lost.

[academic-and-goal-driven]

Acing the LSAT: Productive Studying &

Motivation

The toughest part about studying while having a full-time job is getting started. I have the desire to achieve a high LSAT score but I get distracted by friends, family, Netflix and Instagram.  

I think I have figured out the best tactic to get over the lack of focus. 

First Step: Goal Setting

I created a detailed monthly calendar and 30-min weekly schedule sheet.

The Monthly Calendar

Details page numbers, practice exams, and LSAT sections

goals should be both realistic and challenging so that you don’t get easily bored and fully benefit 

The 30-Min Weekly Schedule

Details studying time slots and gym time

Second Step: Find Your Space and/or Your Study Buddy

Finding Your Space

Your space should have a desk or a wide table with a comfortable chair

How does your room, library, or apartment’s study areas make you feel?

Can you operate at full optimum in a quiet space or an area with medium volume?

My favorite space is my living room where I have a great view of the city and low volume.

Find Your Study Buddy

Your study buddy should have 3 qualities

Proactive Studier

Doesn’t talk a lot 

Holds you accountable for missing study dates

So far since graduating my Uni, I have two study buddies: my boyfriend (studying CPA) and one of my friends (studying master’s at Georgetown).

Third Step: Study-Fun Balance

Studying is self-care because you are steps closer to achieving a bigger goal which contributes to more self-esteem. Having “productive” fun is also another 1/3 of self-care while studying is 2/3. 

This means you should spend 1/3 of your free time from work to engage in “productively” fun activities such as reading, going to the museum, and having dinner with your family or friends.

Productive fun is about learning and connecting with the outside world in order to see the bigger picture of why you are studying in the first place.

Currently, I read Becoming by Michelle Obama for productive fun

Fourth Step: Don’t Be Hard on Yourself

“Tomorrow’s promises become yesterday’s failures!”

It’s never too late to get started right now! Remember promises are the difference between today and tomorrow. 

Finally: Start the 100 Days of Productivity Challenge

Print out 14 sheets of 30-min Weekly Schedules (100 Days / 7 days = 14 weeks)

Goal: Complete all 14 sheets and shade in your study-time with red pen

I aim to shade in all my study-time slots from Monday to Sunday for 14 weeks.

I have to complete a total of 31 hours a week. If I miss an hour or more, I will make sure to add that hour or more to my weekend schedule.

NEVER EVER miss the 31-hour goal. Make sure to complete 31-hours before the next week.

[missmentelle]

At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA. At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.  At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer. 

At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.   At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.

At age 28, Wayne Coyne ( from The Flaming Lips) was a fry cook. At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.  At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker.  At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs. Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51. Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40. Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40. Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career and landed his first movie role at age 42. Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first major movie role until he was 46.

Morgan Freeman landed his first major movie role at age 52. Kathryn Bigelow won the Academy Award for Best Director when she made The Hurt Locker at age 57. Grandma Moses didn’t begin her painting career until age 76. Louise Bourgeois didn’t become a famous artist until she was 78. Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t found fame and fortune by the age of 21. Hell, it’s okay if you don’t even know what your dream is yet. Even if you’re flipping burgers, waiting tables or answering phones today, you never know where you’ll end up tomorrow. Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it. 

Never tell yourself you missed your chance. 

Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough. 

You can do it. Whatever it is. 

[studyblr]

little study tips

set up a reward system: be that candy, lighting your favorite scented candle, watching that episode of b99, or scrolling through tumblr aimlessly for 5 minutes! ensures you stay motivated while completing tasks step by step

create a vision board: vision boards are collections of pictures that motivate you or describe a future you want to achieve. not only is it a lot of fun, you learn a lot about yourself and your goals and always have something to give you that spike of motivation. tip: pinterest has amazing boards on every. topic. out. there

break up your larger tasks into smaller ones: i’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times but it’s so important to create a list of smaller tasks instead of one big one. everything seems much more do-able once of a sudden, and you can prioritize certain tasks much more easily.

write it down instead of looking at it: if you really want to memorize something, writing it down will help you a lot more than just repeating the words out loud or staring at them. this also goes for any structures you need to know by heart: printing out a picture and labeling it is way better than just looking at the labeled textbook!

just start for 5 minutes: even if you don’t feel like it, tell yourself you’ll only do it for 5 minutes. this makes it easier to actually get started on things, and might still trick you into continuing the work even after those 5 minutes are over.

write a letter to your future self: some websites, such as futureme, offer the free service of being able to send yourself an email in some months, a year or multiple years from now. thinking about how much can change in that amount of time and how far you can come is extremely motivating, and also a very nice surprise for your future self.

