Thank you clam man
Reblog the encouraging clam man to boost someone’s motivation. You know you wanna.
encouraging clam man is always there for me in my time of need. may he be there in yours as well.
Misplaced Lens Cap

Origami Around
Jules of Nature

roma★
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Peter Solarz

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Xuebing Du
art blog(derogatory)
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Sweet Seals For You, Always

ellievsbear

Discoholic 🪩

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will byers stan first human second
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"

if i look back, i am lost
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@pritkinstudies
Thank you clam man
Reblog the encouraging clam man to boost someone’s motivation. You know you wanna.
encouraging clam man is always there for me in my time of need. may he be there in yours as well.
when my presentation did not go very well
Literally do your work as soon as you know it exists. If you get homework, do it during your free or when you get home or on the train if you really want to, on the day you get it. Just got set an assignment? Get the draft done that weekend. It doesn’t have to be amazing and absolutely ready to send in, it just needs to exist. Just got sent an email? Reply when you see it. If you’re not sure how to response to it, write Dear (), leave a gap and then write Regards () and keep that in your drafts. Set a reminder on your computer or write the reminder on a sticky note that you’ve got that sitting in your drafts and you need to send it off in the next 24 hours. Need to clean your room? Don’t spend time thinking or planning how you’re going to clean it or how you’re going to change up the space in the process, just pick stuff up and put it where it should be until everything’s in order. Done. Seriously dude, when a task arises as an issue, tackle it as soon as you realise it exists. Remember, it doesn’t need to be amazing it just needs to be done. So, when the due date of the task creeps closer, you can go back, work with what you have and make it the quality you want it to be.
aAAA HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS
I found free downloadable PDFs of the Japan Times’ Japanese grammar dictionary series!!!! The files are kind of large, as you might expect, but they’re perfectly legible. See for yourself:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar
A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar
I’m so excited fhjdkjhsdjh I was about to drop $50 on one of these motherfuckers
“Man, I used to be such a good student, what happened?”-masterpost
Hullo, and welcome!
I have wandered the earth…
…found the secret elixir that makes a once-good student good again…
..tested it for one semester…
…refined it…
…and am now here to present it to you!
This’ll be a long one. See, I think many of us don’t (yet) need help with beautiful fonts, the perfect writing tools, or organizational details. Many of us aren’t anywhere near the level of worrying about these things. Many of us have knots in their brains that prevent them from just studying in general. I hope to open some of the big knots, so that you can finally make use of the wealth of studyblrs about specific techniques and approaches out there and can have fun studying again :) This’ll be a five-part series. In every post I’ll focus on one particular question/problem and I’ll answer it with an analogy and a solution. Maybe not all of them will work for you. Hell, maybe none of them will. I just know that they worked wonders for me and I suspect they’ll work for other “natural learners”, as well. I’d love to hear your feedback on this, though, so I’ll open my ask box while this series is on-going!
Knot 1: I’m not going in the right direction and/or I’m not going fast enough! (ready to be clicked)
Analogy: Student as a direction
Solution: Slow down to speed up
Knot 2: Why is it so hard to start studying all of a sudden? Pt. 1 (ready to be clicked)
Analogy: Student as a weapon
Solution: Tolerate to conquer yourself
Knot 3: There are so many things I want to do, I don’t want to sacrifice my whole life just for this one thing and to-do lists and fixed routines scare me! (ready to be clicked)
Analogy: Student as a friend
Solution: Yearn for friendship - not worship, not debasement
Knot 4: Why is it so hard to start studying all of a sudden? Pt. 2, a.k.a. What’s the deal with procrastination?
Analogy: Student as a seperate being
Solution: Layer yourself to merge yourself
Knot 5: Everything I do seems so pointless!
Analogy: Student as part of the whole world
Solution: Engage to empower
So, what you need is to
S (low down)
T (olerate)
Y (earn for friendship)
L (ayer yourself)
E (ngage)
…to study in style :D
(….eyyyy? :D This worked out so much more perfectly than I expected!)
So, look forward to seeing at least one of these a week! I hope you’re all great and I wish you a wonderful new year :)
Part 4 coming soon! :)
Dear internet,
Please give me all the advice you have on writing cover letters. Like, the closer you can get to literally just writing a cover letter for me, the better. Ok bye.
This is how I did the one for my librarian position. I hope it helps.
