planner is what made me a top student. It's what changed my life. It's the holiday season and I will tell you, they're shipping is amazing. Like you get the box and it's like nothing like an Amazon box. It's not like a little boring box. It's like beautiful. They open up, they even like include other cute things in there because it's the holidays right now. They make you feel so loved and I love that. You know I just love when I get a package. You know I get so much of the world. I'm sure you as mom, you guys give a lot to. Sometimes you want a little gift in the mail. So, for me I loved it. My sister and I do it together. It's like a little tradition that we do together that we, you know we buy our planners together. That's a cute little thing and then we get it in the mail. Like we literally FaceTime each other and really so excited. It's like Christmas Day when we get it. They have incredible stationery. Some of you have maybe received the card. For me that's handwritten. They're stationery is incredible. They're stickers are incredible. So, I just wanted to do this quick video because I truly am a deep believer that if it's scheduled and if it's planned it actually happens. There's just too many people that are trying to do incredible things are trying to plan out their life and manage it and all keep it here. I'll be really honest. My mom actually I try to give her this planner because she's just had so many years of using post-its. She tends to lose track of everything. It's painful to watch because you know, it's hard to manage your life. You know your spouse social engagements, extracurricular activities, play dates, the kid's schedules you know sports schedule, tutoring schedules, college interviews plus you know evening engagements, parties, friends. There's just a lot that's being managed. I truly believe that if you have the right kind of tools, we can eliminate some of that head clutter. For me this is my half and I am absolutely a big fan of Erin Condren. I think she is changing the way mom's lives work. She's got other gifts for newly to be married women. She's got gifts for people that are pregnant. Stuff that like organizes all that information. Because to me when you're organized you can get so much more done. You break everything down into many tasks and you schedule it in.

My 2018, I know this sounds crazy most of its already planned. We've already figured out what we're doing our schedule. We figure out what we want to be introducing to everybody. We're really excited about it and when it's written down it holds me accountable to making sure it absolutely happens. So, I'd love for you to share. What is your way of organizing? What do you do? Definitely comment below. I'm super curious about what it is that you use and what you do. If you're interested in this, please click on the link below to get it. It's an absolutely incredible website. I've definitely really want you to check it out. It's amazing and then of course please feel free to message us if you need anything any help. We help students to utilize their tools because it's one thing to get a tool. The second thing is how do you execute on that tool. There are a lot of ways to do it better than some other people do. You know I see some people there are times in my life I'm not using it because I take a break. But I will tell you that there's a lot of people that will buy a planner and they don't use it. If you don't use it, you lose it. You know right like what happened this week what. Why no work? Right. So, it's all about making sure that they know what they're doing and how to handle it and how to really effectively use a planner. Actually, helps students all the time because this is a lifelong skill guys. Okay, make sure to click below to check out all her amazing stuff. This is a lifelong skill to be organized. You win the game. I mean that's just how it is in life. You stay organized, you figure out what you need to get done and you write it down. You're going to be a winner no matter what. So anyway, this is Neha Gupta, founder College shortcuts presenting live today with the holiday spirit because I love the holidays. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about my little life hack. My obsession here with my customized planner, my stickers, my mouse pad. You think you like back to school. It is like we do back to school like nobody's business here at College Shortcuts. So please definitely comment below. Let me know what you think of this video. Make sure to go to the top of our page. Send us a message say "hi". We love to hear from you guys. Everyone always gets a response from me. So please definitely message us and definitely click on the link below that I've listed below. To check out exactly where you can get your 2018 to be the strongest year ever for you.