[studyquill]

Notetaking

Sound Note - take notes while you record audio

Evernote - notetaking that syncs across platforms

Paper 53 - minimal notetaking that syncs

Microsoft OneNote - collaboration and syncing, best for Office users

Google Keep - jot things down, best for Google suite users

Notability - take notes and annotate PDFs

Mindly - create mind maps

Day One - a digital journal

Flash Cards

Quizlet - the quintessential flash card app

StudyBlue - another commonly used app

Cram - best for its “cram mode”

Eidetic - uses spaced repetition for effective memorization

Planner 

My Study Life - schedules, tasks, reminders, and more

StudyCal - keeps track of tasks, exams, and grades

24me - automated reminders and event planning

iStudiez - schedule and prioritized task list

Google Calendar - a calendar, best for Google users

Glass Planner - a calendar and to do list with incredible functionality

To Do List

Clear - organized to-do and reminders

MinimaList - simple to-do and focus timer

Trello - collaborative project organizer

Todoist - clean and functional task manager

Default notes app on your phone

Time Management

Forest - plant trees by staying focused

Pomotodo - pomodoro timer with to-do list

Timeglass - custom timers

Tide - pomodoro with white noise

Alarmy - forces you out of bed 

Pillow - smart alarm that tracks sleep cycles

Productivity

Workflow - automate tasks

Habitica - turn your habits into an RPG

Continuo - simple, colorful activity tracking

Freedom - block distracting apps

Free Learning

Coursera - free MOOCs

TED - listen to Ted Talks

Duolingo - language learning

Memrise - spaced repetition language vocabulary

Khan Academy - free video lessons

Ambient Noise

8tracks - curated playlists

Spotify - online music streaming

Coffitivity - cafe ambience

Noisli - background sound generator

Rain Rain - rain sounds

Binaural - binaural beats

Health

Rockin Ramen - recipes based on ramen

MealBoard - meal planning

Lifesum - healthy eating

Stop Breath And Think - mindfulness meditation

Pacifica - mental health management

Sworkit - personalized video workouts

Waterlogged - hydration tracker

Reference

WolframAlpha - Google on steroids

Oxford Dictionary - all of English at your fingertips

RefMe - citation generator

PhotoMath - solve math problems by taking a photo

Mathway - step by step math help

Desmos - free graphing calculator

Wikipedia - not the best source, but it’s handy

Miscellaneous 

Companion - stay safe when walking alone

Mint - money management

Toshl - finance manager

Tiny Scanner - scan documents

[eintsein]

How to Fix your Sleep Schedule

We’ve all been there. You’ve been pushing back your bedtime for an entire week and now you feel exhausted and you don’t think you can function as well as you normally could. You just want to get enough sleep again, but how?

Make small changes

It’s a lot easier to push back your bedtime than to push it forward—but it’s not impossible. You just have to take it step by step. Go to sleep 15-30 minutes earlier every night until you reach your desired bedtime. You could try going to sleep much earlier than your regular time, but according that doesn’t usually work out. If you’re waking up later than you want to, you might also want to try waking up 15 minutes earlier each morning until you get up at the desired time.

I remember there was a week this semester when I went to sleep at 1am for several days in a row (I usually sleep at 11). I was sleep deprived and exhausted and I tried to sleep at 8 to catch up on lost sleep, but I couldn’t. I just laid in my bed for an hour until I gave up trying to sleep and decided to work on some homework until I felt sleepy again. What I should’ve done was go to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until I could go to sleep at 11 again.

