#pooh stuff

[blacklinguist]

the APPLE method : tips for self-discipline

💌 AWARENESS

identify the difference between your current and ideal priorities. be honest with yourself. if it helps, keep record of the time you actually spend studying vs. reading for pleasure vs. watching tv, for example. is your routine effective for what you need to accomplish?

💌 PLAN

 for each ideal priority, create 2 goals focusing on them:

                                e.g. priority: coursework

                           ❣️goal #1: write 1 page / day

                           ❣️goal #2: read for 15 min / day 

💌 PRACTICE

set time limits, such as pomodoros (or just regular timers) at first. discipline is about endurance. you won’t be able work steadily for 2hrs or complete 5 tasks in a row at first. i spent this year building my attention span back (in the beginning, i couldn’t even read 10 pages without feeling exhausted). i started with 15 min of reading per day, and kept increasing it by 15 min increments until time no longer mattered.

💌 LEARN

after a month (minimum!), re-analyze your goals. are they working well for you? can you increase them, or add more for each priority? what habits have you changed / added? It took several months to get my attention span back to a decent place, but now i can sit through 3 hour classes attentively (the entire time), and read all day without tiring. 

💌 EVOLVE

self-discipline allows you to create strong foundations for success. motivation is more like ‘how much can i do while this candle is burning’, and you never know how long the candle will burn. self-discipline is a steady supply of logs into a slow-burning fire. you’ll be able to feel confident tackling larger goals, and keep your responsibilities operating even if you don’t feel like it.

if you have any questions, please send me an ask!

[blacklinguist]

your first (conference) presentation ☁️

time yourself, please: i practiced once with the presentation in front of me, twice more while driving, and then again in front of a couple of colleagues. each  stop time was different, but i had a good gauge of how much content i would be able to cover. be the person who finishes two minutes early, you’ll win hearts.

use notes if you want, just don’t go overboard: depending on your field, the norm might be to stand up and just read your paper. if that’s you, ignore this, i guess? print out your presentation (at least a version of it), and jot down notes to help clear your head. make sure they’re easy to follow. honestly, notes are a smidge overrated. two of my colleagues were unable to use their (quite extensive) notes during their presentations, and did perfectly! trust yourself to know your material / research...you are the expert!

be comfortable: no need to dress ritzy, just dress confidently. whatever that looks like for you, that’s what i’m talking about. i wore a skirt and shirt, and some wedges (in hindsight, a great choice because the the podium was really tall...and i’m not). someone else wore a smart blouse and pants, and was sitting on the floor playing with a puppy right before our panel! they were definitely comfortable. 

breathe: if you don’t have time to edit, fine. if you do have time, then don’t. you know how it goes, when an artist is never satisfied, and eventually their changes ruin their entire work? applicable here. if you have anything to add, it’ll come to you during the presentation, or someone will ask you about during the Q&A session. what’s done is done, and within the next two hours, this will all be over!

do not rush your presentation: know what the main points of your presentation are. there have to be some things that are more important than others. if your moderator is flashing five minutes, skip the little details! DON’T speed read your notes / the presentation / talk at 200 wpm. your audience will not be able to keep up. maintain your poise and control. the important thing about practicing your presentation is learning how to adapt it to the time constraints you have. 

enjoy the Q&A session: if you are getting questions, that means your presentation really made an impact. congrats! don’t drop the ball here, but continue to have that confidence. if someone asks you a difficult question / one you didn’t consider, thank them for bringing up the topic, and say that you would like to look into that further (even if you never do lol). heck, you may come away with some helpful information!

finally, some short points:

do not read from your slides. explain / illustrate them. your audience can read!

do not read from your notes. they are there for little reminders (key words, quotes), not as a crutch.

gesture and move about. have some energy in your presence, and loosen up. if you seem happy and excited, your audience will feed from that.

it’s okay to pause. if you’re out of breath, stop. if you need to collect your thoughts, stop. do not follow it with an apology, it’s natural!

no ‘Questions?’ slide!

[blacklinguist]

the 4/4 method: how i beat procrastination (mostly...)

in undergrad, i definitely suffered with time management and just .... sabotaging myself. this year, i was able to finally figure out a system that didn’t leave me scrambling at the last second, so i hope this helps!

