If you’re struggling to get through something particularly challenging, come up with a reward that you’ll give yourself when you finish the task. It can give you the extra motivation you need to keep pushing on.

Good morning, everyone! Here is today’s tip of the day.

Usually, the hardest part of an assignment is getting started. One of the best ways to deal with this is easing your way into the task. Separate it to the smallest tasks and only focus on one task at a time. These will appear much easier than thinking “I need to start writing my essay”.

home | Study Opal

home | Study Opal

STUDY HACK: How I get things done in 4 hours a day

Hi guys, Lala here! I want to share with you guys how I am able to get things done in 4 hours a day. I know that for some of you the idea seems ridiculous. I thought the same 3 years ago. But I realized that while I would study, I was actually pretending to study because I would actually drift away from my studies and work and end up reading something completely unrelated to what I was supposed to get done. 

I would “study” for very long hours and didn’t get even half things done. And what is interesting is the fact I was actually burned out and stressed. About 2 years ago, I came across this article on Quartz called “The 4-hour workday is not a crazy idea”. While this is targeted towards businesses, I said to myself “School is basically work, so why not give it a shot”. And I am not kidding guys, it has helped so much. I actually get more things done, and I am not overworked because studying or working for 4 hours a day leaves me with plenty of time to focus on personal goals and my health. And while university leaves you with a ton of work, I am able to do it following the principles I shared with you above. 

If you guys want to know more about the methods that I talked about here, you can find more info below:

Time-blocking 101

Avoid the urgency trap with the Eisenhower Matrix

Productivity 101: An Introduction to The Pomodoro Technique

How to improve productivity with time batching

Hope you guys found this useful, and if you want to know more study hacks, feel free to check out my blog.

How to catch up to your classes

Figure out how behind you are

The first step is figuring out how behind you actually are. Will you get anxious? Yes. Will you panic? Most likely. However, brace yourself. You got yourself in this, so make sure you get yourself out too. If you don’t, nobody else will. Grab a paper or open a document. And do the following:

1. List all your subjects
2. Mark what you will be evaluated for. Is it an essay, presentation or your good old theoretic exam?
3. For each item that you have to deliver write down the following

• Essay: How long should it be? Is it a team project or individual? How
• Presentation: Is it an individual presentation or with a partner?
• Theoretic: How many chapters will the test be based on?

Don’t panic. Prioritize.

I’m not going to lie, you WILL be overwhelmed once you finish that list. However, you are not obligated to do all of them. What do I mean by this? Well, why don’t you try to make a couple of them during resit period? I started a whole semester late, I had double the exams than my peers. Is taking all the exams at once doable? Certainly, but you will have to sacrifice your sanity and be content with a passing grade. However, I am not the type of person that is satisfied with a passing grade and I am also kinda lazy so I would choose which exams I would take in the examination period and which ones I would take in the resit period. That way, I didn’t overload myself with stuff and ensure a high grade nonetheless. Work smarter, not harder, kids.

This is where prioritizing came in handy. Based on the previous information gathered in the first step, filter which exams are the most important. Do you have a subject that requires an essay, presentation and a theoretic exam? Make it a priority. Is that theoretic exam feared among all students for being hella difficult? Make it a priority. As a rule of thumb, make all team projects a priority. So, then… What do you leave for resit? Is it an individual paper that does not require a lot of work or cannot be too long? Resit. Is it an individual presentation? Resit. Is it a simple test in a subject you are confident in? Resit. Although I do recommend trying to take all the written exams in the examination week. However, if you see that the workload is too much, move one to the resit.

Create a Master Calendar

Now that you know what you will be prioritizing, it is important to create a master calendar that will help you catch up. Here are some guidelines on how I do it.

1. Mark off all your deadlines first
2. Per subject divide the study material in tasks: What chapters do you need to study? When will you outline your paper? When will you write? Revise it?
3. Schedule the most pressing or time consuming assignments first
4. Assign 1 or 2 study subjects per day

If you work with programs such as Notion or other software that helps you with project management, doing a big backlog can be a game changer. Want more in depth information? I wrote a blog just about that here.

Have a structured and mindful study routine

I was surprised at how much I improved my study when I implemented a study routine. Before having one, I would spend hours and hours on one thing, or I would start reading about something and quickly started doing unnecessary research on what I’ve read. I thought I was being productive but truth of the matter is that I wouldn’t finish what I actually HAD TO do. Some weeks back, I shared my study routine with you. Having a study routine is important, if you want to ensure you are completing your tasks. Pro-tip: use the pomodoro technique or set a specific time for you to finish each of your tasks. You’ll finish more things that way.