Adjust exposure to sunlight

Exposure to adequate amounts of sunlight is key to helping our bodies maintain their circadian rhythm, which is the process that regulates our energy levels during the day and tells us when to be awake and when to go to sleep. Sunlight helps our body produce optimal levels of melatonin, a hormone that makes us feel sleepy at night. Studies have shown that people get better quality sleep in the summer because there is a greater exposure to light.

That being said, you should expose yourself to more light during the day to get better sleep at night. This might mean waking up earlier so you don’t miss hours of sunlight in the morning.

At night, you should reduce your exposure to any sort of light - both natural and artificial - so that your body knows it’s time to not be awake. I personally turn down the lights (and only have my fairy lights on) after 10:30 pm. When you’re trying to get back into your desired sleep schedule, you could aim to turn down the lights 30 minutes before your desired bedtime for that day.

Don’t eat too close to bedtime

You should wait 2 - 3 hours between dinner/your last meal and bedtime. I would talk about how studies show that eating too close to bedtime can possibly damage your health, e.g. causing reflux when you’re lying down, but that’s all been said before. The only thing I’d like to reiterate is that you sleep better when you wait after you eat. But as for my own logic on why you shouldn’t go to sleep when you’re full…

When you wait a few hours after you’ve had your last meal, before you go to bed, you won’t go to bed full, meaning that in the morning, you’re likely to be hungry. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go back to sleep when I’m, like, starving, so being hungry when I wake up causes me to resist sleeping in.

Don’t sleep in

You would think that sleeping in is, in fact, good for catching up on sleep. In reality, it doesn’t make you stop sleeping late, since you’d probably still spend the same amount of time awake. Instead, once you wake up, you should stay up, and don’t go back to sleep. You’re likely to get sleepy at an earlier time, and this will help you push forward your bedtime.

Resist napping

Resisting naps also has a similar logic to not sleeping in. If you take a nap, you’ll feel more energetic and night, and you might not be able to fall asleep as soon as you wanted to. If you resist taking a nap, however, you’ll be more tired at night, and you’ll fall asleep more easily.

Be strict with yourself

Finally, the key to having a good, consistent sleep schedule is to be strict with yourself. Don’t let yourself stay up for just 5 more minutes because you still have a ‘small’ task to take care of. When it’s time to end the day, end the day.

Maybe it’s hard for you to be strict with yourself since you can’t justify going to sleep over completing whatever task or responsibility you have left. Well, here’s my logic:

You could stay up 5 more minutes and risk extending that to a few hours or so in attempt to finish something. There’s no guarantee that you’ll finish it, and you might just lose all those precious hours of sleep for nothing, since you’ll wake up in the morning tired and unable to effectively do the task you wanted to do; or

You could stop everything you’re doing and sleep on it. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and clear-headed and ready to tackle on your tasks for the day. You find a new way to think about the task you were stuck on, and you finally solve it in less than half an hour.

I do realize that this only applies if the task isn’t super urgent. Let’s say you have a project due 11:59 PM and you’re rushing to finish that. In this case, the core problem is probably something else: an inability to manage your time, or procrastination. If that’s the case, you might want to check out my posts on how to beat procrastination and how to create an efficient (revision) schedule. The latter post is tailored for exam preparation, but the main ideas are the same for general scheduling (there’s a recap at the bottom if you just want to know the main ideas).

Additionally, you might wanna check out my post on my night routine.

And that’s all I have for you today! Hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions, feel free to drop me an ask or message me. Have an awesome day :)

[mat-something]

Hi this post is very helpful but how do you be strict with yourself getting up in the morning?