4/4: Time

through trial and error, i realized my limit for work (either studying or projects or reading) is about 4 hours a day. sometimes less, sometimes more, but only in special cases will i add an hour more. it’s usually more than enough to get everything done. 

and when i say four hours, i mean legitimate work. no phone, no email, no chatting. in the beginning, i was surprised with what i was able to get done even in two hours of uninterrupted work. 

i had to chunk my work into sections (tasks is the other 4 i’ll talk about in a second), and figure out my best working time. especially with a fractured schedule like the one i had this semester, i had to be flexible.

pomodoro ended up being too short for me to work and then rest, so i extended both as i felt necessary.

what i do:

at work: 90 minutes on, 30 minutes off (in between)

at home: 60 minutes on, 15 minutes off (averaging 2.5 sessions)

no music (just ambience sounds or the chatter of my colleagues at work in the background)

do not disturb ON / phone AWAY [yeah, i’m now a firm believer in not having any devices near you...]

have a running to-do list of your tasks for that session near you.

4/4: Tasks

real talk, i am usually aware of what i need to do three weeks ahead of time, sometimes even a month. in the rare event that i truly finish everything due AND before my four hours are up, i can start on those far off assignments (it’s only happened once this semester).

something that i’ll fully convert over to notion is having a micromanaging list for each task. right now, all my assignments are in notion:

and whenever i start something, i copy the instructions into the file so that i can check things off (just delete them) as i work ahead. i want to add them to these entries here to let me ‘check’ more stuff, and curb those last lingering procrastination blues.

i don’t usually have more than four tasks a day to complete. i work on something for six days out of the week, so theoretically my ceiling is 24 different things signed sealed and delivered. my first priority after academic stuff is domestic duties like deep cleaning...so i will never work on 24 academic tasks during the week. 

a task is anything that will take me at least 30 minutes to complete (not necessarily the same thing as my moon lists, btw!). i generally know how long certain things will take, so my priority is hitting my task completion. there are some days in which i hit the time cap, even if i haven’t finished all my tasks. those are the days in which i just take a break and continue the next day.

what i do:

work around 5 days-2 weeks ahead (depends on the class)

tasks > time for me

longer tasks go first

i try to do shorter tasks at work since those time chunks work better at my office (aka i’m interrupted on a quicker cycle)

if you have any Qs, let me know!

[blacklinguist]

the first four weeks of grad school 🌿

you actually DO need a binder (or two + a folder)

apparently you’re supposed to be a nerd and save all your homeworks and papers because they might be useful to refer to once you’re in your phd program (if you go that route)

if you suck at getting organized then....get organized. there’s just no choice. half the time, the stuff you need to be lined up and ready affects others (like presentations and whatnot). no cutting corners!

stick around the offices after and before class and learn what’s going on ... closed mouth open ears helps you navigate the different dynamics and figure out who has issues with who ... don’t put a word in yourself, though

stay on top of the paperwork, make sure your email has filters for the important people in your department so you don’t lose anything, and pin or save necessary emails so that you don’t have to hunt them down at the end of the semester

this may just be a personal thing, but i have printed versions of 90% of my readings and only physical books ... i have to be on my computer enough doing write-ups and attendance and course admin that my eyes would be tired out if i had to study online too .. take care of your eyes

set goals in regard to how much time you want to spend, NOT how many things you want to accomplish ... the change up is just because there’s going to be too much to do on any given day for it to make sense otherwise

work on a routine, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow everything every day, this first month will still be a rollercoaster no matter what you do (i say this with papers and shredded envelopes all over my desk, my sheets halfway off my bed somehow, and random curly strands of hair everywhere)

find one (at least) person that you can really depend on, or be findable! the first day of orientation, an old classmate spotted me out of nowhere and seemed relieved that they weren’t going to be alone in the program, and was glued to me the entire week. we’re each other’s emergency contacts for certain obligations and ask questions throughout the week ... have someone’s back! 

that leads to my next point, which is to not do things alone (me preaching to myself). make sure someone knows what you’re up to, and have contacts in graduate school and outside of it so that you can breathe. 

keep 30% of your sanity for the times you have to be flexible and scrap plans A through Y. the first week of school, i had to start sharing a car with my mother. the second and third week, a hurricane threatened us and four days of class were canceled. 

final tip: having a signature scent does make you seem put together. the one day i forgot my perfume, i felt n*ked in the skreets .. face your day smelling good lol!

[blacklinguist]

🕊 8 | the only person i compete against is myself, and she puts up a good fight! my mind is starting to wander so i think i’ll have to get all loose ends tied up by tomorrow night. it’ll be a lot of work, but i can do it!

[blacklinguist]

man i hate this

[blacklinguist]

🕊 38 | day 22/31: Do you have an evening routine? What is it / what would it ideally be?

ideally, it’s the following:

reading for an hour shower put hair up for bed lay out clothes and pack bags for the next day

i haven’t had time to read before bed the past week :/

[blacklinguist]

🕊 30 | day 30/31: Almost there! Do you celebrate Halloween? Do you have any plans?

Nope! going to see a movie this weekend with some friends, but it’s kinda a celebration of getting through october as a whole !