aceademics

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How Do I Become More Disciplined? Practical Tips for Self-Mastery

However, developing discipline can be challenging, especially in a world filled with distractions and temptations. The good news is that discipline is a skill that can be cultivated with practice and perseverance. In this blog, we will explore practical tips and strategies to help you become more disciplined and unlock your full potential.

Break Tasks into Manageable Steps Big goals can often feel overwhelming, leading to procrastination and a lack of discipline tips. To overcome this, break down your goals into smaller, manageable tasks.

Create a Routine and Stick to It Establishing a daily routine can be a powerful tool in developing discipline. Design a schedule that incorporates time for your most important tasks, as well as for self-care and relaxation. Consistency is key in building discipline, and a well-structured routine helps to minimize decision fatigue and create positive habits.

Practice Self-Control and Delayed Gratification Discipline often requires resisting short-term gratification for long-term rewards. Train yourself to delay instant gratification by practicing self-control. This could mean avoiding distractions like social media during work hours or saying no to unhealthy temptations.

Cultivate a Growth Mindset Developing discipline tips is a journey, and setbacks are inevitable. Embrace a growth mindset that views challenges and failures as opportunities for learning and improvement. Instead of being discouraged by setbacks, analyze what went wrong and identify ways to adapt and improve. Remember that discipline is not about being perfect, but about consistently working towards your goals with resilience and determination.

Find an Accountability System Having an accountability system can significantly enhance your discipline tips. Share your goals with them, provide regular progress updates, and seek their guidance and encouragement. This external support can provide the necessary motivation and accountability to stay disciplined, especially during challenging times.

Practice Self-Care and Well-Being Discipline is closely linked to overall well-being. Get enough sleep, exercise regularly, eat nourishing meals, and prioritize activities that recharge and rejuvenate you.

Conclusion Becoming more disciplined requires commitment, consistency, and a growth mindset. By clarifying your goals, breaking tasks into manageable steps, establishing routines, practicing self-control, cultivating a growth mindset, finding accountability, and prioritizing self-care, you can develop the discipline necessary to achieve your aspirations and lead a more fulfilling life. Remember, discipline tipsis a skill that can be honed through practice, so be patient and persistent. Embrace the journey of self-mastery and enjoy the rewards that disciplined living can bring.

Source Code: https://medium.com/@styalish/how-do-i-become-more-disciplined-practical-tips-for-self-mastery-7b8570e4ba0a

[aceademics]

Insurance PSA Master Post from a Bitch Who Knows Her Shit and wants to make sure you don’t go bankrupt

Why am I littering your dash with mind-numbing insurance crap?

Because the world of health insurance is complicated, and you can still lose everything if you have coverage and fail to navigate it correctly. 

Even if your eyes glaze over instantly at the subject, I suggest you bookmark this as a future reference, because you either have your own insurance now, or you will someday soon, and there isn’t anybody who doesn’t need this knowledge. (Yes, I know there’s a double negative in that sentence. This is a financial post, not a grammar post.)

If you think this is valuable info, I ask you to please share it. You could help somebody save money/sanity. 

My cred: 

I write health plan docs for a living. I’m an Obamacare expert. I help clients with plan design, so I know the tricks. I implement federal mandates from HHS, IRS, DOL, and state agencies in order to keep my clients legally compliant. I know how to avoid penalties and coverage gaps. I know the tricks of plan design that are implemented to save employers money. I know which laws apply to which types of plans. I know how many ways participants can get severely burned if they don’t know how this works.

1. Your network is everything.

Never visit any type of practitioner without first checking if they are in your network. This is gospel. Many plans have separate INN and OON deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums that do not accumulate together. Some plans have an unlimited OON out-of-pocket limit, so you can still go completely bankrupt if you go OON.

Most plans have network provisions that will cover some OON providers at the INN level: emergency services until you’re stabilized (this is a federal mandate for non-grandfathered plans), No Choice of Provider provision if ancillary services are performed OON (e.g., if an INN physician sends your labs to an OON facility), and various out-of-area provisions. If you don’t know, call the customer service number and ask. 

Physicians join & leave networks all the time. Even if your doc isn’t listed in the most recent Provider Directory, it never hurts to ask.

Many plans also have wrap networks that will negotiate with OON providers and facilities, so if all else fails, ask if your plan utilizes one of these to negotiate on your behalf.

2. Understand when your deductible accumulates & resets.

Your deductible is the amount of $ you pay for all services & prescriptions (except mandated preventive care on non-grandfathered plans) before your insurance pays a dime. This is in addition to the $ you pay for your premium. If you’re on an HDHP (high deductible health plan) or CDHP (consumer-driven health plan), your premiums will be very low, but your deductible will be very high. I’m on an HDHP, and my individual deductible is $2,600. Steep.

Deductibles usually reset every January 1, but some plans run off-year. Know your dates. If you’re on an HDHP, use the hell out of the HSA (health savings account) if available. 

3. Preventive care is free!! Woohoo!! 

The Affordable Care Act mandates certain preventive services be covered with no cost-share. 