[eintsein]

in order to get anything done, you gotta have 1) motivation, and 2) willpower. the easiest way to boost willpower is to trigger it with something you can’t avoid.

for example, one of the things you can try is setting a really loud and annoying alarm and putting your alarm clock/phone somewhere far from your bed. one time i used a recording of myself singing as my alarm so ofc when i hear my own voice in the morning im all like nope gotta shut that off rn before anyone else hears.

you could also sleep with the curtains and window/s open so the light and sound in the morning will wake you up - this might not work as well if you’re a deep sleeper, though.

it’d be even better if you could set a deadline in the morning, e.g. finish all errands by lunch time or call someone at 9am, so when you wake up you would think, ‘wait what time is it? im supposed to be doing X!’ and that’ll get you to wake up

[howtosucceedinschool]

How to Calendar Block (Part 1)

Admittedly, I have never been a huge fan of scheduling. It’s just not for me. Which is odd since I’m not a particularly spontaneous person, and I am someone who thrives on routine. That being said, recently I have been getting more and more into scheduling and establishing regular daily routines. One of the best methods to establish order in your life and find time for everything you want and need to do is through a process called “calendar blocking.” 

Although calendar blocking is nothing new, I was recently reintroduced to it while watching Youtubers Amy Landolino and @studywithmariana 

Calendarblocking is a time-management tool in which you literally “block” out your commitments on your schedule. Some of these, such as classes, appointments, or meetings, might already have a fixed time when they are going to happen, and you also probably know exactly how long they will take. Whereas other commitments, such as homework, and or studying, are flexible both in when they can occur, and how long they might take. 

Plotting Out Your Weekly Commitments and Priorities

The first thing to go into your scheduling app should be weekly commitments and priorities. The very, very first thing should be any commitments, that must occur at the same time every day, such as classes and work. Obviously, different people have different standing commitments, different flexibility, and different priorities. Maybe your job allows you to make your own hours, or maybe it doesn’t. If your job doesn’t allow flexible scheduling, its obviously even more important that those set hours go in first. Maybe you are a religious person committed to attending services every week, or you have a standing volunteer commitment. Put all that stuff into your calendar. For the purposes of this post, I will be using my favorite calendar app, Google Calendar, but you can use whichever one you prefer.

This is what a typical week looked like for me last semester. In my case, the yellow represented waking up/morning routine, green were classes, blue was work, and pink were extracurriculars.

Add Relevant Appointments and Meetings

Chances are you might have a meeting or appointment this week. So you should go ahead and add those too. You also might want to add your professor’s office hours if you need help, or schedule time to meet with them.

The red space now represents an appointment and some office hours. One of the features I love about google calendar is that things can overlap. As you can see here, part of my professor’s office hours overlaps with my class and work. So I would either need to reschedule my work hours (something my job allowed me to do) or schedule a separate meeting with this professor.

Scheduling Study Time

At this point, you might want to go ahead and schedule study time, as you are, after all, a student. Because this is an example and not my actual schedule, I just threw in some random study times.

Study times in purple

Scheduling Meals, Naps, Sleep, Self-Care, Excercise

All of these things are important, and ought to be priorities, but unlike some of the things we previously discussed, they are more flexible, and can be scheduled at times to fit around the rest of your schedule (for most people).

Note: I didn’t bother adding all of this since once again it is an example, but you can see some examples (periwinkle). It is also helpful to add details. For example, I might just put “dinner” if I am planning on eating by myself, but if I already have plans to eat with a friend, I might put “dinner with kellie.” I try to schedule dinners with as many different friends as possible.

This is a very basic introduction to calendar blocking, and how I do it. Next week, I will be discussing more tips and tricks for really utilizing google calendar to its fullest potential.

[journalsanctuary]

Starting a bullet journal - a tutorial

Tips for anyone who’d like to start a bullet journal but doesn’t know how/where to begin :)

Keep reading

[obsidianstudy]

a guide to bullet journals 

hey guys! so i’ve been asked a couple of times what bullet journals were and how to bullet journal, so i’ve built a masterpost that’ll hopefully make things clear! (:

what’s a bullet journal anyways?

great question, friend. 

so a bullet journal is a flexible, customization, all-in-one/all-for-one system! it’s where you get to combine your planner, calendar, to-do list, doodles, schedule, journal, dairy, and anything else you can think of into one!

this was originally created by Ryder Carroll, you can check out the official bullet journal website and the bullet journal video to see how bujo-ing all began.

we also affectionately call bullet journals bujos for short (like we name our ships, we’ve taken the first two letters and mashed them together!)

you basically get to mash up all your organization stuffs into one notebook/journal/dairy!

