about the stuff that's in my backpack.

And my answer to that is, "Okay."

(percussion music)

So let's talk about the bag first,

before I get into what's inside of it.

This is the Minaal Carry-On.

I actually backed it on Kickstarter a little while ago.

And for traveling the world and going places,

I think this is a fantastic bag.

I'm able to fit everything that I need

to carry with me inside of it.

It opens up in a clamshell fashion, I absolutely love it.

That being said, now it retails for around 300 bucks,

and for daily campus use, it's probably overkill.

For comparison, this is the bag

that I used for most of college.

It's the Synergy, I think it's called, from Swiss Gear.

I got it from Best Buy for about 60 bucks,

and it's a quality backpack.

It hasn't fallen apart in six years,

and I think that's a thing that you should keep in mind

when you're buying a backpack.

But also it's not overkill,

it doesn't cost hundreds of dollars,

and it has enough pockets to hold all your stuff.

All right, let's dig into this thing.

First up is my MacBook Air.

This is probably the thing in my backpack

I use the most because I'm always writing

and going to coffee shops and working on stuff.

I love the Air, absolutely amazing computer.

If you're looking for a Windows computer

that's very comparable,

the Dell XPS 13 is an awesome option.

Beyond that, I am not a laptop expert,

but I can link to some laptop recommendations

in the blog post for this video.

Also got an iPad Mini.

This is the first edition, so no retina screen,

but I mainly just use this for reading books.

It's an upgrade from my Kindle

and I always keep it in the bag.

I also usually have a print book

because I like books, I guess.

And right now I'm reading a book called "Think Smart".

It's "A Neuroscientist's Prescription for

"Improving Your Brain's Performance".

I'm hoping to learn some cool stuff from this book

that I can build into new videos.

So keep an eye out for that kinda stuff.

Also got a couple of paper notebooks.

This is my main one, nothing fancy.

It's an Environotes Recycled Paper Notebook,

I think it costs about 65 cents.

But if you watch my video on my task organization system,

you'll know that a lot of what I do is on paper.

And this thing is my catch-all.

When I'm taking notes from an online course,

they all go in here.

When I'm doing my daily or weekly task lists,

they go in here.

Or when I'm creating B-roll lists

for the graphics and animations

I wanna put in my videos, they go in here.

Everything's in here, it's not very organized.

It's probably not the best way to organize your notes

if you're a student and have lots of classes,

but it works for me.

I've also got a cheap sketchbook in here

for when I wanna create drawings

or illustrations for my videos.

And if you've seen my video on how to ace your finals,

you probably remember this drawing.

So keeping it in my bag at all times is a good way

for me to be able to draw things when I get inspiration,

if I don't happen to be here by my desk.

Lastly, I've got a single purple folder.

It's my catch-all for things like airline ticket stubs

and anything else that needs to be put in a folder,

that's made of paper.

If you're a student and you have a lot of classes,

I actually recommend those accordion binder-devices

with the flap that can snap shut.

It works better than a trapper,

it works better than stuffing lots of folders

into your backpack.

But these days, I don't really have

a whole lot of papers that I need to keep,

so one folder carries them all pretty well.

Moving on to the small stuff.

I've got a Logitech presentation remote,

because occasionally I go speak at schools.

Adapters for the MacBook, I've got the VGA one

for the same reason I've got the presentation remote,

to hook up to projectors when I wanna do a presentation.

And also the Ethernet one, just in case there's no WiFi,

but there is for some reason, an Ethernet cord.

Business cards, I always recommend having

at least a few of these in your backpack,

just in case you meet somebody

and you wanna leave them your contact information

and also leave a good impression.

And if you wanna get them, I recommend using MOO.

I've been using them since I was a college student

and they make really good, high-quality cards.

Pens and pencils, not that interesting.

I don't use anything crazy, I just use what works.

But I will say that I do keep

two pens in my backpack at all times

just in case I'm out somewhere

and someone needs to borrow a pen,

I can be the cool person that lends one out.

And actually, at VidCon, I made a new friend by doing this.

So, thumbs up for friendship?

Umbrella, this is actually a really cool thing

to keep in your backpack.

I always have one on-hand because you don't know

when you're gonna get caught in a rainstorm.

And this has come in handy for me

more times than I can count.

So this thing is staying in my bag.

And it makes for kind of a cool backdrop too, hmm.

A really thin hoodie to deal with

crazy air conditioning in coffee shops.

Laptop charger, because I don't like sadness.

iPhone charging cable because, same reason.

Mico USB and Mini USB cords.

I used to have legit reasons for keeping these,

camera and Pocket WiFi, I think,

but now I just keep them in here

because people with Android phones

always forget their phone chargers,

and then they're very happy when I happen to have one.

USB Battery, I actually picked this up in Japan,

came really in handy when I was out all day,

my phone would tend to die.

I don't use it too much here, in the States,

when I'm just going about my business,

but it keeps a spot in the backpack

because it can come in handy.

And of course, headphones.

And lastly, a canteen for tea and water

because this thing doesn't do so well in a backpack.

Now that's generally what I keep

in my backpack on a daily basis, today.

But since I'm not a student anymore

and there are other things I used to keep in the bag,

I wanted to show you a few other items

you might find useful.

First up is actually a plug strip.

I don't keep this in my bag on a daily basis,

but whenever I travel, I do make sure to keep it

along with this little two-prong to three-prong converter.

This basically makes it so that even if all the outlets

are taken in a coffee shop or an airport or a hostel,

I can make more outlets and that's always a good thing.

When I lived on campus, I always kept a skate tool in my bag

because my main way of getting around campus

was a skateboard.

Book flags, these come in handy for marking your place

in books that you don't wanna highlight.

I always kept my clicker in my bag

because I had classes that required it.

Now if you go to a school that requires this thing,

yes, you should keep it in your bag all the time,

but I think that schools are actually starting

to move to smartphone clicker apps,

which would be pretty cool.

But either way, this thing always had

a spot in my bag, as much as I don't like it.

A Pick Four notebook.

Now this is actually a pretty cool goal-tracking device.

Basically, it has you commit to doing daily practice

on four different goals for a six-week period,

and every single day you write down

your progress on each of your goals.

I've used several of these in the past,

and they've helped me make progress on goals

like learning Japanese, building my own iPhone app,

and lots of other things.

And lastly, my trusty graphing calculator for math classes.

So that ends this tour of my backpack.

Hopefully you enjoyed it, and if you did,

you can leave a like to support this channel.

Now, I actually wanna know what kinda

cool stuff you keep in your backpack.

So let me know down in the comments below.

That's all I got, so thanks so much for watching

and I will see you next week.

(upbeat music)

Hey there, guys, thanks for watching this video.

Now if you enjoyed it and you wanna get new videos

on being a more effective student every single week,

you can click that big red subscribe button, right there.

I also wrote a book on how to earn better grades

and it's absolutely free, so if you wanna get a copy,

click the picture of the book and I'll get one to you.

You can find more detail and links to some of the things

I mentioned in this video at the companion blog post.

You can find that by clicking the orange logo, right there.

In last week's video, I covered 20 different websites

that I think are really useful for students,

so check it out if you haven't seen it.

And if you wanna connect with me or ask questions,

I'm TomFrankly on Twitter or you can leave a comment below.

Thanks for watching!