You can find the list of services here: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-benefits/

The woman-specific list is here: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-benefits/women/

These lists are updated frequently, and new services are added every few months. My $500 Mirena IUD is now covered 100%, and the deductible is waived. The HPV vaccine is now covered for everybody between age 19-26. Depressing screening is covered. Tobacco cessation, immunizations, STI screening & counseling….all covered.

4. Preventive care isn’t free under every plan! Booo!!!

If your plan is grandfathered, they will likely opt to cover preventive services at the general benefit percent. The deductible will also apply. They are still allowed to exclude any preventive services they want. 

Your plan document will (should) state whether your plan is grandfathered or not. If the doc is silent, call the carrier’s customer service line and ask.

5. Assume every EOB/bill you receive has at least 1 error, ESPECIALLY on hospital visits.

For the most part, claims processors have ZERO medical background. They’re paid just above minimum wage and are paid based on how many claims they process per hour. So you can guess how often errors happen. 

I just had a preventive OBGYN claim come back as not covered, even though it should have been covered at 100%. If I didn’t know about the PPACA mandate, I would’ve just paid $219 out of my own pocket for an office visit that is supposed to be free. 

You are paying enough/too much already for your premiums and deductibles. Make damn sure your claims are being processed and paid correctly. Raise hell if not, and get familiar with the appeals process.

6. Check your Medical Plan Exclusions before you go for any service.

Can’t stress this one enough. 

7. Some plans offer surprisingly generous benefits such as 3-D mammography, genetic/genomic testing, acupuncture, and bariatric surgery.

Look at your Schedule of Benefits, but also check your Covered Charges for details on coverage and limitations.

There are federal mandates like the WHCRA, which requires all plans to cover the cost of breast reconstruction after mastectomy. Your plan document should have a section that lists federal notices.

The Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act also requires plans to cover mental health & substance abuse services & facilities at the same level as the medical services & facilities. For example, a plan that covers a skilled nursing facility (medical) must also cover a residential treatment facility (MH). This is a bigger deal than it probably sounds like.

8. Check pre-certification requirements. 

This is a cost containment strategy, and a lot of people aren’t even aware that covered charges are often denied/penalized if you don’t obtain pre-cert before the service. Again, check your plan document or call customer service. The most common services requiring pre-cert are: all hospitalizations (excluding routine labor/delivery), surgical procedures, transplants, clinical trials, outpatient rehab therapies, chemo & radiation, speciality drugs, home health care, durable medical equipment, prosthetics, and advanced imaging (MRI/MRA, CT scan, nuclear imaging, etc).

Any penalties you pay for failure to pre-cert won’t apply to your out-of-pocket maximum, so they really super suck. Some plans outright deny all claims for services that aren’t pre-certed.

9. You shouldn’t go broke.

Under PPACA, your in-network out-of-pocket maximum is limited. This means that you will never spend more than that amount in any year for covered services received from an in-network provider. The key here is the network, which I have to mention again since it is so critical. 

Watch your EOBs carefully and monitor your accumulators (deductible and out-of-pocket limit). You can’t rely on the claims processors to get it right. I know it sucks and isn’t fair, but it’s the reality, and it’s your money on the line. There isn’t a claims processor or appeals lawyer in the world who will care more about your money than you do, so it really is up to you to be aware.

Godspeed, friends, and good health to you.

[aceademics]

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about How to Pay off Debt

NEW POST! { MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about How to Pay off Debt

You’ve passed the trials. You’ve fought hard and won your place among the champions. At long last, it is time to be inducted into the Secret Society. Which secret society, you ask? It’s a secret. As you take your place among the robed and hooded figures in this subterranean chamber, you know not what to expect. They are lit only by the flames of an ancient fire. One by one, the hooded figures…

[aceademics]

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

Books are concentrated sources of wisdom. The more books you read, the more wisdom you expose yourself to. What are some books you can start reading to enrich yourself? Some books I’ve read and found useful are Think and Grow Rich, Who Moved My Cheese, 7 Habits, The Science of Getting Rich and Living the 80/20 Way. I’ve heard positive reviews for The Tipping Point, Outliers and The Difference Maker, so I’ll be checking them out soon.

Learn a new language.As a Singaporean Chinese, my main languages are English, Mandarin and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect). Out of interest, I took up language courses in the past few years such as Japanese and Bahasa Indonesian. I realized learning a language is a whole new skill altogether and the process of acquainting with a new language and culture is a totally a mind-opening experience.

Pick up a new hobby. Beyond just your usual favorite hobbies, is there something new you can pick up? Any new sport you can learn? Examples are fencing, golf, rock climbing, football, canoeing, or ice skating. Your new hobby can also be a recreational hobby. For example, pottery, Italian cooking, dancing, wine appreciation, web design, etc.  Learning something new requires you to stretch yourself in different aspects, whether physically, mentally or emotionally.

Take up a new course. Is there any new course you can join? Courses are a great way to gain new knowledge and skills. It doesn’t have to be a long-term course – seminars or workshops serve their purpose too. I’ve been to a few workshops and they have helped me gain new insights which I had not considered before.