Dear Person Hiring for this Job,
I am writing to ask you to consider me for X position. This is a paragraph about why I want to do X position in general. It includes at least one personal detail and at least one job skill I consider a particular strength. It argues that I am passionate about this career. It is not long.
I have had the opportunity to gain experience in this job by - paragraph about my work or study experience. It should go from most recent experience back. Include some details about your responsibilities/achievements in your most recent or most important positions. If you have mostly study experience, give more detail about what exactly you studied. If you shadowed people, mention that. If your work experience is largely unrelated, try to shoehorn some of it in (e.g. I gained experience working with people by). You can supplement with relevant hobbies. (But if you do have recent, relevant work experience, you should largely be detailing that. Only embroider the other stuff if you need to flesh it out.) This should be the longest paragraph.
I hope you will consider allowing me to do X thing at your company. This is a few sentences about why I want to work at your company in particular and what I think I could bring. Try to mention at least one detail from the company website, so they know you visited it. This is a short paragraph that parallels the first one.
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Person You Would Be a Fool Not to At Least Interview
oh my god thank you this is relevant to current interests
Two other points, to challenge what’s being said above a little:
1) Remember that the person reading this cover letter wants to know how you can contribute to the company. Not how excited you are about the position: it’s all about what they gain. Try framing the whole thing in that sense — “You would gain my X awesome skill that would help you Y with your mission.” “Here’s why I’m awesome and a great fit for making your company go better.”
2) At the end, ask for the interview. “I am available at PHONE NUMBER at your convenience. I look forward to speaking with you about this great opportunity soon.” Maybe even say you’ll be following up at a specific time and date. Ask for the job. People respond to that, and it’s a good way to fake confidence until you make it. Ask for the job.
Okay, three points. People reading cover letters get SO BORED going through them. Think about starting off with a story that relates to why you’re interested in the job, or that demonstrates a skill or a strong interest that would make you a good candidate. Be memorable — people remember stories, even (maybe especially) very little ones.
*hoards advice*
You will get to places.
It’s sad how much of what is taught in school is useless to over 99% of the population.
There are literally math concepts taught in high school and middle school that are only used in extremely specialized fields or that are even so outdated they aren’t used anymore!
I took calculus my senior year of high school, and I really liked the way our teacher framed this on the first day of class.
He asked somebody to raise their hand and ask him when we would use calculus in our everyday life. So one student rose their hand and asked, “When are we going to use this in our everyday life?”
“NEVER!!” the teacher exclaimed. “You will never use calculus in your normal, everyday life. In fact, very few of you will use it in your professional careers either.” Then he paused. “So would you like to know why should care?”
Several us nodded.
He picked out one of the varsity football players in the class. “You practice football a lot during the week, right Tim?” asked the teacher.
“Yeah,” replied Tim. “Almost every day.”
“Do you and your teammates ever lift weights during practice?”
“Yeah. Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend a lot of practice in the weight room.”
“But why?” asked the teacher. “Is there ever going to be a play your coach tells you use during a game that requires you to bench press the other team?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why lift weights?”
“Because it makes us stronger,” said Tim.
“Bingo!!” said the teacher. “It’s the same thing with calculus. You’re not here because you’re going to use calculus in your everyday life. You’re here because calculus is weightlifting for your brain.”
And I’ve never forgotten that.
Bingo. Math is all about problem-solving – using the tools at your disposal to solve problems. When you’re little, simple addition is a struggle. But much like adding weight when you get stronger, once you master addition we have to up the ante to keep you improving – if all you’re doing is repeatedly practicing something you’ve mastered, you’re no longer problem-solving. Your ability stagnates if your routine does. So math gets more and more complicated, but as long as you’re sticking with the recommended routine and not taking too many cheat days, it won’t actually get “harder”. And whether you actually remember or use everything in 20 years is irrelevant – all that matters is that you know how to solve problems that arise in your day-to-day life because that part of your brain was worked out so much in your formative years.
daily reminder that the boy you’re in love with at 16 probably won’t matter when you’re 25.
daily reminder that the math test you failed your freshman year of high school probably won’t matter when you’re graduating college.
daily reminder that the problems you’re facing today may seem like the worlds end, but they will not matter in a year.
daily reminder that you’re going to be okay.
everything is going to be okay.
a small wisdom that I need to remember 🌿
How to become a good student (again) 4: Layer Yourself to Merge Yourself
Hello, fellow ex-good student!
