A Softer Way to Work Smarter

Believe me, when you're running on empty, pushing through another late night, telling yourself "just one more task" – that's when burnout creeps in like a thief. You think you're being productive, but you're actually stealing from your future self. Your energy, your creativity, your joy – all getting drained while you convince yourself you're "grinding."

Here's what I've learned about burnout: it whispers lies to you. It tells you that rest is laziness, that slowing down means giving up, that everyone else is moving faster while you're falling behind. But here's the truth – burnout clouds your vision of what really matters.

When you're burnt out, you can't see clearly anymore. You lose sight of why you started, what brings you joy, and what success actually looks like for YOU. You start chasing everyone else's definition of productivity instead of honoring your own rhythm and goals.

Queen, why am I saying this to you? I am saying this because you need to see through the fog of burnout and recognize the value in taking care of yourself while pursuing your vision. There are ways to work smarter, not harder, regardless of where you're starting top of work and life, here are 9 simple tools that can help you feel a little less overwhelmed.

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Tools That Actually Give You Your Time Back

1. Notion: For all your scattered thoughts, tasks, class notes, or project ideas, notion helps you stay organized in one place, without the mess.

2. Perplexity: When you're trying to understand something quickly, Perplexity gives clear answers without sending you down a search spiral.

3. Shortwave: If your inbox is full and you're not sure where to begin, Shortwave helps you respond faster, with thoughtful messages that still sound like you.

4. Fathom: In meetings or online classes, Fathom takes notes and gives you a clean summary afterward. So you can focus instead of scrambling to type everything.

5. GrammarlyGO: If something you've written doesn’t sound right, GrammarlyGO helps you reword it to sound clearer, more confident, or more natural.

6. Gamma: Creating presentations can be time-consuming. Gamma helps you build clean, easy-to-understand slides from your main ideas, without the design stress.

7. ReclaimYour calendar doesn’t have to control you. Reclaim helps you block time for deep work, short breaks, and priorities, so you're not stretched too thin.

8. LazyApply: If you’re job hunting and don’t have the energy to keep filling out endless forms, LazyApply helps by sending out your applications in the background.

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Here's what I want you to remember: taking care of yourself isn't selfish, it's strategic.These tools? They're not about becoming more productive, they're about becoming more present. More available to the work that lights you up and the life you're building. You're already enough. Now let's just make things a little easier.