Create an inspirational room. Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day. In the past, I didn’t like my room at all because I thought it was messy and dull. A few years ago, I decided this was the end of it – I started on a “Mega Room Revamp” project and overhauled my room. The end result? A room I totally relish being in and inspires me to be at my peak every day.

Overcome your fears. All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears  keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. I always think of fears as the compass for growth. If I have a fear about something, it represents something I’ve yet to address, and addressing it helps me to grow.

Level up your skills. If you have played video games before especially RPGs, you’ll know the concept of leveling up – gaining experience so you can be better and stronger. As a blogger, I’m constantly leveling up my writing skills. As a speaker, I’m constantly leveling up my public engagement abilities. What skills can you level up?

Wake up early. Waking up early (say, 5-6am) has been acknowledged by many (Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma, among other self-help gurus) to improve your productivity and your quality of life. I feel it’s because when you wake up early, your mindset is already set to continue the momentum and proactively live out the day. Seth recently wrote a waking up early series which you should check out to help cultivate this habit.

Have a weekly exercise routine. A better you starts with being in better physical shape. I personally make it a point to jog at least 3 times a week, at least 30 minutes each time. You may want to mix it up with jogging, gym lessons and swimming for variation.

Start your life handbook. A life handbook is an idea I started 3 years ago. Basically, it’s a book which contains the essentials on how you can live your life to the fullest, such as your purpose, your values and goals. Sort of like your manual for your life. I started my life handbook since 2007 and it’s been a crucial enabler in my progress.

Write a letter to your future self. What do you see yourself as 5 years from now? Will you be the same? Different?  What kind of person will you be? Write a letter to your future self – 1 year from now will be a good start – and seal it. Make a date in your calendar to open it 1 year from now. Then start working to become the person you want to open that letter.

Get out of your comfort zone. Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesn’t help us grow – it makes us stagnate. What is your comfort zone? Do you stay in most of the time? Do you keep to your own space when out with other people? Shake your routine up. Do something different. By exposing yourself to a new context, you’re literally growing as you learn to act in new circumstances.

Put someone up to a challenge. Competition is one of the best ways to grow. Set a challenge (weight loss, exercise, financial challenge, etc) and compete with an interested friend to see who achieves the target first. Through the process, both of you will gain more than if you were to set off on the target alone.

Identify your blind spots. Scientifically, blind spots refer to areas our eyes are not capable of seeing. In personal development terms, blind spots are things about ourselves we are unaware of. Discovering our blind spots help us discover our areas of improvement. One exercise I use to discover my blind spots is to identify all the things/events/people that trigger me in a day – trigger meaning making me feel annoyed/weird/affected. These represent my blind spots. It’s always fun to do the exercise because I discover new things about myself, even if I may already think I know my own blind spots (but then they wouldn’t be blind spots would they?). After that, I work on steps to address them.

Ask for feedback. As much as we try to improve, we will always have blind spots. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.

Stay focused with to-do lists. I start my day with a list of tasks I want to complete and this helps make me stay focused. In comparison, the days when I don’t do this end up being extremely unproductive. For example, part of my to-do list for today is to write a guest post atLifeHack.Org, and this is why I’m writing this now! Since my work requires me to use my computer all the time, I use Free Sticky Notes to manage my to-do lists. It’s really simple to use and it’s a freeware, so I recommend you check it out.

Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). I’m a big fan of setting BHAGs. BHAGs stretch you beyond your normal capacity since they are big and audacious – you wouldn’t think of attempting them normally. What are BHAGs you can embark on, which you’ll feel absolutely on top of the world once you complete them? Set them and start working on them.

Acknowledge your flaws. Everyone has flaws. What’s most important is to understand them, acknowledge them, and address them. What do you think are your flaws? What are the flaws you can work on now? How do you want to address them?

Get into action. The best way to learn and improve is to take action. What is something you have been meaning to do? How can you take action on it immediately? Waiting doesn’t get anything done. Taking action gives you immediate results to learn from.

Learn from people who inspire you. Think about people you admire. People who inspire you. These people reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too. What are the qualities in them you want to have for yourself? How can you acquire these qualities?

Quit a bad habit. Are there any bad habits you can lose? Oversleeping? Not exercising? Being late? Slouching? Nail biting? Smoking? Here’s some help on how you can quit a bad habit.

Cultivate a new habit. Some good new habits to cultivate include reading books (#1), waking up early (#8), exercising (#9), reading a new personal development article a day (#40) and meditating. Is there any other new habit you can cultivate to improve yourself?

Avoid negative people. As Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. Wherever we go, there are bound to be negative people. Don’t spend too much of your time around them if you feel they drag you down.

Learn to deal with difficult people. There are times when there are difficult people you can’t avoid, such as at your workplace, or when the person is part of your inner circle of contacts. Learn how to deal with them. These people management skills will go a long way in working with people in the future.

Learn from your friends. Everyone has amazing qualities in them. It’s up to how we want to tap into them. With all the friends who surround you, they are going to have things you can learn from. Try thinking of a good friend right now. Think about just one quality they have which you want to adopt. How can you learn from them and adopt this skill for yourself? Speak to them if you need to – for sure, they will be more than happy to help!