Hide yo kids, hide yo wife and hide yo husband, cause I’m about to drop the p-bomb:
That’s right… p…p…pro…
PROCRASTINATION!
I know. I know. The moment has come, man. Procrastination has cost me so many hours of my life that I will never get back and I guess it’s the same for you. Here’s a bit of a secret - the first three posts so far? They were actually also about procrastination. Specifically, they were about WHY you or I might procrastinate. 1. Because you’re overwhelmed by choices 2. Because, goddamnit, it’s HARD to to start 3. Because you have a screwed up relationship with studying
Now, in this post, we will be tying these threads together by looking at the WHAT and the HOW. You’ve examined the roots, you’ve gotten rid of the pesky little bugs living down there, so… WHAT is procrastination really and HOW do you defeat it and actually start studying?
Procrastinaton, for me, is a state of mind, a surround sound and most of all: a place - it’s LIMBO. It’s physically being unable to do something. Being caught in a web (very often the world wide one). Drowning in water. Being pulled apart, gaining momentum, losing control, cotton in my ears, the heat of shame in my chest, a thousand voices in my mind that I try to silence.
“You should be -” “You have to -” “You must -”
“Do something, do something, do something, anything, anything, anything, anything” “You loser, you can’t even -” “YOU USED TO BE GREAT and now you’re just-”
I hate myself while doing it. I feel horrible. I feel useless. But at the same time, at the very bottom of my mind, there is something that I’ve refused to acknowledge for the longest time: a sense of pleasure. Why do I feel this weird sense of pleasure when I procrastinate? Why do I feel pleasure when I know I’m sabotaging my future through inaction? When I’m digging myself into a deeper and deeper grave? When I hate myself at the same time? Why do I procrastinate at all? Is it because of that underlying ironic pleasure?
Well, to find the answer to those questions, we first need to ask ourselves a bigger one: what is the OPPOSITE of limbo? If limbo is being caught in the middle of nowhere, floating, glitching, slowly imploding, then what is the opposite? I’d say it’s movement, direction and action - you being in charge and moving things along, having agency, being alive and powerful and energetic and hot. I’d say it’s FLOW.
When I was a child, I had little to no problem syncing in and out of flow. It just came to me like second nature and I LOVED it. I loved the way my brain buzzed and I completely forgot about my surroundings. I loved disappearing into ideas, books, stories, video games, homework, a teacher’s lesson, a friend’s story, my own projects. I went in and out as I pleased and could turn it on and off like a light switch. It was so. much. fun. and I was so, so lucky to have had the privilege of such a talent.
Back then, I used to ache and hunger for a challenge. Things were smooth and easy and fun, but I wanted MORE - harder exercises, deeper questions, more challenging teachers. When I told my father about that, he smiled and said
“Be happy. You have put so much work into this. This is the moment it’s all paying off - you’ve turned and turned and turned your wheel and now it’s running smoothly along the street without even noticing how uneven the ground is.”
He was right, of course, but as time went on, I became more and dissatisfied with my smooth little wheel and started to procrastinate more and more. Why? And, again: where does the pleasure at procrastinating come from?
I’d argue that there are two main factors and one huge reason:
FACTOR 1: The wheel didn’t deliver on its promises
I already mentioned this in the very first post, but basically: disillusionment. I loved working hard, but I also expected it to pay off at some point. However, apart from the occasional pat on the head from a teacher or my parents’ smiles, there wasn’t all that much to be gained. There were no harder exercises, no special treatments, no big revelations - even university, my very last bastion of hope turned out to be a glorified bouncy castle. I was just bored and the work I put into it wasn’t worth the outcome anymore. The system had failed me.
FACTOR 2: Suddenly, there were a lot of wheels
It is easy to glorify my younger self, but, really, child-me had it a lot easier. Child-me only had one wheel to spin (school) and as I grew older, I realized that there were, well, many other wheels I had neglected. I had a lot of catching up to do in areas like empathy, charisma, self-confidence and self-worth outside of academia, humour and fashion. And when I left school, there were even MORE wheels: suddenly, I also had to keep my job, my apartment, my much more complicated social life, my manifold hobbies and a somewhat healthy sleep schedule going. I wasn’t prepared for this abundance of wheels. I’d grown up thinking that as long as I could keep the one wheel I was good at spinning (academia), I’d be juuuuust dandy. Well, I was wrong and I realized that, once again the system had failed me.