where do i start + (is there a set way i have to do things?)

to answer the last question first, absolutely not!!! there’s no set way to do things, but there’s generally basic things everyone does but other than that, the best part of having a bullet journal is the freedom to do and organize and set up any way you’d like it!

here’s where i’d begin:

start by choosing your poison (a notebook).

you can use any notebook, be it a plain notebook you picked up at targets or a fancy pants one you bought at muji or something! i’ve used both, and both are equally good to use!

but in case you were wondering, most of us use journals (either blank, lined, or dotted to allow for more freedom in setting up our bujos) that are mostly for bujos! 

bujos are usually smaller (makes them portable and light), only a little bigger than your palm, but honestly, the most important part is that you like whatever notebook you’ve chosen. that’s all there is to it, honestly.

what are the notebooks i see everyone using though??

most likely the bujos you’re seeing all around are either leuchtturm or moleskine. 

these are the more “official” bullet journals that are basically universally used. 

next, start with the basics.

like trying to build a robot, you’ve gotta build your basic frame / layout for your bullet journal! 

begin with a key or legend.

your bullet journal goes in a chronological order, like a diary. so as you work in your bujo, having a legend / key will help you organize your thoughts and help separate your tasks from dates, mark some things as important, etc.

in your legend, put symbols that’ll stand for things! 

perhaps a checkbox so you can check things off as you do them? (most people put to-do lists in their bujo each day / week)

a clock to represent dates, exclamation marks for important things, etc.

you choose whatever you think will help you sort things out!

color coding (sub-point)

you can also color code your legend and bullet journal to stand for different things (green = birthdays, blue = school events, etc.)

an index

your index is your table of contents! it helps you keep track of everything you’ve got going on in case you get lost or want to check out a certain day or page that you did last month!

don’t forget to number your pages, kids.

actual spreads

there’s absolutely no set way to do things in your bullet journal, but you add everything and anything you want, basically. further below in this masterpost/guide i’ve got some different (and amazing) bullet journals and spread examples listed!!

most go with weekly spreads, some do daily spreads

but what you do on your actual spreads is 

a to-do list of what you’ve got going on and what you’ve gotta to today! (on weekly spreads, people put the day of the week and a list underneath, usually)

doodles and inspiring quotes or lyrics or whatever

pretty pictures

ideas or sketches

notes from class or just a place to jot things down in

whatever you like, tbh!

the lists and stuff

sometimes, people dedicate one or two whole pages for one big big big list thing! 

this deviates from the spread and is where bujo-ing is super fun, where you get a lot of freedom in how you want to set up and work with your bujo.

for example, you can have 

a page for books you want to read this year, movies you’ve watched, goals for the year, habit trackers, a quote collection, etc.

all the rest

other things you can put in your bujo are

ticket stubs

calendars

photos

doodles

washi tape

habit trackers + water trackers

literally everything

ya thats about it, actually. that’s how to: bullet journal.

i know how to bullet journal now! what’s next?

you probably wanna know the things people use with their bujo, right?

washi tape

basically pretty (often paper) tape with patterns, colors, drawings, whatever

stationery

people use pencil, marker, pen, highlighters, and anything you can think of to draw or write in their bujo

any other advice, jo, you long-winded nerd?

ya definitely 

don’t feel bad if you mess up or make mistakes in your bullet journal!! i do it literally all the time and it’s totally okay. 

do what works for you

have lots of fun doing it!

don’t be afraid to experiment, yes!

go overboard, stay minimalistic- do whatever you like the best, basically.

finally, we’re done! that’s it, thanks for sticking with me for this long, folks!

here are the links to stuff tho (examples of bullet journals, etc.)

