Hey! So I wanted to ask you what 100 days of productivity is? Like is there a list of do you just..go?
Hi there, mod Skye here!
100 days of productivity is a challenge where you try to stay motivated and keep up your productivity.
There are no predefined prompts for this challenge, as it is very self-autonomous and widely interpreted.
For example, being productive doesn’t mean studying ten hours every day but you can also write about a day where you take care of yourself to make sure you can work sustainably. Or if you volunteer in a community project and spend the whole day outside with your friends for the betterment of your surroundings for example. Or you manage to complete a huge chunk of your hobbies (knitting, etc). Or you stay in bed the whole day and just rest and recharge. All of this (and more) qualifies for a 100 days of productivity post. It really is about just posting regularly (if you want to).
You can plan it in advance. Here is an example from @kirishimastudies where all the goals for the challenge are laid out in advance:
gardenia; what’s a promise you’ve recently made to yourself?
Hi! Thank you for the ask !! (Botanical ask)
I promised myself to take up bullet journaling seriously again and to take care of myself by taking many pictures and saving memorable moments as much as possible <3
Heyy Skye!! How is your throat now ? I hope you're recovering swiftly.
HI ANUSHKA !!
my throat always feels so horrible in the morning but after I drink warm tea and consume honey lemon or lozenges I always feel much better. I miss the honeyed peach-lemon at home though. Thank you so much for checking in and I wish you a lot of success in catching up with school.
Here is JC wishing you would destroy your academic rival !
hey there!! i saw your tags and yes indeed there’s a sequel coming on the twelfth of october and it’s called “aristotle and dante dive into the waters of the world” and the cover is so pretty! i’m so excited!! also, i’m always glad to meet a fellow ari and dante enthusiast! i hope you’re doing well 🤍
Hi! Skye here.
I am literally in love with the first book and while I think it’s amazing that the sequel comes out, I may only be able to buy it in 2022! Thinking about the release date already makes me feel like 2021 will be over so soon XD. I am always open to talk Ari and Dante because Ari reminds me of my own experiences and thoughts that I buried in me for a very long time. What's your favorite quote from the book?
hi skye and goldfish! i struggle a lot with paying attention in online classes, do you have any tips? i always find myself distracted by things in my room or just my thoughts. thank you!
Hi there !
Thank you for the ask <3
This is Skye. I’m very surprised and happy to receive asks. When we first made this blog, Goldfish and I did not think we’d produce any advice content (e.g, compilations of How-to’s). This is because we (suck at) don’t have resources to make good graphic designs. But more importantly, because we weren’t confident about our expertise on studying matter (trust me we are struggling students).
However, I realize I am much more comfortable with answering asks since my advice would then be from personal experience and not expected to have generalizability. Rant over; here is my answer !
I reference this from the advice of Maastricht University for online studying (and some of my own flavors)
First, distractions are not bad! A 2006 study with Amsterdam University students showed that distractions allowed rest for their analytical skills (overview, article). So, if you find that these short distractions do not affect your overall functioning, then don’t worry too much about it !
However, if you are still concerned…
Most effective workers treat their work spans as sprints of roughly 50 minutes (Deskstop research, so cooperate data ofc) then take 17 minutes of truly mindful breaks (no social media, no peeking at things). However, psychologists had said the attention span is task- and interest-dependent. In online lectures, it is not the teaching methods but the teachers themselves that influence the attention spans of students. Different teachers may result in you being able to pay attention longer or not.
This does not mean you cannot change your situation!
1. Take proper breaks and treat your work as short prints ! This is motivated by the research above and I encourage you to research the Pomodoro method. I have an extremely cute app and it helps me stick to the method. Apply this into your whole routine.
2. Now, about the online lectures. Before joining, make a set of goals. Think about the student you are and make a set of goals that would reflect that student. You should not join thinking you are forced to. Even if you are, think of yourself as a student and what you would do to make the best out of such situations.
3. Interact. Interacting with others in e-learning environments may help you focus better.
4. Train your attention with mindfulness. When you allow yourself to have periods of head empty, brain no thoughts, you eliminate the background distractions. The headspace app is recommended.
5. Make questions. Passively absorbing information is mind-numbing; making questions would improve your proactivity and allow you to already study for your exams. Self-made questions are amazing to try answer later and revise for the exam: they allow practice retrieval, which strengthen your memories. Making questions to the speaker helps you interact. Take notes in form of questions can help as well; why copy the slides when you can make questions then test yourself later, checking the slides to see if you are correct ?
This advice is not exhaustive. I’m sure there are other ways to help you that only you can try and test. But my most important point is to visualize yourself as a student and do things that reflect that student.
If you think of yourself as a struggling student, motivate yourself to reach the bare minimum and be patient with yourself. As a helpful student? Create materials/lecture notes/practice questions you later share with your peers. A critical student? Make questions to the speaker, make them motivate their answers with memorable examples.