If only I’d had better teachers. If only I’d listened to the good ones. If only I’d worked the problem earlier. If only I was part of a better system that would recognize and foster my talents. Who knows how much I could achieve? Who knows how much I could have ALREADY achieved?
And that’s where the pleasure of procrastination comes from. It is defiance. It is rebellion. It is a big “FUCK YOU” to the system that failed me. It is a “Look at me! I’m operating outside the system and I’m STILL getting semi-good grades. I don’t need any of you. I don’t need any of this. I’m playing by MY rules. I’m getting shit done MY way. Because YOUR way disappointed me. Because I am FREE.”
If, at this point, you’re starting to feel sorry for me (or yourself for being in a similar situation) …that’s exactly the problem. There’s really no way to say this nicely, so here we go:
PROCRASTINATION IS NO MORE AND NO LESS THAN A GLORIFIED VICTIM COMPLEX.
Let me explain. When you procrastinate, doesn’t it feel like you HAVE TO do things? Like you’re being FORCED to do something? Like you’re POWERLESS? Like you’re STUCK? Like you’re SUFFERING? Like you’re AT THE MERCY of your negative thoughts, the system or you’re conscience? Like you’re being WHIPPED AROUND? Like you crave recognition of your SUFFERING? Like you don’t have a choice except RUNNING AWAY and not facing what you’re FORCED to face?
All of these thoughts and emotions put you in the position of a sufferer - a victim.
You see yourself as a victim of the system, the school, the state, the assignment you should be working on. You deliver yourself unto their power. You submit to a simple dichotomy: I HAVE to do this or I SHOULD FEEL like shit. I HAVE to do this, so I MUST suffer and accept the infringement of my freedom.
Well, let me tell you something that just about changed my life when I fully, deeply and profoundly realized the truth behind these words:
YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO SHIT.
…or a bit more eloquently put:
You’re the one in control.
No, honestly. You are.
If you wanted to, you could throw it all into the wind, take the next train to nowhere and see where life takes you. But do you want to do that? And, the even bigger question: why do you feel SO powerless that this small, stupid act of rebellion against The System is enough to intoxicate you SO much that you keep coming back to suckle on its sweet, sweet bitter nectar?
It’s because you feel trapped. It’s because you feel lost. It’s because you feel like you have so much potential and it’s all going to FUCKING waste and if somebody were to just give you a FUCKING hand you could really show everybody just how much you can FUCKING do and-
-let me stop you right there and let me ask you 4 questions:
QUESTION 1) You keep going on and on about how intelligent you are …but what’s the use of your intelligence if you can’t use it to improve your own life?
If you’re anything like me, you find it very easy and rewarding to help other people with their problems. You easily see the roots of problems and the ways that conflicts could be resolved. You’re an excellent trouble-shooter and a strategist in video games and for your friends… but what about your own life? Why do you ACCEPT playing the role of the victim in your own life?
Why do you accept this suffering?
Long story short: because you’ve grown used to it.
You’ve forgotten what it feels like to make active choices, to exert your full agency and to take full responsibility for whatever mess might come of it. Leading me to…
Question 2) You keep going on and on about how intelligent you are… but what’s the use of your intelligence if you don’t take anything seriously?
Be honest: when was the last time you took anything seriously and gave it your all? …no? Nothing?
Well, if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you know the neat excuse of “eh, I was just winging it, but if I REALLY tried-” and do you know what that is? It’s cowardice and it’s self-victimization.
I know I’m coming on very strong. But the truth is this: I know this. I know this because I’ve been living this. I’ve been living a second-hand life that I allowed to be ruled by “the system” and guilt and made-up obligations …and I almost lost myself in the process. Maybe you can realize it with me: It’s some time ago, I wake up in the middle of the night and randomly feel like taking an IQ test online. I’m still half-asleep, I roll onto my stomach, I don’t even sit up, I meander my way through the questions. Shit. I realize that time is running out and I haven’t even finished ¾ of the questions! I panick. I feel guilty. I finally sit up. I start trying harder. I’m getting faster and faster - faster than I ever thought possible. And despite 5 minutes of good effort - I fail. Hard. And as I sit there in my dark room, my unbelievably sucky result glowing on the screen of my mobile phone and I look out of the window, I realize: this has been my life for the past 5 years. Winging stuff at not even 50% of my capacity and being hurt by the results. Honestly, when WAS the last time I took anything really seriously?