other masterposts and guides on bullet journalling

how to bullet journal by @study-ings​

bullet journals by @hermionegoals​

bullet journal masterpost by @kimching232​

basics of bullet journalling by @mugglestudiesblr​

guide to bullet journalling by @eruditeestudy​

what the heck is a bullet journal? by @studyign​

examples of bullet journal spreads / bullet journals

kou’s freaking amazing stuff (@studykouffee)

examples of my bujo lmao 

maggie’s lovely uniform spreads (@studywithmaggie)

win’s bujo for the win!! (@smoinerd​)

judy has the cutest coolest stuff ever?? (@focusign​)

cheyenne has the most aesthetic nice stuff ever (@studyrose​)

lucie’s spreads make me cry bc perfection (@journalsanctuary​)

there are a ton more that i haven’t listed, but if u look at the links under ‘other mps and guides on bujoing’ there are masterposts with nothing but miles upon miles of links for your perusal)

my favorite hoomans with amazing, inspirational bullet journals

i’m probably biased but #noregrets these people are amazing and have great bullet journals

@studywithinspo

@studywithmaggie

@studypetals

@eintsein

@studybuzz

@studykouffee

@grangergrades

@emmastudies

@tomi-letters

@educatier

@studyrose

@focusign

@smoinerd

@studyquill

+ a bunch more i haven’t listed!!!

hope this helped! 

love you all, joce

[madness-and-gods]

[1010ll]

[stateofstudying-blog]

tips for finals (that are ACTUALLY helpful)

hey everyone! so I haven’t posted in forever and that’s bc junior yr has been a shithole yr for me yaknow and I was rlly depressed and didn’t rlly have any sort of motivation but I’ve regained it and #bouncedback from my slump and I’m here and ready to give you some tips for finals so without further ado here u go…

basic! drink water, eat healthy, bathe, workout, whatever (y’all know the drill, just remember to take care of yourself during this whole process and remember that YOUR GRADES DO NOT DEFINE YOU)

studying! plan out your study time!!! don’t expect to sit down somewhere and automatically be able to harness all of your focus onto the task at hand (whatever it may be), you need to set a certain time frame and decide what it is you want to accomplish (and be realistic about it, i.e. you can’t possibly write summaries for every history chapter in just 1hr but maybe you can go through your vocabulary several times in that hour)

music! although it may be fun to always have ur fave artist on repeat while you’re studying, I would strongly advise against that because it draws your focus away from what you need to do. personally, I listen to music with some singing (I can’t do that Mozart stuff all the time lol) but i tend to listen to Kygo and a lot of electro pop stuff (that doesn’t have a lot of lyrics/singing) and also keeps me awake and peppy and shit but doesn’t draw away my focus (BUT EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT SO YOU DO YOU, just remember to be able to FOCUS, it’s time to GRIND)

study space! i personally study better outside of my home and at cafes simply bc it takes away my ability to ignore my responsibilities and go to sleep or simply be distracted by other things I could do like wash the dishes lol. but ik that everyone can’t always do that so this is the next best thing… try to create a study space, preferably not on/near your bed… try to make the space as clean/tidy as possible. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee. get some snacks (DO NOT CARB LOAD, carb load = instant sleep hahaha). And get comfy but not too comfy.

organizing! try to organize your notes as best as you can. fill in what you don’t have by just asking some school pals for their notes, also by asking teachers any last minute questions. this may be super overwhelming but you’ve got this!

study groups! I’ve found that I study best with about 1-3 ppl and nothing more. try to find a study buddy for each class so that you can quiz and be a source of motivation for each other. every year of my high school career I’ve stayed at one of my closest friend’s house and we’ve studied together and i think it really (positively) influences the way I study and motivate myself.

study breaks! take breaks! it’s unrealistic to study for 4 hours straight, in fact, I’d argue that that’s counterproductive. Take breaks and take them often. treat yourself to a dance party, eat a snack, go to the potty, just try not to reach for ur phone (unless you absolutely have to check Instagram, I get it.. but remember that you have a goal and that is to study!!)

employ different methods of studying: personally I am a kinesthetic/reading type of learner so in order for me to remember something, I need to read it and write it down and then verbalize it (it’s so weird ik) so find a way that works for you. As of late, I’ve been really fond of using notecards and Cornell notetaking methods to make mini summaries and consolidate all of my notes into bite size pieces. (I’ll make another post about different study techniques)

but most importantly remember that a final only makes up a certain percentage of your grade, and that even if you don’t get the grade you wanted, it’s important that you tried your best to get there. you’ll do great!!

that’s all I have for now folks, but I’ll post soon about subject specific ways to study.

hope y’all enjoyed it!