Everyone feel free to join and advise anon if you have read this far !!
As i am an introvert and like spending time alone can you tell me any thing i can do for enjoyment that'd also make me feel productive? i read books/watch series but i also want to try some fun activities i could do alone? I'm at uni hostel rn so i can't do cooking either.😩
Are there some you can suggest? Pls, it'd be a great help. 🥺
Thank you for asking and trusting that this blog can provide you a fitting answer! Despite my late response, I hope you will find what you need!
First, I would like to affirm that there is nothing wrong with unproductive hobbies. The mind is constantly working in our current complicated world, and an average person may process around 34 gigabytes of digital information a day (American sample). If you reflect with yourself and find that you are truly fond of being passive during your downtime, please don’t feel any shame about letting your mind and body rest !
Now that I have encouraged you to reflect on your preferences, I will attempt to advise you based on the three basic psychological needs of the Self-Determination Theory. : Competence, Relatedness, and Autonomy.
Competence is the need to experience mastery; feel that you are good at something.
To fulfill this need as a pastime, you should consider any creation-focused activity that you may have entertained yourself with before. If you like building with legos or just creating constructions, then playing building games like Cities: Skylines, Planet Zoos, or any creative means to feel productive and gain mastery of skills such as strategy, management with simulations. If you like making cards, then there are DIY pages that require only scraps or simple, financially friendly materials. If you are fond of animals, volunteering at local centers or helping at the children’s farms can allow you to still be among animals and contribute to your neighborhood. If you like trivia games or learning facts, consider wiki-diving and finding the shortest number of clicks to reach one article to another. Some of these may come across as big investment (Steam games’ costs, time with the local centers, etc). But if you manage to find a sustainable and long-term hobby, you will grow your competence and fulfill your need, making it a worthy endeavor in the end.
Next, relatedness - the need to feel connected to others.
Studies had shown that introverts and extroverts do not differ in their need for social connections; they simply differ in the ways they would connect. For example, extroverts would visit their friends while introverts communicate through letters. Similarly, as an introvert, you can still connect to others in your own space, alone. Finding a pen pal, running a study blog, or sending anonymous messages/participating in fun ask challenges can be a way to connect during this time of social distancing. Or you could be future-oriented and plan ahead for gifts or nice messages for your closed ones on special occasions.
Finally, autonomy, the need to feel ownership for one’s behavior.
For this one, I take inspiration from Stephen Covey’s book: 7 habits of highly effective people.
To feel ownership for your behavior, you must reflect your place in life: find your proactivity in the way you live. Be proactive in the way you communicate with others (esp when miscommunication happens), take care of your closed ones, plan for your studies, etc. To motivate this proactivity, think of the end (memento mori). When you leave this world, what kind of things you would have wanted to experience? What kind of person do you want to be remembered as? And then plan to prioritize things that help you achieve these goals at the end of your life and spend more time on them than the “urgent” tasks that lose meaning in the next three years. If you want to lead a healthy life, the time spent on exercising and maintaining stamina should be more intensive than time spent on social media. If you want to be remembered as a caring friend, check up on your friends (choosing the means most fitting to you as an introvert) and support each other. If you want to be professionally successful, reference the career trajectories of those walking the same paths as you (alumni, coworkers etc) and learn from their choices. As you become a proactive person who prioritizes things based on long-term (the end) goals, you will start to solidify your personal principles and feel accountable for your behavior.
Once you have managed to consider all of these suggestions, you will realize a lot of them also target all three psychological needs I have stated above. For example, making a scrapbook detailing your memories with a friend to gift them on their birthday makes you feel crafty (competence), connected (relatedness), and solidifying your role as a good friend (autonomy). Or a moodboard dedicated to them. I’m certain you will know your preferences and situations best to find these new hobbies !
Wishing you the best luck with everything !
Skye
P.s: If you guys had read this far and would also like to give some advice, please also interact and advise anon as well <3
Thank you for the ask !!! They help distract me a lot from anxiety from having family issues.
5. who do you feel most you around?
That’s a rare feeling, to be honest. I tend to adapt to whoever I was interacting with, but I feel most like myself to someone when I can talk about mushy feelings and things like “I put a part of my name into your name” without feeling defensive and unrequited.
But my younger sister is the first one that I can be myself around.
11. what’s your ideal date?
I don’t have a specific scenario but definitely a criteria. If we recall the date with fond memories and quoting the stuff we said during that date in the future to laugh about or tease about or happily reminiscence about, then that is ideal.
And I’ve been having this more often than any specific scenario like “a walk to the beach”, “making out in the theater” so this definition works for me.
18. do you still love stuffed animals?
This is still not the full formation. There is a hedgehog named Churro that I have not been able to take pictures of (he is in the washings). @libarygoldfish (Mod goldfish) gave me Churro as a gift and I also gave her a grumpy shiba doggo that looks exactly like mine as well. They all have names but XD if you are really interested let me know.