The next day, I get 8 hours of sleep, sit down in front of my laptop with a bottle of water, search for the most professional IQ test I can find and concentrate from the very beginning. I score 30 points higher.
Let me repeat that: I scored 30 points higher on an IQ test because I actually tried. Magical things can happen if you take stuff seriously.
Leading us to
Question 3) You keep going on and on about how intelligent you are… but when was the last time your intelligence has brought you joy?
Maybe you’re familiar with the phrase “The burnt child dreads the fire”? When I thought back on my academic progress in the last years, I realized that there really hadn’t been much joy anywhere. Pretty much everything had sucked.
Big time.
Of course I wouldn’t want to invest my energy into something that didn’t yield any good results … right?
Wrong. My lack of good results was only an indicator for the real problem: my lack of effort. The simple truth is this: We are smart. We enjoy doing what we are good at. We enjoy hard mental work, REGARDLESS of the results. But once I started to focus too much on the results and thought it was all about having a great CV and min-maxing my grades… I just didn’t have fun anymore. I didn’t allow myself to have fun anymore. To disappear into a world of thoughts like I used to as a child. To invest way too much time into a project, to have an absolute BLAST creating something complex and outstanding and super cool.
Bringing us to…
Question 4) You keep going on and on about how intelligent you are… but can you really create something extraordinary?
See that’s the thing: when I was a child, I didn’t just take school seriously. I wanted to go the extra mile. And honestly? That was the whole secret. I wanted to create something that wasn’t just special but mind-blowingly special. It’s not like I knew I had it in me, but rather that I wanted grow to have more and more in me and I knew that the only way to do that was to challenge myself again and again. That’s the difference between viewing your intelligence and your capabilities as stagnant or growing. There is no joy and no truth in regarding yourself as stagnant - the best of violin players started out sounding like a dying cat and the best athletes kept stumbling. If you want to create and become something extraordinary, you need to know that it will not happen overnight. You need to know that it will be a slow, hard and challenging hike up a hill and the only thing that keeps you climbing is your willingness to go the extra mile so you can see the view become more and more beautiful.
The real pleasure of studying is not getting good results and bragging rights - that’s just a cool side-effect. The real pleasure of studying is studying and that means working and knowing that working gets you one step ahead one step at a time.
So HOW can you change? HOW can you regain control? How can you consciously go from limbo to flow? First of all:
1) RECLAIM YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AND YOUR PASSION
The first thing I tell myself in the morning is “My life is in my hands.” That’s not always an easy sentence to start with, especially if I haven’t slept well or if I’m sick or in the middle of a fight or an existential crisis or just crabby. But it’s always true. It’s MY life and it’s my responsibility to make the best of it.
One poem in particular has really helped me, so who knows, maybe it’ll help some of you guys as well:
The Vow
No matter how deep the sadness or wide the pain, I vow to live for a brighter day will come again.
No matter how many mistakes I’ve made in the past, I vow to live and in the future avoid them, surefooted and fast.
No matter how many tragedies beyond my control take place, I vow to live and stay my course within this race.
No matter how poor or rich I may ever be, I vow to live and aspire to search for the dignity in simplicity.
No matter how much a lover may pierce the inner core of my heart, I vow to live for like spring I’ll get a new start.
No matter how isolated and alone I may feel, I vow to live and do something for someone else to heal.
No matter how hopeless my situation my appear, I vow to live and reflect until my viewpoint is clear.
No matter what happens in this life – good or bad I vow to live, do my best, and just for living – be glad.
– Malcolm O. Varner
If you want to find pleasure in studying again, you need to embrace your own passion. I know it’s a lot “cooler” to be indifferent towards studying, to procrastinate, to do it almost out of spite and at the last minute. But is it really? No one wins. It’s not rewarding. It’s not fulfilling. You’ll have forgotten it in a week. It just sucks for everyone involved. Love what you do. Love it like you would a lover. Be considerate, be tender and be patient. It must not feel like an obligation. It must feel like a passion - a fiery want for new horizons, mentals fireworks and lightbulb moments. It must come from yourself, from your bowels, your fibres, your blood - not from some ominous outside force.