Start a journal. Journaling is a great way to gain better self-awareness. It’s a self-reflection process. As you write, clarify your thought process and read what you wrote from a third person’s perspective, you gain more insights about yourself. Your journal can be private or an online blog. I use my personal development blog as a personal journal too and I’ve learned a lot about myself through the past year of blogging.

Start a blog about personal development. To help others grow, you need to first be walking the talk. There are expectations of you, both from yourself and from others, which you have to uphold. I run The Personal Excellence Blog, where I share my personal journey and insights on how to live a better life. Readers look toward my articles to improve themselves, which enforces to me that I need to keep improving, for myself and for the people I’m reaching out to.

Get a mentor or coach. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Many of my clients approach me to coach them in their goals and they achieve significantly more results than if they had worked alone.

Reduce the time you spend on chat programs. I realized having chat programs open at default result in a lot of wasted time. This time can be much better spent on other activities. The days when I don’t get on chat, I get a lot more done. I usually disable the auto start-up option in the chat programs and launch them when I do want to chat and really have the time for it.

Learn chess (or any strategy game). I found chess is a terrific game to learn strategy and hone your brainpower. Not only do you have fun, you also get to exercise your analytical skills. You can also learn strategy from other board games or computer games, such as Othello, Chinese Chess, WarCraft, and so on.

Stop watching TV. I’ve not been watching TV for pretty much 4 years and it’s been a very liberating experience. I realized most of the programs and advertisements on mainstream TV are usually of a lower consciousness and not very empowering. In return, the time I’ve freed up from not watching TV is now constructively used for other purposes, such as connecting with close friends, doing work I enjoy, exercising, etc.

Start a 30-day challenge. Set a goal and give yourself 30 days to achieve this. Your goal can be to stick with a new habit or something you’ve always wanted to do but have not. 30 days is just enough time to strategize, plan, get into action, review and nail the goal.

Meditate. Meditation helps to calm you and be more conscious. I also realized that during the nights when I meditate (before I sleep), I need lesser sleep. The clutter clearing process is very liberating.

Join Toastmasters (Learn public speaking). Interestingly, public speaking is the #1 fear in the world, with #2 being death. After I started public speaking as a personal development speaker/trainer, I’ve learned a lot about how to communicate better, present myself and engage people. Toastmasters is an international organization that trains people in public speaking. Check out the Toastmaster clubs nearest to you here.

Befriend top people in their fields. These people have achieved their results because they have the right attitudes, skill sets and know-how. How better to learn than from the people who have been there and done that? Gain new insights from them on how you can improve and achieve the same results for yourself.

Let go of the past. Is there any grievance or unhappiness from the past which you have been holding on? If so, it’s time to let it go. Holding on to them prevents you from moving on and becoming a better person. Break away from the past, forgive yourself, and move on. Just recently, I finally moved on from a past heartbreak of 5 years ago. The effect was liberating and very empowering, and I have never been happier.

Start a business venture. Is there anything you have an interest in? Why not turn it into a venture and make money while learning at the same time? Starting a new venture requires you to be learn business management skills, develop business acumen and have a competitive edge. The process of starting and developing my personal development business has equipped me with many skills, such as self-discipline, leadership, organization and management.

Show kindness to people around you. You can never be too kind to someone. In fact, most of us don’t show enough kindness to people around us. Being kind helps us to cultivate other qualities such as compassion, patience, and love. As you get back to your day after reading this article later on, start exuding more kindness to the people around you, and see how they react. Not only that, notice how you feel as you behave kindly to others. Chances are, you will feel even better than yourself.

Reach out to the people who hate you. If you ever stand for something, you are going to get haters. It’s easy to hate the people who hate us. It’s much more challenging to love them back. Being able to forgive, let go and show love to these people requires magnanimity and an open heart. Is there anyone who dislikes or hates you in your life? If so, reach out to them. Show them love. Seek a resolution and get closure on past grievances. Even if they refuses to reciprocate, love them all the same. It’s much more liberating than to hate them back.

Take a break. Have you been working too hard? Self-improvement is also about recognizing our need to take a break to walk the longer mile ahead. You can’t be driving a car if it has no petrol. Take some time off for yourself every week. Relax, rejuvenate and charge yourself up for what’s up ahead.

Read at least 1 personal development article a day. Some of my readers make it a point to read at least one personal development article every day, which I think is a great habit. There are many terrific personal development blogs out there, some of which you can check here.

Commit to your personal growth. I can be writing list articles with 10 ways, 25 ways, 42 ways or even 1,000 ways to improve yourself, but if you’ve no intention to commit to your personal growth, it doesn’t matter what I write. Nothing is going to get through. We are responsible for our personal growth – not anyone else. Not your mom, your dad, your friend, me or LifeHack. Make the decision to commit to your personal growth and embrace yourself to a life-long journey of growth and change. Kick off your growth by picking a few of the steps above and working on them. The results may not be immediate, but I promise you that as long as you keep to it, you’ll start seeing positive changes in yourself and your life.

