#study blog

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. 

So far, as a guy, I’ve never tried having a morning routine as I thought it was for girls and people who cared too much about themselves. YEAH, I KNOW, SLAP ME! But reading into how beneficial it can be for you and that time alone is essential to keep growing, I said to myself that I was gonna go deep into it this summer.

So I did. And I’m working on it. Here’s my morning routine.

• Wake up at 03.30. Waking up so early in the damn morning might be a nightmare for most of you. By no means am I telling you to do it. I don’t want you falling asleep in public, okay? I usually wake up at 05.00 to help my parents at the bakery and figured if I really wanted to do this right, I would have to wake up even earlier. It’s been 2 weeks and it’s been going great so far. If I want to wake up so early, I also have to sleep early. Somehow, I’m fixing my 18 years of fucked up schedule

• Workout. The first thing that I do after washing my face and brushing my teeth is working out. I usually do a 45-minute workout. After the first 5 minutes, all sleep I first had is gone. I’ve also noticed I’ve been sleeping deeper and am not doing many mistakes at work.

• Review my day. The night before I usually adjust my to-do list for the day. So what I like doing is reviewing the list again and prepare myself mentally for the tasks I need to get done.

• Read a motivational article. Flipboard and Pinterest are great apps to find motivational articles. I usually make a board specifically for this end. I have many interests and, as an imperfect human, I can’t perform 100% on all of them. So when I feel like I am not performing very well in one area, I like to read an article to get my motivation up. For example, if I see that I’m not eating well, I would read an article about veganism/ vegetarian and why it’s important and how it has helped others. Being vegan/ vegetarian doesn’t mean you are automatically healthy Or when I know I’m not paying enough attention to my studies, I would read an article about how to study smarter. Also, if you are working on a specific goal, having your own list of reasons to get you motivated is a super plus!!!

• Shower and dress up! I’ve noticed that showering and changing into actual clothes, no pajamas, no gym shorts, no baggy sweatpants, actually helps me to start my day right. Even if I’m gonna stay at home I’m more likely to be productive because I feel ready to work, the day is right in front of me and I’m going to make the most out of it.

Are you considering your own morning routine? Well, here are some steps you can take that have helped me so far:

• What do you want to accomplish with the morning routine? This can help you figure out what you are willing to do as a routine. Do you wanna workout? Have a set mind? Read a bit for yourself? Study? Write? Maybe you just wanna take care of yourself and pamper yourself with love by drinking a nice cuppa, watching the sunrise, taking care of your skin.
• References. There are a bunch of articles and videos on YouTube about morning routines. Maybe even your favorite youtuber or blogger already have one. Go over it and give it a try. You don’t have to follow everything if you think it’s not going to work for you. The best thing? You can always mix routines! Have fun figuring it out.
• Have a night routine too. Waking up in the morning is difficult for most of us. So having a night routine can be very helpful as it prepares our nights on what’s to come the next day. With this one, you can also look for inspiration in articles and videos.

rowanspostgradadventures:

I want to try and reblog more posts especially original content that have less than 500 notes

PLEASE reblog if you’re a small studyblr or your original content doesn’t get the exposure you want it to, and tag this post with your OC tag

I’ll try and follow as many as I can! Following me back would be nice but not compulsory! 

Reblog

I am your average business student fed up with being played at by my college. Now, during this summer vacation, I have decided to get my shit together in order to go head to head against college and succeed in my third year like a champ. 

I’m vegetarian and try my best to live zero waste. Therefore, I am always armoured with my phone, laptop, and stylus. Although, occasionally, you can see me using analogue methods. 

Together with my dog Burger and my cat Mr Fantastic (which is actually female), I’ll be sharing how I have managed to survive the challenge of going to college, coming of age and learning self-love. 

Additional information

Age: 18

Major: Entrepreneurship and Management, Senior. 

Languages: Dutch, English, Spanish, Papiamentu, and Cantonese.

Hobbies: Cooking, Windsurfing, Kayak, Digital Art, Webtoons, Reading, Binge-Watching Animes. 

Goal: Make friends here on Tumblr and motivate each other to become the best version of ourselves!

okay so fish and i (august) have been gaining quite a few new followers over here, so i figure it’s about the right time to say something i’ve been thinking about for quite a while: whether productivity, studyblr’s key concept, is helpful or objectively harmful depends on how we define it. what is “productive” looks different for everyone and varies based on any given day. sometimes, to be productive is to get up, take a shower, and go for a walk at some point in the day. sometimes, to be productive is to get up at 6 and focus on blocks of studying all day. but unless we acknowledge and support the first possibility and those like it, we are creating a community that is objectively inaccessible and sells a lifestyle both unachievable and potentially unhealthy for many. when you discuss “productivity”, consider what you mean, and whether you’re falling into the capitalist trap that defines success based only on achievement within predominant systems around you, or whether your understanding of success includes personal levels of effort and self-maintenance; self love before external ideas of ‘triumph’.