“I have to do this.” -> “I want to do this!” “I’m losing time. There is so much I have to do, I want to be done with this already.” -> “I want to give this my time. This is absolutely worth it. I really want to be doing this right now.” “Be fast. Be faster.” -> “Slow down. Be patient. Cherish this moment.” “This is hard. I hate it. I hate it so much.” -> “This is challenging. I love it. I love it so much.” “I can make this perfect, it has to be perfect! I could give this my all, I can give this my all. If I’m not giving this my all, I’m a complete and utter failure. Better not try at all rather than screwing it up. Again.” -> “This is a work-in-progress, just like anything else. I am sure I can improve it bit by bit, by devoting some of my time to it. Even if I don’t get very far today, I’m sure the experience will pay off in the long run and I might find some unrelated ideas for other projects!”
You must go from this:
To that:
2) MAKE ACTIVE CHOICES.
(Like, maybe make the choice NOT to wear that speedo) Because that’s really what it comes down to in the end: CHOICE. Nobody actively chooses to procrastinate. Procrastination is the absence of choice.
Years of little to no success make you feel like your choices don’t matter -> you feel like you cannot influence anything -> you might as well not try -> you procrastinate. But here’s the thing: your choices DO matter (DITCH that speedo!) and you must regain that trust in yourself.
We NEED to be able to make choices about their own lives. It makes us feel powerful and like we are truly alive. It makes us feel like we are, you guessed it, in the flow.
Now, of course it’d be nice if I told you “Make conscious choices sweaty <3 ;*” and you’d go out and do it and that was it. But, truth be told, it’s hella hard to get there and it will take you at least a year of constant effort. For me, this year meant constantly asking myself “Wait, do I REALLY want to do this right now?” and establishing a neat rule for all media consumption that goes “Always enrichment, never escape”. But, as I said, that’s a work-in-progress and something that you will have to work on in your own time and at your own pace. Luckily, I found a shortcut :D
Now, the shortcut does not replace the year of constant effort, mind you, but it can help to make it a lot easier:
THE STUDY ROOM
What’s the “Study Room”? Well… You might have been wondering what the title “Layer Yourself to Merge Yourself” is all about. This was my thought process:
1) I want to get from limbo to flow
2) And I want studying to feel like a reward in and of itself
3) And it’d be nice if I could concentrate on just spinning one wheel at a time, so I can really lose myself in it
4) I also want it to be a conscious choice, so I can train my decision-making process
….
…
….but how?
…”fake it till you make it” or what, haha?
…
….I guess what that really means is that you have to act like you’re already there until you’re there?
…
…so, like, you have to artifically induce naturalness?
…
…haha, wouldn’t it be neat if I could do that and “transform” into my “study-form” like the Avatar or a magical girl or a superhero or something?
…..
…
…wait. Wait. WAIT. What if I COULD?
What if there was a “me” that was specifically always in the flow and already loves and is good at studying and which I only access whenever I want to study?
So I create a new “me”, so that, over time, we can become one again and I can change into that “me” whenever I want?
…cool.
…but how?
I could always go to a special place, but that would limit me whenever that place wasn’t availabe.
…buuuuuut…..
…..what if it was a place I could ALWAYS access?
…
…
…what if it was a place in my MIND?
…
….
…..holy SHIT.
And that’s how the “Study Room” was born. Below, I will detail the journey to my personal “study room”, but I wager that everybody’s study room will look a little different depending on what makes you feel most comfortable, rational and “in the flow”.
STEP 1 - DETACH FROM LIMBO
Close your eyes. Lean back. Do it with me now. Consider this your tutorial. Bring yourself to a screeching halt, throw an anchor into the the ground of the stormy sea, pull the brakes, just - stop. Stop. Slow down. Close your eyes, lean back, keep your eyes closed for a good minute - god, how long a minute can be, right?- and feel your breathing consciously, slowly, feel how you are alive and full of hunger, feel how your heart beats, feel how much tension has built up inside of you, how much energy has been stored and how much you actually ache to do something meaningful. Feel it. Keep your eyes closed until you feel it. Then, come back to me.