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

[aceademics]

SCHOOL CHEAT SHEET!!

soothe yourself | self care

stationery  

printables

helpful sites

music for studying | more music

note taking methods  | another one

studying methods

english | physics | chemistry | biology | maths | languages 

how to learn a language

ultimate guide for writing | writing resources | writing helps | tips for writers

how to write a kickass essay | write a great essay | stuff you need to write essays | essay tips | essay checklist | grade your essay

how do I study for…

bullet journals | a guide to bullet journals

the testing effect

everything you need to succeed in school

time management

organisation

how to annotate | another one

guide to aesthetically pleasing notes | improve your handwriting

create a study guide

resources | helpful websites | there’s an app for that

get more out of google 

productivity resources | 14 apps to become productive | how to stay productive

lazy night owl school survival guide

apps for a better life | useful websites for students

masterpost of studying tips

social media citation guide

college masterpost | another one | starting college on the right foot | packing for college | how to survive in college

how to ace that college interview

food to stay motivated | motivation guide

how to stay awake in class

balancing a healthy lifestyle

studying on your period

huge masterpost for the semester

a very long list to help you survive school

not enough time to finish an assignment?

100 delicious cheap recipes 

53 posts for students

high school cheat sheet

other cheat sheets

[aceademics]

Essays

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of essays I like/find interesting/are food for thought; I’ve tried to sort them as much as possible. The starred (*) ones are those I especially love

also quick note: some of these links, especially the ones that are from books/anthologies redirect you to libgen or scihub, and if that doesn’t work for you, do message me; I’d be happy to send them across!

Literature + Writing

Godot Comes to Sarajevo - Susan Sontag

The Strangeness of Grief - V. S. Naipaul*

Memories of V. S. Naipaul - Paul Theroux*

A Rainy Day with Ruskin Bond - Mayank Austen Soofi

How Albert Camus Faced History - Adam Gopnik

Listen, Bro - Jo Livingstone

Rachel Cusk Gut-Renovates the Novel - Judith Thurman

Lost in Translation: What the First Line of “The Stranger” Should Be - Ryan Bloom

The Duke in His Domain - Truman Capote*

The Cult of Donna Tartt: Themes and Strategies in The Secret History - Ana Rita Catalão Guedes

Never Do That to a Book - Anne Fadiman*

Affecting Anger: Ideologies of Community Mobilisation in Early Hindi Novel - Rohan Chauhan*

Why I Write - George Orwell*

Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance - Carrie Jaurès Noland*

Art + Photography (+ Aesthetics)

Looking at War - Susan Sontag*

Love, sex, art, and death - Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz

Lyons, Szarkowski, and the Perception of Photography - Anne Wilkes Tucker

The Feminist Critique of Art History - Thalia Gouma-Peterson, Patricia Mathews

In Plato’s Cave - Susan Sontag*

On reproduction of art (Chapter 1, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

On nudity and women in art (Chapter 3, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

Kalighat Paintings  - Sharmishtha Chaudhuri

Daydreams and Fragments: On How We Retrieve Images From the Past -  Maël Renouard

Arthur Rimbaud: the Aesthetics of Intoxication - Enid Rhodes Peschel

Cities

Tragic Fable of Mumbai Mills - Gyan Prakash

Whose Bandra is it? - Dustin Silgardo*

Timur’s Registan: noblest public square in the world? - Srinath Perur

The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - Colin Marshall*

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s iconic railway station - Srinath Perur

From London to Mumbai and Back Again: Gentrification and Public Policy in Comparative Perspective -  Andrew Harris

The Limits of “White Town” in Colonial Calcutta - Swati Chattopadhyay

The Metropolis and Mental Life - Georg Simmel

Colonial Policy and the Culture of Immigration: Citing the Social History of Varanasi - Vinod Kumar, Shiv Narayan

A Caribbean Creole Capital: Kingston, Jamaica - Coln G. Clarke (from Colonial Cities by Robert Ross, Gerard J. Telkamp

The Colonial City and the Post-Colonial World - G. A. de Bruijne

The Nowhere City - Amos Elon*

The Vertical Flâneur: Narratorial Tradecraft in the Colonial Metropolis - Paul K. Saint-Amour

Philosophy

The trolley problem problem - James Wilson

A Brief History of Death - Nir Baram

Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical - John Rawls*

Should Marxists be Interested in Exploitation? - John E. Roemer

The Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief - Scott Berinato*

The Pandemic and the Crisis of Faith - Makarand Paranjape

If God Is Dead, Your Time is Everything - James Wood

Giving Up on God - Ronald Inglehart

The Limits of Consensual Decision - Douglas Rae*

The Science of “Muddling Through” - Charles Lindblom*

History

The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine - Maria Dolan

The History of Loneliness - Jill Lepore*

The Anti-Che - Jay Nordlinger

From Tuskegee to Togo: the Problem of Freedom in the Empire of Cotton - Sven Beckert*

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism - E. P. Thompson*

All By Myself - Martha Bailey*

The Geographical Pivot of History - H. J. Mackinder

The sea/ocean

Rim of Life - Manu Pillai

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line - Isabel Hofmeyr, Charne Lavery

‘Piracy’, connectivity and seaborne power in the Middle Ages - Nikolas Jaspert (from The Sea in History)*