<3 kyrie

[study-at-the-disco-deactivated2]

Hey! I’m Huda @wilderfaestudies ! I’m eighteen years old, hopefully about to start my first year studying Computer Science at Queen’s University Belfast!

So this post, is all about how to deal with being a nervous, anxious, wreck before the semester starts (you can in fact use this throughout the semester too). This is what I’ve used to get through this summer (and the year) without losing myself in the process.

SELF CARE/SELF LOVE

Always drink at least one to two litres of water a day; because it honestly helps you feel fresh throughout the day

Before you get out of bed, take deep breaths for a good two minutes or five (time yourself); helps calm your nerves if you’re anxious about the day

Take a shower, at least a body shower, before you get on with your day; gives you a tiny boost of confidence and also keeps you fresh and alert throughout the day

Before you leave your room, stand in front of the mirror and say 5 things you love about yourself, and 6 impossible things (as mentioned in Alice in Wonderland), and 4 self-satisfaction tasks you’ll complete during the day (this includes listing you will drink your favourite cup of juice, or you will hum on the way, etc.)

Have breakfast each morning, even a fruit works. Your body needs the energy to work throughout the day, think of your body as a baby that needs nutrition and you can’t risk the baby’s health.

Apply a face mask at least twice or thrice a week; simply because it’s such a simple way to make yourself feel loved.

Take a long walk whenever you can, alone and with yourself. Listen to music along the way, and let your thoughts run free. This will be the one time of the day where your inner self is unrestrained and you get to be who you are.

Clean your personal space, the way you want it to. Rearrange your room, redecorate, keep it messy but organised. Clean it in such a way you love dealing with it.

Every morning, create a list of things you’re thankful for, fold it, and hide it somewhere where you know you won’t look for a while.

Write a list of things you angry at, or hate, or dislike, or it makes you angry. Go to an open space, burn/destroy that paper. And as it is burning/being destroyed, scream, shriek, let all that anger. (Trust me, you’ll look like a lunatic, but you’ll walk away a free person from there).

Dress-up, doll-up; make the image of yourself in your mind in to reality, even if you don’t go anywhere. You’ll actually end up loving what hou end up with).

Start a journal. It doesn’t have to be aesthetic, or cool, or anything you don’t want it to be. Let it be a place for you to collect your thoughts, your poems, your inner workings. But let yourself out into the world for you to see.

Learn how to cook your favourite dish. Speak as though you were at a cooking show, even if you don’t know how to cook, call your “show” ‘The Class of Idiots and Pots’ (I call mine ‘The Idiot Sandwich’)

Watch TED Talks, just for the fun of it. You’ll enjoy it, and would have done something productive with your time.

Visit a museum on your own. You might think it sounds boring, but you’d be surprised.

Watch old cartoon movies that you loved from your childhood, watch them in your favourite pyjamas and you favourite snack. Indulge in them all! Go on a binge!

Learn to be kind unconditionally; in a world where demons reign, being kind is possibly the most selfless and heroic thing you can do. Help an old lady with her groceries, smile to random strangers. Heck, help your enemies while you’re at it (it throws them off their groove, it’s the ultimate stun attack when you’re kind to people who hate you. Trust me, it makes you superior even when they try to play it off as you being naive. They know. They know what you do.)

Read books. Read big books. Read small books. Read happy books. Read sad books. The books you read, shape you whether you realise it or not. So read, read all that you want to read!

APPS - that help you get through the day

Wunderlist - Helps keep track of your lists and tasks (lifesaver throughout the semester and off semester cause I forget A LOT)

Card Diary - Basically a mini digital journal where you can give a day a photo and small paragraph to remember it by.

Pocket - Helpful to keep links you want to read later on in your free time (and it saves the link so you can read it offline! That’s how I use it to keep up with the news)

edX - an online course taking app, helpful when you want to learn something new that’s not a part of your regular study syllabus, major, etc.