STEP 2 - BECOME AWARE OF REALITY
I don’t know if you’ll need this step, but I live very much inside my head and limbo just makes that effect even stronger. So, I like to remind myself of my physicality, of my spatial realness, of my ability to perceive and interact with the world in this step. I re-connect with the world and it slows me down even more - it’s a bit like hooking myself into this world, so limbo can’t claim me so easily. I drink a glass of water, I eat a carrot, I touch a cold tile, I feel the texture of a pillow, I play with my own hair - if I’m in public, like in a library, I usually just brush over my lips or grip the table unobtrusively. It’s a small step, one that usually doesn’t take longer than 10 seconds, but it’s one that has helped me a lot. (When I’m really caught up in limbo, I usually lie down on the floor in my room. That works wonders)
STEP 3 - ENTER YOUR STUDY PLACE
At this point, I close my eyes again and visualize. I enter another world, the world of studying in my mind.
STEP 3A - THE DOOR
My eyes are still closed and imagine a dark, circular room: this is the entrance to my Study Room ™. I stand in the middle of the room - there is one door right in front of me, two to my left and two to my right. I have no idea what’s behind those other doors or why my imagination has conjured up a room like that, but hey, it works and here we are. I gather all my concentration and repeat “My life is in my hands. I take on the responsibility for my own life. I WANT to learn. I CHOOSE this.” to myself. Then, I consciously choose to walk in only one direction, channeling all my thoughts into a straight line: towards the door right in front of me. I enter through it - somehow, I never have to actually open it, so it might be more like an open doorway?
STEP 3B - THE WATER
I step through the door and find myself in a space filled with water. I have absolutely no trouble breathing and I can easily swim, turn, glide and spiral like a dolphin. The water washes the last remnants of limbo off me, I feel my tensions washing away, my mind waking up, the wheel starting to move, my chest feeling lighter, my heart feeling hotter, my breathing going slow and steady. I swim in this liminal space for as long as I need to, I revel, I breathe, I wallow, I luxuriate until I feel ready to emerge from the water. (wonder what psychologists would say about this little ritual - is it a literal re-birth? is this the womb? who knows? it works and that’s good enough for me right now …now that I think about it, that beach scene from Gravity might have been an inspiration. Man, I loved that movie already, but that ending?? Aaaaanyway, moving on…)
STEP 3C - THE WORLD
Then, I swim upwards and emerge from the water, head-first. The sun is warm and shines on my head and I step out of the water with bare feet, toes curling around grass and my lungs breathing in fresh forest air. Somewhere, a bird is singing, white clouds are languidly drifting by, all is warm, comfortable and good. I sit down on a giant mushroom by a tree (hey, don’t ask me, I don’t know), take a last deep breath and put pen to paper. At this point, I open my eyes in the real world. I am completely relaxed, a thousand miles away from limbo, in another dimension even, calm and happy to engage with questions and wonders.
I’m in the flow.
In this world, I am a different me. A “study-me”. In time, this me and I will merge again and we have already merged quite a bit. My walk through the Study Room process has become faster and faster and I am quite certain that, in time, it won’t take longer than a fraction of a second and it will seem like I can switch my flow on and off again like I used to. My study wheel is rolling again.
But if yours isn’t just yet, then …this is it. This is how, this is why and this is the very moment I re-connect with my “study values”, my passion and my agency, again and again and I choose to do it. Again. And again.
It is, really, all about choice.
And that’s the advantage I have over the old me. The old me studied because I didn’t know anything else and because I thought that I had to. The me right now chooses to study because I want to. And that makes it ten times more effective, more freeing and more fun.
So run wild, enjoy, actively enter that world of studying in your head, no matter what yours might look like (rain? palm trees? other planet? go bonkers!), it’s about choosing this and wanting this. It is about YOU saying “Yes, there are other interesting things and wheels out there, but right here, right now, I want this, nothing else and I will give it all of myself for as long as I want to.”
As you might have guessed by the gifs, I really recommend watching Free! Iwatobi Swim Club if you’re interested in overcoming procrastination. (I swear I’m not sponsored by KyoAni, but for all their other shortcomings, their characters always have amazing character arcs when it comes to professionalism and passions) Both Rin and Haru are caught in their own versions of limbo and following Rin’s journey in Season 1 and Haru’s journey in Season 2 really helped me realize a lot of things about my own life and about how I dealt with passion, talent and my career.
The last part of this series will include a Q&A, so if there is something you didn’t quite understand or are unsure about, something you’d like to add or recommend to others, something you’d like me to explain in more detail or demonstrate through other examples, please, just write me a message (my inbox is absolutely open!) and I will answer it in Part 5 :)
Thank you for coming along on this ride! I hope some of my thoughts could help you and please, do let me know if my methods work for you - I’d love to know! :D
Your life is in your hands, -studyinstyle
OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???
