There’s one app that’s changing my study habits for the better this quarter: MarsCraft.
A bit about me: I’ve always been a good student, but not an efficient one. Although I did well throughout high school, I struggled with focusing on my schoolwork for enough hours to get something done in a timely fashion. I’d take an hour on an assignment that probably could have been completed in 20 minutes. I tried to convince myself that I was a productive, efficient student that was just given more difficult, time-consuming work to do in comparison to my twin brother and friends. And when they pointed out that we were all doing the same exact work, my excuse was that I was a perfectionist and wanted to do my very best on everything.
The truth is, I was not a productive student. I procrastinated. I was distracted every 5 minutes and that caused me to spend hours doing my homework.
Specifically, I was distracted by my phone, which was always near me whenever I was studying. Whether it was checking messages or scrolling through my news feed again, I constantly played a back-and-forth game with my schoolwork and phone. And I kept losing.
I started to notice that I felt more stressed because I was spending all my free time in the evenings “doing my schoolwork.” If I did go to events on campus or go out with friends, I would be thinking about all the work I still had to do and how long it would take me. My study habits weren’t healthy because I wasn’t allowing myself any time during the weekday evenings to relax or enjoy personal time after a long day of classes and work.
Over the summer, I decided once and for all that I would break this terrible habit of checking my phone constantly while studying and doing schoolwork. I was determined to not be so stressed out this fall quarter. I wanted to be that focused, efficient, and productive student that I had told myself I was for all those years. I wanted to have time to hang out with friends during the weekdays. I wanted to feel good about going to events on campus. I wanted to spend time with the people on the floor of my res hall. I wanted to have time to relax and enjoy myself.
I’ve made a few changes to my daily routine, study habits, and lifestyle that have already helped me become more productive this quarter. The one I want to highlight today is installing MarsCraft on my phone.
(Image courtesy of Enclaver Labs Ltd.)
MarsCraft is a timer app that helps you concentrate on whatever it is you’re doing in the real world while building your colony base on Mars in the app. You set the timer for however long you need to be focused for. If you become distracted by your phone and leave the app, your colony base will get destroyed. But if you successfully stay focused on the real world, you get rewards and end up with a colony.
This app is the secret to my productivity. There are a few more important things to mention.
The best part is, Marscraft is free in the App store! When researching what apps were best for productivity, many top-rated apps weren’t free. Or the other free apps that I tried required you to pay to unlock all of the features.
For Marscraft, when you have the timer going, encouraging messages float across the screen above the countdown. The messages include quotes like “Remember why you started,” “Stay focused, Martian!” or my favorite, “Be present, focus on your real life.” There have been several times where I habitually touched my phone to distract myself and I saw these messages. I was reminded of why I was using the app and encouraged to stay focused on what I was working on.
(Image courtesy of Enclaver Labs Ltd.)
Basically, the app lets you determine how much time you want to stay focused for, and then how much time you want to take a quick break. Once you have successfully completed a build and stayed focus for whatever time you set, you have the option to set another time to relax from focusing.
I use Marscraft when I’m studying and doing homework. This app helps me focus and not get distracted and lose myself in the endless scrolling or checking of messages. I’m now the most productive that I have ever been.
Marscraft has helped me become a better student, be more present in my life, and focus on working hard to achieve my goals.