Have a partner to keep you accountable

Finding a study buddy is one of the best decisions you can make when you are behind your studies. BUT make sure they are serious. This helped me so much back in my minor, I teamed up with another classmate and we created a shared doc where we each assigned a chapter to summarize. We would then come together and explain the chapter to each other. Thus cutting the time we spent reading and writing the summaries in half in order to focus on learning. Try to come up with ways to divide the workload between the two of you and then explain and discuss about it. This is a more interactive way of learning and is sure to keep you more engaged and help you remember it afterwards.

author-a-holmes:

fesweetpea:

I’m a knitter. I sometimes knit socks.

I have recently got back into doing some writing. This writing has been multi-chaptered.

So, here is a trick I am going to share that I learned from knitting socks. There is a thing called “second sock syndrome” which is when you finish one sock but can’t seem to get around to starting the second. So, when I finish a sock I IMMEDIATELY cast on the second sock and just knit a few rows.

So, when you finish that chapter, IMMEDIATELY just write one sentence of the next chapter. Trust me.

I have, and do, do this!

Not even, always, the end of a chapter. If I reach a place where there should be a scene break, I write the next few sentences so I have a launching off point the next time I sit down to write.

It helps me *so much!*

Chaos Mode version of this: stop in the middle of a sentence.

You know how the sentence ends. Just getting those first few words out can really help the work start flowing next time you sit down to write.

If you are at all OCD it will also drive you insane until you CAN sit down and start writing, which may or may not be a good thing. Just the impetus of ‘I NEED to finish that bloody sentence!’ can be useful to get me to stop procrastinating and start writing.

obliviatestudies:

THINGS TO TRY TO HELP BOOST PRODUCTIVITY

Hey everyone! Lately, I’ve been finding that my productivity and just the want to work (and effort I put in when I do) was been lacking…badly. So, I’ve decided to compile a list of small things to help me improve my productivity, things I want to try out and things I know have worked in the past, so I hope these can help you guys too.  

• Start the day by time blocking; i’ve been using just the calendar app on my iPhone/Mac, and basically i just block out times during my day to get certain things done, and even if it’s not done (unless it’s due that day) i move onto the next thing to keep the workflow going 

•  Keep a workflow; if possible, don’t have large breaks of time between your studying and change the class that you’re studying every 1-1.5 hours depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, this will keep you on your toes and overall less bored

• Change your study space; even if you can’t (or don’t want to) get out of your house, rearranging your workspace or even going to a different room to study for a few days out of the week can really help

• PUT YOUR PHONE OUT OF THE ROOM; this has been the biggest thing for me as i kept finding myself getting distracted, and if i need to work on my laptop, for ex. i need lecture slides or an online textbook, when possible, i load everything then turn off the wifi on my laptop

• Study with someone; or just have an accountability partner, i know a lot of people don’t find this very helpful, myself included, but something being in an environment where everyone else is working too makes you want to work as well. or even putting a study with me (realtime) can help you be more efficient

• Make your study space a positive place; by this i mean, don’t bring a negative attitude towards it, even if you don’t want to study, if you go in with a bad attitude, the fact of the matter is that you more than likely won’t get much done, or if you do it won’t be as good as your work would be with a positive headspace. i sometimes light candles or put on instrumental background music to make the space more inviting

• Take breaks; your productivity is the best in 50-minute chunks. your mental attention is proven to begin declining after 30 mins and steeply decline after 50. if you’re not in a good work/productivity swing try a 5-10 minute break every 50 mins of uninterrupted studying, but this doesn’t mean that if you are working hard, you should stop the flow!

I hope these little tips can help boost your productivity a bit more, even if you don’t do all of them, maybe try to implement some of these into your study routine and see the difference a  small change can make

If you have any requests for posts or something you want me to talk about, feel free to leave a comment, msg, or ask!