The Vikings and their age - Nils Blomkvist (from The Sea in History)*

Mercantile Networks, Port Cities, and “Pirate” States - Roxani Eleni Margariti

Phantom Peril in the Arctic - Robert David English, Morgan Grant Gardner*

Assorted ones on India

A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001 - Alexander Evans *

Writing Post-Orientalist Histories of the Third World - Gyan Prakash

Empire: How Colonial India Made Modern Britain - Aditya Mukherjee

Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947 - Aparna Basu

The Epic Riddle of Dating Ramayana, Mahabharata - Sunaina Kumar*

Caste and Politics: Identity Over System - Dipankar Gupta

Our worldview is Delhi based*

Sports (you’ll have to excuse the fact that it’s only cricket but what can i say, i’m indian)

‘Massa Day Done:’ Cricket as a Catalyst for West Indian Independence: 1950-1962 - John Newman*

Playing for power? rugby, Afrikaner nationalism and masculinity in South Africa, c.1900–70 - Albert Grundlingh

When Cricket Was a Symbol, Not Just a Sport - Baz Dreisinger

Cricket, caste, community, colonialism: the politics of a great game - Ramachandra Guha*

Cricket and Politics in Colonial India - Ramchandra Guha

MS Dhoni: A quiet radical who did it his way*

Music

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil - Samuel M. Araújo

Color, Music and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Reference to the Role of Traditional Music - J. D. Elder

The 1975 - ‘Notes On a Conditional Form’ review - Dan Stubbs*

Life Without Live - Rob Sheffield*

How Britney Spears Changed Pop - Rob Sheffield

Concert for Bangladesh

From “Help!” to “Helping out a Friend”: Imagining South Asia through the Beatles and the Concert for Bangladesh - Samantha Christiansen 

Gender

Clothing Behaviour as Non-verbal Resistance - Diana Crane

The Normalisation of Queer Theory - David M. Halperin

Menstruation and the Holocaust - Jo-Ann Owusu*

Women’s Suffrage the Democratic Peace - Allan Dafoe

Pink and Blue: Coloring Inside the Lines of Gender - Catherine Zuckerman*

Women’s health concerns are dismissed more, studied less - Zoanne Clack

Food

How Food-Obsessed Millennials Shape the Future of Food - Rachel A. Becker (as a non-food obsessed somewhat-millennial, this was interesting)

Colonialism’s effect on how and what we eat - Coral Lee

Tracing Europe’s influence on India’s culinary heritage - Ruth Dsouza Prabhu

Chicken Kiev: the world’s most contested ready-meal*

From Russia with mayo: the story of a Soviet super-salad*

The Politics of Pancakes - Taylor Aucoin*

How Doughnuts Fuelled the American Dream*

Pav from the Nau

A Short History of the Vada Pav - Saira Menezes

Fantasy (mostly just harry potter and lord of the rings)

Purebloods and Mudbloods: Race, Species, and Power (from The Politics of Harry Potter)

Azkaban: Discipline, Punishment, and Human Rights (from The Politics of Harry Potter)*

Good and Evil in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lengendarium - Jyrki Korpua

The Fairy Story: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis - Colin Duriez (from Tree of Tales)*

Tolkien’s Augustinian Understanding of Good and Evil: Why The Lord of the Rings Is Not Manichean - Ralph Wood (from Tree of Tales)*

Travel

The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism

Chronicles of a Writer’s 1950s Road Trip Across France - Kathleen Phelan

On the Early Women Pioneers of Trail Hiking - Gwenyth Loose

On the Mythologies of the Himalaya Mountains - Ed Douglas*

More random assorted ones

The cosmos from the wheelchair (The Economist obituaries)*

In El Salvador - Joan Didion

Scientists are unravelling the mystery of pain - Yudhijit Banerjee

Notes on Nationalism - George Orwell

Politics and the English Language - George Orwell*

What Do the Humanities Do in a Crisis? - Agnes Callard*

The Politics of Joker - Kyle Smith

Sushant Singh Rajput: The outsider - Uday Bhatia*

Credibility and Mystery - John Berger

happy reading :)

[aceademics]

*click for better quality* (transcript under the cut)

My other masterposts: • extensions pt.1  • study sounds • dealing with failure • how to gain traction • how to study when you’re struggling

Keep reading

[aceademics]

vaguely academic things to do to keep yourself entertained

go down a wikipedia research hole by clicking the first term you don’t understand

binge a crashcourse series end to end (personal recs: world history, history of science, big history, philosophy)

find free books on project gutenberg

download some western classics for free

borrow books and audiobooks from the libby app or borrowbox

start a commonplace book

take a khan academy course

browse MIT’s free online course materials

teach yourself to code

go on a google scholar essay dive

try the open access button to avoid some paywalls for academic media, or install unpaywall that does a similar thing

research the history of the place you where you live

tempt the wrath of the duolingo owl and learn a language

search for online streams of the local tv in your target language’s country and use as background noise for immersion points

print and scrapbook favourite poetry and literature quotes

improve your handwriting by doing handwriting exercises

learn philosophy with the philosophize this! podcast. actually just check out all the educational spotify podcasts there are many good ones

start a weekly club with friends to share new and interesting things you’ve learnt that week

clean and reorganise your study space, physical or digital

check out online museums

fave educational youtube channels that I adore: vsauce, crashcourse, smarter every day, kurzgesagt, school of life, tom scott, r. c. waldun, vsauce3, primer, mark rober, veritasium, asapSCIENCE, scishow, TED-ed

hopefully you’ll find something to enjoy! happy learning x

[aceademics]

FUN WAYS TO LEARN A LANGUAGE📝☁️

[like for future reference/motivation]

learning a language can be a bit challenging sometimes, that’s why today i wanted to share with you few ways to have a fun learning experience instead of reading textbooks for hours.