Afterlight 2 - best photo editing app I’ve ever invested in! Makes life so much easier and if you really want to show as though you have your life together this photo app helps you achieve that

8mm - vintage video recording app, helps you achieve that #aesthetic you so long for

Unfold - for that perfect story format you need your photos to be in

Spotify - for those playlists that you need to get through the day

Codecademy - learn to code like a pro

Netflix - for documentary and entertainment purposes because *surprise* you need a break sometimes.

REMINDERS

You are loved.

You are human, and thus are entitled to mistakes.

You need to breathe, you need some time to let yourself heal.

You are beautiful, I don’t care what you see when you look in the mirror but darn it I see you the way you are and you’re beautiful.

You’re strong, the fact you’ve got through life so far and you’re still standing even when you feel like you’re on your knees is proof enough that you’re mightier than the Spartans themselves.

Your feelings, no matter what they are and what level you feel them at, are valid

Sometimes, or most of the times, you will make terrible choices, and that’s okay - that’s life, a bundle of choices (also, what defines something as good or bad?)

If you feel lost, don’t worry - you will find yourself again

“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing everyday!” - Winnie the Pooh (reminder for when you feel like you’ve done nothing and feel absolutely worthless, nothing is still something and you got through with it!)

“I must go forward where I have never been instead of backwards where I have” - Winnie the Pooh (Pretty self explanatory, keep moving forward!)

[emmastudies]

i posted this on my instagram (@emmastudiess) and a few people liked it so i thought i’d share it on here too xx

[savassite]

Tips for doing well on your exams.

Heyy, so since I recently finished with my exams I thought it would be great to share with you guys some advices and things that I learned during this period of time to make your exams week(s) less exhausting.

• Make a study-plan: Okay so because during my exams I had a week when I was giving another subject everyday making a study plan helped me so much. Organize your time so you can be able to study more than one lesson per day and finish everything on time.

• Sleep: Oh god, I can not stress this enough guys, you have to sleep 7 hours every day at least. During my exams from all the stress and the anxiety that I was having to finish everything on time and read everything over and over again so I’m 100% prepared I was sleeping for about 3-4 hours, something I don’t recommend doing. I was writing good but I was feeling so tired all day and needed 2 cups of coffee to get me going and when we finally finished I needed two weeks to recover from this unhealthy schedule and I was sleeping all day. So in order to avoid that study the things you have to study but get to bed early and wake up early the next day to do your revision.

• Get a tutor: I did it and many other children are doing it too, just because you need help with a subject you’re not good at doesn’t make you stupid or anything you are just asking for a helping hand from a person that knows.

• Eat good: Eat good and full meals, you will need all the energy you can get. All the studying and memorizing and learning require food, stop your diet or whatever for two or three weeks and eat whatever you want and think that will make you feel more energetic and strong.

• Always paraphrase: So in junior high school I wasn’t a really big fan of this method, but during the exams on my first year of high school I understood that there’s no way to memorize the entire book as it is so what I did is that I read the entire thing to the point that I may didn’t know every single word but if you would ask me something I would remember it because I actually learned and understood it.

[odysseyi]

Currently reading: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari ― “Humans are rarely satisfied with what they already have. The most common reaction of the human mind to achievement is not satisfaction, but craving for more.”

[bled]

via vsco.co

[thestudyingsunflower-deactivate]

🗣 Hello fellow tumblr studiers This is my first official post as a part of the ‘study bloggers’ lifestyle. I have admired from afar everyone under the tag and I decided today to make myself accountable for my future through documentation. I am transitioning between my first and second year in college. I am taking a summer semester Anatomy and Physiology 1&2 and Humanities.

About me 🌻 puppy lover (I have a Maltese) 🌻 vegan 🌻 I love literature (the picture is from the self help book “You are a BADASS” by Jin Sincero, I highly recommend it, this is my second time reading it) 🌻 pre-nursing student 🌻 I made Deans List for the first time last semester— totally got me over motivated for everything else to come 🌻 I am best friends with my grandmother 👵🏼 🌻 also— random— I have been enjoying Yoga at home for a few weeks and I totally have fallen in love.