#rhubarbstudies

[acadstuds]

the current desk setup — long time since i’ve posted and my desk has definitely changed a lot 🤣

[proilegln]

4 ANTI-PROCRASTINATION TIPS

Countdown Rule: Count down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and on 1 force yourself to work. And no, you can’t stretch the countdown forever.

3 Minute Rule: Start working on the Thing for three minutes, which is barely the amount of time it takes to brush your teeth, and if by the end of it you still HATE YOUR LIFE then see what’s wrong. The hardest part is getting started- if you’re still struggling once you start, your problem isn’t procrastination.

The Absolutely Nothing Technique (TANT): if you’re scrolling on YouTube or whatever and procrastinating, stop and stare at the ceiling. Do absolutely nothing. Don’t pick up your phone, don’t sleep, don’t do anything but stare. Eventually you’ll realize how stupid this is and how you might as well work. verb: tanting ;)

Clean Your Room: similar to the previous one and very self-explanatory. Clean your room- if you don’t like doing it, eventually you’ll realize you’d rather just sit down and work. You’ll get a bit of your space clean as well!

Let me know if you want other posts similar to this! Like how to stay focused during studying or study motivation tips or apps for study help.

[yume-studies]

˗ˏˋ playlists to study/vibe to ˎˊ˗

dark academia - acoustics n lots of hozier for that classical literature aesthetic 

cowboy music - western-sounding indie music for ppl who don’t like country music lmao

8tracks indie - if you’re one of the OGs who used 8tracks, these are the songs that were in like every single playlist

rainy - lots of oldies! i kinda imagined it as cafe music during the post apocalypse hehe 

soleil - warm-sounding songs!

surf rock - the sort of music that’d be in a summer indie film soundtrack

moomin! - it’s cottagecore, babey!

oranges and honey - lo-fi

she hasn’t met him yet - if you like boy pablo and happy indie this is 4 u

[apricitystudies]

20.10.2020 // me struggling to take that last picture without my glasses on was how i earned my degree from clown university

[bctanical]

november ‘20.

some oldish pics from last semester. this semester has been hell, but it’s nearly over i guess. all my plants have grown so much since i took the second pic and i love them dearly :’)

[maggiestudies]

03:40 pm, 04.18.2021 / long time no study pics! this is pretty much my setup every day this semester. happy sunday!

[sophie-studying]

12.10.20

back on the french grind whilst I‘m also in the process of moving into my dorm room...

[noodledesk]

a lot of you have asked how I actually use notion in my day to day life, so I’ve broken down my task manager for all of you! hope this helps :) happy notion-ing! 💖

my other posts on notion: goal setting 📚

edit: i’ve made my template available for everyone to duplicate here! happy notion-ing!

entire post below!

how I use notion to time manage, prioritize, & get shit done

how it works

all tasks (and I mean ALL!) are sorted into 12 categories in a 4 x 3 matrix. this method was adapted from @howtomusicmajor’s post, how to handle having too much to do, which i’ve linked in the post below. i’ve changed things slightly to fit my own personal preferences.

every row is how long a task takes. I’ve got the following: 5 min 30 min hours future

every column is when they are due. i have the following: today tomorrow later

future refers to my tasks that are more abstract, fit are kind of like goals, and aren’t as tangible as ‘Chapter 1 homework’. this allows me to write down everything I have the intention of doing in the near future without trying to quantify them right away. examples of tasks that go in future include:

create new portfolio website (takes a while, not a priority, but I’d LIKE to do it) submit to poetry journals (not pressing, but I want to do it in the near future and having it on my to do reminds me to make time for it) learn cinema 4d (again, kind of abstract, relatively large undertaking that I want to remind myself of)

what are these numbers?

the numbers refer to what order I do the tasks in. 1 is first, 2 is second, and under future, which are more abstract/ long term, the order goes from later, even later, and one day. the core of my tasks are in 1 to 5 for each day, and I move around the rest of the tasks as I see fit.

example of where these tasks go:

chapter 11 stats questions → 30 min & today or tomorrow

water plants → 5 min & today

make portfolio website → future & later

why sort it this way? why notion?

i use this method for 3 reasons:

prioritization: a grid allows me to discern from a glance what I have to do at any given moment, whats important, and what’s not. I also need to be able to move things around, so using a digital resource is better for me.

scheduling: I find that I work better when I can see all the tasks that I have to do in the next few days vs. one day only. I also don’t typically schedule out my days because I find it really difficult to estimate how long tasks take, so I will put tasks I think I can focus on for one day and move them around as needed. it allows for more flexibility in my days!

breaking up tasks: I’ll usually break up my ‘hours’ tasks into pieces, which I then put under 30 min, which allows me to avoid procrastinating. I only need to follow one rule: the numbers! always knowing what to do next with a way to break up tasks makes it a lot easier to tackle things.

how to actually build yourself a grid in notion

sometimes it’s a little hard to build your own customized page in notion, so I started off with a template that would let me speed up my process. I used the weekly agenda template under the Personal category, but any page similar will be fine for you. from there, I just moved around each block until I got a 3 X 4 rectangle.

make it something you WANT to use

some ways that I make my task manager cute and enjoyable to use (you have to like your system or you won’t use it!)

cute cover photos every few days (change things up to keep your tracker fresh!)

recent excerpts from poems I read (inspiration!)

emojis that follow a theme & fit my current mood (tip: you can also use any image or transparent art that you want, so it’s super customizeable!)

and that's it!

finally, what’s most important is that you customize the manager so that it works well for you. if you notice that a process works better a different way, definitely change it! this works remarkably well for me because I alter it as I encounter better solutions. that being said, I hope this post was helpful! changing to this tracker has helped me much better manage school, being vice president of two clubs, my hobbies (like this blog!), sleeping enough, and making time for what’s important to me :)

references: 

adapted from: https://howtomusicmajor.tumblr.com/post/130098710517/how-to-handle-having-too-much-to-do

art: https://hugolemonnier.tumblr.com/post/189172150081

poem by yang chia-hsien: https://aaww.org/summer-of-many-smokes/