1️⃣ video games: change the language of the games you like to play into your target language. for example, my favorite game to play in chinese and learn at the same time is animal crossing new horizons because it features useful and daily life vocabulary! (+that game is so calming i love it so much)

2️⃣ watch your favorite movie or tv show subbed or dubbed in your target language. the most efficient way would be to watch something you already know by heart but in your target language + the subs in your target language as well! this is what i call the winning combo! (if you are a beginner watch cartoons! can easily be found on yt or any other platforms depending on the language)

3️⃣ listen to music in your target language and try to sing along while reading the lyrics!

4️⃣ you probably spend a lot of time on your phone so why not change your phone language into your target language?

5️⃣ follow content creators that speak your target language: the best would be to find youtubers because you can listen to native people speaking, learn fun things with them but also relax at the same time! (now a lot of creators upload subtitles too)

HOPE IT HELPS! HAVE FUN LEARNING🙌🏻📝

more on my instagram account: thomreads

[aceademics]

So as a continuation of this post I made in frustration about how anglo-centric most “must-read” book lists are, I went and found a few lists with a focus on non-English speaking authors (sorted by number of books listed):

8 Must-Read Foreign Books Translated Into English (Babbel)

The non-western books that every student should read (The Guardian)

10 best translated fiction (Independent - has suggestions regarding editions + prices)

49 Incredible Books From 49 Different Countries (Huffpost - has amazon links to all the books, which is great to find the editions but please please please support your local bookstores!!!!)

100 Must-Read Classics in Translation (BookRead - Amazon links again. Most bookstores will offer to order books for you if they don’t have them, please utilise their services and support local shops whenever possible!)

All these lists have reviews and feature books from a wide range of countries. I haven’t read every single review but I browsed the lists to make sure they wouldn’t all just name the same books and they don’t!!

I hope you’ll find inspiring new reads on those lists! :)

[aceademics]

Cultural quarantine masterpost

Making the most out of social distancing. Feel free to add more!

[aceademics]

things to do on sundays to recharge and make the upcoming week awesome

• clean ya room (just do it). also, check those pinterest boards you save for “one day” and actually go through them and draw some inspiration, even if you just end up rearranging the books on your bookshelf or putting some flowers from your garden in a mason jar on your desk. this is your home, make it feel like it is.

• do your laundry (also, don’t forget your bed sheets). if you’re in the mood, look at next week’s weather forecast and think about what you’re going to wear. go through your drawers, check the back of your closet. that hat you bought some time ago and forgot about because you didn’t dare to wear it? well… new week, new you, right? 

• call a friend/family member you haven’t talked to in a while, tell them you miss them. tell them you love them. remember and appreciate that they are a part of your life even if it doesn’t feel like it all the time.

• draw, paint, journal, write or make some music. something you know you love doing but “never find the time”. sunday is “finding-the-time day”. if you’re not feeling creative, read a book or watch your favorite show. or watch a new show. a scary show. a funny show. laugh as loud as you want. listen to music. listen to your favorite songs, or listen to new songs. even a new genre if you dare. turn the volume all the way up. take a second to consciously feel the music. you can always get up and dance. or sing. or both.

• the great, but still really effective classic: take a bath or a really long shower. if you have this special face or hair mask you’re saving up for a special occasion: congrats, you’re the special occasion today. use it. also, body lotion. we all know you’re going to be running late during the week and skip it one too many times. make yourself feel like the goddess you are. 

• sit in silence for a few moments. listen to your breath. listen to your heartbeat. for the love of god PLEASE listen to your thoughts for once in your life. don’t make them feel like they are wrong. or bothersome. they too just want to be heard once in a while. what are they trying to tell you? what could be soothing for them? be compassionate to yourself. it’s okay. you are okay. you are okay.

• think about things you can be grateful for next week. even if you feel like your life sucks atm, think about the small things you take for granted in a different way. for example: “next week, i will have access to clean water. CLEAN. WATER. 844 million people don’t have that.” or “next week, my legs will take me wherever i want to go. not everybody has two fully functioning legs, so i’m lucky in that way.” you’re allowed to feel bad about your life, but you’re also allowed to feel good about things. 

• if you’ve stayed home most of the week, go out. go for a walk. go swimming. go to a party or dinner with friends. even if you feel like you don’t need to see the outside world, chances are you’ll feel great after you do. if you feel like you’ve been running around all week, maybe you’d like to stay home today. put on your ugliest sweater, comfiest leggings, and fluffiest socks and curl up under a thousand blankets. you a sloth today and it’s okay. 