-Obliviatestudies

Every library is closed, so are universities and you may be desperate because the library was the only place where you were able to focus.. I totally get you! But as someone who’ve spent most of its school years studying at home.. I can assure you that it’s totally fine! You just need a few techniques and organization skills and you’ll see that everything will be ok ! So here we go : 

• Clean and declutter your study space. Store the books you don’t need anymore and only keep the essentials on your desk. I’ll share with you an old article I wrote on Tumblr about how to upgrade your workspace!
• Block distractions : give your phone to your mom, use the Forest app, the Flipd app or just put it in airplane mode !
• Cut the outside noise : a good playlist (my Lofi playlist for example :P), earplugs and the door shut can help you be in the « library » mood…
• Make a study plan and try to stick to a routine.. It’s easy to lose track of time when you spend all of your days at home! This is why keeping a healthy routine and set hours for meals and breaks is really important!
• Since it’s easier to get distracted at home, make sure to take more breaks than the usual (for example a 45min study session and a 10 min break).
• If you have online lectures and a #studybuddy that you trust, why not split the work (for example you follow half of the lectures and your colleague the other half) and then sharing your notes? Also, why not creating a Google Drive with your colleagues so everyone shares their notes? The quarantine will be long so a little support from each other is more than welcomed!!
• You can also have skype sessions with your colleagues to debate about a subject, or quiz each other so you don’t feel too alone and you keep track of your progress :)
• You can also take the time to go deeper into the subjects you have to study and not only scratching the surface like you may be used to do ! This is also a great way to discover if you’re more interested in some subjects than others and who knows, maybe you’ll find a new passion !
• If you feel like you can’t focus anymore then.. stop. It’s totally fine to not being able to study all day, especially when you have nothing else to do and when the deadlines are still far and unsure. So Take this time to enjoy your family, work on yourself, read a book, or start a new hobby.

Studygram

heyrosiebee:

warm + productive things to do in the morning

1. drink water. as soon as you wake up or after you wash your mouth. it gets your metabolism going and makes you feel more energized.

2. revel in peaceful isolation. it’s so quiet at dawn. and somehow, the darkness isn’t as daunting as it is at night. you can detach yourself from the world since it’s still asleep, but you don’t feel lonely, just.. grounded.

3.meditate. you can either go classic ‘clear your mind’ like training to ward of a Legilimens or follow guided meditation via podcasts/videos. it’s perfect because no one’s awake to bother you.

4.write morning pages/journal. to me, this is like meditation but instead letting your thoughts bubble up to the surface and flow onto paper. it gives your day a sense of direction, too.

5.exercise. run outside. run around your house. run in place. do jumping jacks. get your blood pumping. stretch. pop the kinks out of your bones. crack your muscles like a glow stick.

6.make yourself some tea. or coffee, if you’re more into that.

7.prepare a decent breakfast. make it protein-rich. it’s your fuel, after all.

8. watch the sun rise. nothing beats waiting for the sun to peek into the horizon and saying, ‘guess who finally decided to show up.’ (also, pretty colors.)

9.take a walk. preferably once the sun’s up. unless you’re neighborhood’s safe af.

10.cuddle with your SO. could be your sibling/s. could be your cat or bunny. could be your Kaneki body pillow.

11.read a book. or a fanfic. just a couple of chapters. make sure it’s something that motivates/inspires you or gives off positive vibes because it’ll set your mood.

12.clear your space. light a candle or diffuse some citrus or mint to 'clear the energy’ around you or just to freshen your environment up a bit. start putting things away. sweep the floor. (make your bed.)

13.spend extra time on grooming. you have the time–use it. exfoliate. bathe in moisturizer. style your hair. make at most 3 outfit changes until you’re comfy and confident.

14.watch a video that motivates you. i suggest TED Talks, lifestyle gurus like Lavendaire and Rowena Tsai on YT, and 'Get Productive With Me’ vlogs.

15.plan. make an overview of the day, if you don’t have one yet. set clear intentions and specify your priorities so your day has more direction.

*some references you could use:

PickUpLimes|Lavendaire|muchelleb|studytee|Rowena Tsai|petiteaventure

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TIPS TO GET STUFF DONE WITH ADHD

anyway since i’ve been shitposting my way around here i’ll just give you guys a hopefully useful tip for dealing with adhd and/or executive dysfunction:

>> something that has helped me a lot this year was to just start tasks by doing them wrong.

>> like, i have so much trouble getting started. it’s like i wanna move and do it but i can’t.

>> so i tell myself to do something small even if it is BAD, like writing a sentence for an essay with the simplest words and poor grammar or whatever

>> i don’t know if this applies to others, but in my case the fear of failure makes procrastination even worse. i’m unconsciously worried about doing a bad job, so it takes me longer to start

>> if i say “i’m gonna do it even if it’s bad because bad is better than nothing” then it might still be hard to get started, but much less.

>> if i combine that with breaking tasks into VERY small steps (one sentence now, one paragraph, whatever works for you), then it is much more manageable, because i get to do that small thing and, once i got started, the inertia makes it easier to keep going

that’s all for today folks hope somebody finds this useful and remember it’s okay to struggle! you’re doing an awesome job getting by each day and you should be proud of that! sending you love