“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”
I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT
NO ONE TOLD YOU???? WTF! I HAVE FAILED YOU. Also: Dear ______: Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit down with you (&________) to discuss the [insert job position]. I am grateful to be considered for the position. I think I will be a great fit at [company name], especially given my experience in __________. [insert possible reference to something you talked about, something that excited you.] I look forward to hearing from you [and if you are feeling super confident: and working together in the future]. Sincerely, @mellivorinae
THIS IS A LIFESAVING TEMPLATE
YOU ARE WELCOME
My brother got a really great paid internship one summer. The guy who hired him said the deciding factor was the professional thank you letter my brother sent after the interview.
should it be an email? or like a physical letter?
email, you want to send it within a few hours at max after the interview if you can so it’s fresh in their mind who you are.
Confirmed! I interviewed for a job right after arriving in NY. The interview went incredibly well, and I went home and immediately wrote a thank you letter and put it in the mail. I had a super good feeling about this interview.
I didn’t get the job.
However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.
So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.
Either way, those letters are important.
Pro tip: If you really want HR to develop a personal interest in your application, publicly thank them on linkedin. Just make a short post telling your network about how X recruiter really went above and beyond to make you feel welcome, or about how be accommodating and professional they were, or whatever. Make sure to use the mention feature so they’ll get a notification and see it.
Flattery will get you everywhere… and public flattery that might make its way back to their manager, doubly so.
Obligatory plug for one of FreePrintable.net’s sites: ThankYouLetter.ws. They have a whole section with interview thank you letter templates, and a page with specific tips for interview thank you letters. (There are also tons of other letter templates if you browse around a bit.)
Academia: A Timeline (as Told by Dogs)
Undergrad:
Grad School:
PhD:
Post Doc:
my college sent out a document of advice for graduate freshers from the Oxford University Counselling Service and I thought it had some really good reminders in it.
Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.”
Jane Smiley (via inspired-to-write)
Somehow this is the most inspiring thing I’ve read in a long time. I’m going to go write now.
(via joleebindo)
Dear internet,
Please give me all the advice you have on writing cover letters. Like, the closer you can get to literally just writing a cover letter for me, the better. Ok bye.
This is how I did the one for my librarian position. I hope it helps.
Dear Person Hiring for this Job,
I am writing to ask you to consider me for X position. This is a paragraph about why I want to do X position in general. It includes at least one personal detail and at least one job skill I consider a particular strength. It argues that I am passionate about this career. It is not long.
I have had the opportunity to gain experience in this job by - paragraph about my work or study experience. It should go from most recent experience back. Include some details about your responsibilities/achievements in your most recent or most important positions. If you have mostly study experience, give more detail about what exactly you studied. If you shadowed people, mention that. If your work experience is largely unrelated, try to shoehorn some of it in (e.g. I gained experience working with people by). You can supplement with relevant hobbies. (But if you do have recent, relevant work experience, you should largely be detailing that. Only embroider the other stuff if you need to flesh it out.) This should be the longest paragraph.
I hope you will consider allowing me to do X thing at your company. This is a few sentences about why I want to work at your company in particular and what I think I could bring. Try to mention at least one detail from the company website, so they know you visited it. This is a short paragraph that parallels the first one.
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Person You Would Be a Fool Not to At Least Interview
oh my god thank you this is relevant to current interests
Two other points, to challenge what’s being said above a little:
1) Remember that the person reading this cover letter wants to know how you can contribute to the company. Not how excited you are about the position: it’s all about what they gain. Try framing the whole thing in that sense — “You would gain my X awesome skill that would help you Y with your mission.” “Here’s why I’m awesome and a great fit for making your company go better.”
2) At the end, ask for the interview. “I am available at PHONE NUMBER at your convenience. I look forward to speaking with you about this great opportunity soon.” Maybe even say you’ll be following up at a specific time and date. Ask for the job. People respond to that, and it’s a good way to fake confidence until you make it. Ask for the job.
Okay, three points. People reading cover letters get SO BORED going through them. Think about starting off with a story that relates to why you’re interested in the job, or that demonstrates a skill or a strong interest that would make you a good candidate. Be memorable — people remember stories, even (maybe especially) very little ones.
*hoards advice*