Everyone has their own quirks. And you know what those are for you better than anyone else. And when it comes down to me, I have a few things I do.

• Don’t take notes in class. Well, not unless it’s completely necessary, like an equation with some key example that I can use for further reference. The reason why this works for me is that I see lectures like a conversation with my professor. If you’re in a conversation with your friend, you’re not going to type or write everything down. Instead, you try to follow what your friend is saying, right? You’re not going to remember everything, but you’re gonna remember the key aspects that make the story. I used to take notes in class but I noticed that I focused too much on taking notes instead of the actual content. 
• Take notes a day or two after your class. This will force you to recall what your professor said.  According to a psychologist, Jeffrey Karpicke, simply practising and recalling the material, students learn far more and at a much deeper level by recalling than using any other approach. First I like to write what I remember down on a page. After, I start reading the textbook and make notes at the margins of other examples or anecdotes the professor used. If I paid attention, all these things will pop up into my mind. Just trust your brain on this one, you’ll be surprised by how much you actually remember. (I certainly was!) And then I take these 2 notes and make my final notes on the subject.  
• Get your pets and talk to them (Or yourself). After I am done with the notes, I like to wait a day or two before I go back to them. I often open the book on the index page, where you see the chapter’s title, paragraph and sub-paragraphs and use this as a shortcut page to my presentation. I stand up before a whiteboard. I make sure Burger (my cute-ass doggo) and Mr Fantastic (my grumpy cat) are on my bed. I take a deep breath and I start explaining the concepts to them. The idea here is to recall and make sure you put the concepts into your own words. What do you remember? What is it about? Can you explain this with an example? What are the practical uses of said concept? Most importantly, use that whiteboard. It’ll make you feel like a professor and that you know your shit. Once I start talking, I’ll realise what information I truly don’t know. Then I’ll pick up my final notes and go through them and see if I talked about everything. After I’m done with my talk, Burger looks at me like “Shirou, where’s ma food?” and Mr Fantastic is fast asleep or looking at me like she truly can’t be bothered.
  

So experiment! See what works for you and what doesn’t. Not sure where to start? Then I truly recommend you to check the free online course on Coursera “Learning how to learn”. It truly helped me to lay a basis of getting my shit together. 

How to beat procastination in vacation

Let’s be honest, procrastination has hit us all one way or another. Even the best of us sometimes fall victim to it. We must remember that we all make mistakes and there will be times in which we will procrastinate. However, we should try our best to improve.  So how can we try not to fall into procrastination?

1. Understand what makes you procrastinate. This step is very essential so we can come up with solutions.

In my case, reading made me procrastinate. Reading isn’t necessarily a bad thing but once you’re reading instead of actively working on your priorities, it truly becomes a problem. I would spend nights reading on my phone and had lack of sleep. Therefore I was also very tired and couldn’t perform as I needed to.

2. Define your goals. Writing down goals is very important as it gives you a specific end to work to. The goals are your expectations and having SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound) will help you work effectively.

I decided I must do up to 5 tasks related to my priorities each day. I can’t read until I finish those tasks.

3. Identify possible courses of actions. This is the stage in which you’ll come up with ways to achieve those goals. The solutions you come up with have to help you find a way to overcome the reasons why you procrastinate.

Each week I must plan an overview of relevant goals I want to accomplish. Each night, as part of my night routine, I must write down important tasks I have to do the next day in order to achieve those goals. These can’t be more than 5 and I must make sure I can absolutely do those tasks. In order to avoid reading, I downloaded an app called self-control on my phone and laptop in order to avoid the sites I read stories on. In case I fail to accomplish this and decide to read, I must give my mom my phone for a day. My night routine starts at 6 PM, which means I can read till 6 PM in order not to disrupt my sleeping cycle.

4. Identify when you are the most productive. Some people are night-owls while others are early-risers. What time are you the most productive? When you know this, you can schedule a time to work on your priorities.

I work best in the early morning. Most people find my waking hours atrocious. However getting things done as early as 3 AM does wonders to me. Most people are already asleep at that time, which means no distractions coming from mobile notifications. The internet is crazy fast at that hour. And the quietness of everything makes me go real deep, real quick into my work.  

5. Keep track of your habits. This will help you see how you’re actually working and it’s also the perfect time to reevaluate if things are going the way you want. Here you can also give yourself feedback. And if necessary, you can also go back and repeat the process.

It’s important to remember that each one of us has their own ways of working. What works for me, might not work for you. I encourage you all to experiment with all sorts of things in order to find a way that works for you and kick procrastination’s ass like a boss.

A friendly reminder