How To: Be Your Most Chaotic Self in Spring 2024

As Harvard students return to humanity after hibernating for the last month, the spring semester could unfold in many directions. Whether you want to be an academic weapon or an actual loose cannon, Flyby has some tips for you on how to become the most chaotic version of yourself this semester.

Google Calendar Chaos

Depending on your lifestyle, this semester could go one of two ways: scheduling everything or scheduling nothing.

As someone who meticulously curated the perfect g-cal color palette last semester, I can tell you: if you’re aiming to become the most productive version of yourself this semester, block out time for everything. Schedule time to study, socialize, fold laundry — you name it.

Does my calendar make people gasp every time I open it in public? Sure. But I also struck the impossible balance between staying on top of my work, having a social life, and getting a decent amount of sleep.

Haters are gonna hate, but this method works. You’ll never find yourself scrambling to finish a p-set again.

Alternately, if you want to mellow yourself out this semester, only schedule classes and meetings on your g-cal — never anything else. If you can’t see the little colorful square, the commitment doesn’t exist.

With all of the time in the world on your g-cal, you can live in stress-free bliss. Time is a construct anyway: getting to class on time is a myth.

Breakfast Chaos

You may be asking: how could a run-of-the-mill breakfast be chaotic? I’m a strong believer that your approach to your first meal of the day reveals more than your zodiac sign ever could.

This semester, you can be the trooper who treks to Annenberg or Quincy House every morning at 8 a.m. to make yourself the most glorious buffet of HUDS offerings possible. I’m talking danishes, first picks at the fresh fruit, and sufficient time to actually enjoy your breakfast. If you want to be the most put together person that everyone in your friend group aspires to be, do this. Consistency is key to make this impressive.

On the other hand, you could be the person who buys a box of breakfast bars or yogurts and constantly runs to your 9 a.m. with a granola bar and coffee in hand. Did you wake up late, do you just want to be the first one to class, or are you an early riser who has already had an entire morning? The world will never know, and now you seem mysterious to your new classmates. This option is time-efficient and gives you an enigmatic persona. You will be everyone’s section crush.

“Let’s grab a meal sometime!”

Hear me out before you laugh at me. This phrase is pretty inescapable and self-explanatory, but you can use it in one of two ways.

You could make an effort to actually follow up and sit down for lunch or dinner with different friends, new classmates, maybe even a Classroom-to-Table with a professor at least three times a week. The key to this is offering it proactively and always listening to understand rather than to reply. Be chaotic, and turn into a meal extrovert. Everyone will wonder, “How do they know EVERYONE?!” Lunch, that’s how.

The flip side of this is becoming the person who is all talk, offering to “grab a meal” but never meaning it. Who are you? Oh, nobody knows. But you ostensibly have a full schedule, which by Harvard logic means you are very cool.

By following these short steps, you can transform into a more chaotic version of yourself for the spring semester and beyond, keeping yourself and the rest of campus on their toes…