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If you watch TikToks, you’ve likely come across videos about “romanticizing” your life. In essence, romanticizing is all about making everyday routines or tasks feel a little more special. Here are four simple ways I use tech to do just that.
1Using Aesthetic Productivity Apps
Romanticizing your life is all about finding beauty in the simplest of things, like everyday tasks, and essentially creating an idealized or magical version of them. Using aesthetic productivity apps is one of the easiest ways to bring that sense of magic into your daily routine.
Personally, I prefer sticking to apps that let me customize the color palette and overall interface.
Thankfully, most mainstream productivity apps are highly customizable. For instance, I use Google Calendar totime-block every second of my life. Given how often I check my calendar and plan my week, I decided to turn my basic calendar into an aesthetic, Pinterest-like version.
I love the dark academia aesthetic, so I like to incorporate muted tones like deep browns, greens and golds into my digital setups. Instead of switching to a new app, I usedCoolors, a color palette generator, toredesign my Google Calendar.
This simple tweak made a world of difference. Instead of dreading the thought of looking at my plain and somewhat depressing calendar, I started enjoying the process of planning my week.
Similarly, I rely on Notion to track work and college deadlines, plan my week, and budget my finances. Rather than using one of the thousands of free Notion templates as is, I either create my own from scratch or customize templates to fit my aesthetic.
While setting up these apps can sometimes take hours, the end result makes staying organized and completing mundane tasks like planning my day or creating to-do lists feel less like a chore and more like a ritual I genuinely enjoy.
2Curating Playlists for Different Moods and Tasks
In my opinion, music has the power to make even the most dreadful tasks feel a little better. Take walking to an 8 a.m. class on a Monday morning, for example—it’s an experience no sane person looks forward to. But add your favorite playlist to the mix, and suddenly, the walk transforms into a moment straight out of a movie, making you feel like what Gen-Z calls a “main character.”
So, whether I’m on a walk, on the bus, cramming for an exam, working, or even making a cup of coffee, you’ll always catch me with my AirPods in, vibing to music.Music has always been my go-to for boosting productivity, but every task throughout the day calls for a different vibe.
For example, when I’m on a walk or commuting, I prefer songs with soft, sad, and gloomy vocals, like those by Billie Eilish and Gracie Abrams. But when I’m doing chores or getting ready in the morning, I like more upbeat tracks I can jam out to.
To avoid searching for songs in the moment, I’ve created playlists tailored to different moods and tasks. Some of my playlists include “writing”, “sad girl walk,” “morning,” “thought daughter car ride, and even “shower.”
While setting up playlists from scratch can take some time, I find that it’s one of the easiest ways to bring a little magic to the everyday grind.
Spotify’s AI Playlist featurealso works wonders. Describe your mood, and it serves up a fresh soundtrack in seconds. I like building my own for a personal touch, but it’s a great start.
3Taking Pretty Notes While Studying
Since I’m a student, I typically spend more than half of my day at college. While I firmly believe that discipline beats motivation every time, motivation can make the tedious process of studying much easier.
In my opinion, one of the simplest ways to stick to your study schedule and study for longer stretches is to make studying more engaging and enjoyable. For me, that means taking pretty, well-organized notes.
Whether you preferhandwritten notes (digital or physical) or typed ones, finding ways to make them visually appealing can make a big difference. I like to use different color schemes, experiment with fonts for headings, highlight key information, add images and diagrams, and ensure my notes are neat and stand out.
Not only does this help me stay motivated, but it also makes my notes much easier to review when exams are approaching!
4Customizing My Phone and Desktop Wallpaper
Since romanticizing your life is all about shifting your perspective to find joy and beauty in even the simplest of things, it heavily depends on your mindset and how you perceive your day-to-day life. The more you interact with something that brings you inspiration and comfort, the easier it becomes to focus on the positives in your routine and appreciate the simple things.
That’s when I asked myself—what do I interact with every single day? The answer was simple: my devices, like my phone, laptop, and tablet. That’s why I’m a big fan of customizing my wallpapers across all my devices every now and then. Changing them to something inspiring or comforting helps influence my mindset every time I unlock my device and sets the tone for the day.
Your wallpaper can reflect your personality, goals, aspirations, or dreams. For instance,while preparing for a productive new year, I created a vision board filled with aesthetic images of the life I aspire to live and set it as my wallpaper across all my devices.
This way, every time I use one of my devices, I’m reminded of what I’m working towards and suddenly the tasks I need to do to get there don’t feel as daunting. That’s the magic of romanticizing the process! Sometimes, I take it a step further by customizing my widgets and icons to match the wallpaper I select to create a cohesive and visually pleasing digital space.
The harsh truth is that you need to get your everyday tasks done, no matter how boring or draining they may feel. The way you perceive these tasks often comes down to your perspective. So, instead of dreading them at the mere thought, I decided to start romanticizing those moments.
Romanticizing your life starts from within. For me, the easiest way to shift how I felt internally was to create an environment that inspires and uplifts me. Instead of making drastic changes, I made small, tech-driven adjustments to help me find joy in the simplest moments.