• eat. i mean honestly: eat THE THING. i don’t care if you’re on a diet. if there’s something you’ve been craving all week that has turned you into the veiny-neck-dude meme just trying to resist it: EAT IT. you deserve it. not because you worked out or ate salads or did well in school, but just because you’re a human and you love to eat and life is short and you should be allowed to eat yummy things. it’s okay. you won’t gain 5 pounds or lose your brain cells no matter how unhealthy it is, i promise.

• plan plan plan yo week. it doesn’t matter if you use a planner, bullet journal, the calendar on your phone or the notes app: write everything down you have going on next week. appointments. events. coffee-dates. when are you going to the gym? what are you going to eat? (meal prep if necessary) also, create reminders on your phone for everything. “i won’t forget it!” is a sweet thought, but oh honey you will. schedule reminders for every event. let your phone remind you that you need to buy toilet paper when the store is nearby. schedule daily reminders for your medications. (once you’ve done this it honestly feels like you just cleaned out 38GB of your brain, you simply don’t have to worry about that anymore, space for more important info, like your new favorite pun to annoy everyone with)

• most importantly: listen to what your mind and your body need today and next week. daily life is so full of “should-do”s that it’s important to find a healthy balance between the “should”s and the “need”s. you will be much more productive, healthy and happy that way. nobody knows you better than you do, take advantage of that and plan accordingly.

[aceademics]

New Year Challenge

Jan. 15: Show me how productive you were today! Everything goes, even if you did nothing and took a day off, tell me what you did! Or you did something for school? Show me your super nice notes or your flashcards or whatever!

-

Wow its been five days since Ive last posted for this. School got super hectic fast and this was very low on my list of priorities. 

Anyways! I was super productive for the past week honestly. I’m really proud because I’ve been on top of my school work and am trying to maintain a productive day every day. So today I had about three hours between wake up and class so I made breakfast and tidied up, I also took my dog out for exercise. 

During class I managed to stay engaged and take notes even though I was super tired and caffeine free (usually I go to Starbucks before this class but they were packed and I stood in line for thirty minutes before I had to leave or be late). I actually did a pretty unusual thing for a studyblr and skipped my math class.

This math class is basic stuff and my professor teaches us with videos made for middle schoolers. I had a bunch other stuff to do so I figured it wouldn’t be too much of a loss, and it wasn’t. I’ve completed this week and next weeks homework already :) and I was able to drop off donation items and get groceries. After I ate dinner and started on homework.

So far I have completed a bunch of stuff for my sorority position, planned out applying for positions in my school and homework for the next week. I don’t have anything else to do after I write this post other than read a few pages for sociology and look over my Spanish notes for a test tomorrow. Yay me!

[aceademics]

New Year Challenge

Jan. 9: Some of us hit the gym in the new year. But frankly, most stop after Jan. 1 right? No? Tell me about your workout routine and how you remain healthy!

-

I don’t typically “work out” because I have asthma. Cardio is mostly a no go and lifting weights can be tricky because of my carpal tunnel. However my job is a very physical one where I am lifting and loading packages from 1 pound to 50 or 60 pounds. 

Its also hard to eat healthy on campus because all of the meal options are fast food and the healthy ones cost more. I try to eat salads if they’re offered or foods with a protein and veggies. Most of the time I ate Chic-fil-a nuggets which caused me to gain over 20 pounds last semester. Now that I’m busier I find that I eat less due to being as bored.

Next year I will be living with a different meal plan so I won’t be wasting thousands of dollars when I cook my own food. Hopefully I can cook healthy meals for myself.

[aceademics]

New Year Challenge

Jan. 8: Talking about notes, write your blog´s name as a header like how you do it for your study notes and post it!

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Well since i don't take written notes this one doesn't really apply to me lol but I’m going to just explain my blogs name instead. Basically I’m unoriginal and wanted it to have something to do with academics but all the stuff i thought of had already been taken so I decided to make it ACE instead because I want to ace tests lol.

[aceademics]

New Year Challenge

Jan. 7: Ahhhh aesthetic notes. We all love them, don´t we? Show me a picture of what you think are your most aesthetic notes and tell us what you do to make them prettier.

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These are my notes for my Political Science class that starts tomorrow. I take most of my notes on my laptop now because I find it easier to format and take satisfactory notes quicker. I also use Google docs: doesn’t take up space on my computer, safe if my computer crashes, accessible on my phone and any other device, and I can easily share it with others. I also find the “invite to edit” feature handy, that way multiple people can contribute.

As you can see I start with what unit we are on so that I can easily control-F to locate them, after I put the date to keep the reading notes and lecture notes together. I think its important to keep these under the same date so that if I need to search that date I can. 

Next I have the title “Textbook”, in the second photo you can see it says “Pew Research” this is so I know where these notes came from and can reference the source. Under that I follow the headings and subtitles of the text. I use bullet points and indentions to indicate when a new sub-topic has been introduced. 

Also in the second photo you can see that I have the title “Executive Summary” with some information and then the Sub-category “Geographic Distribution”. You don’t have to indent every time there is a new subtitle in the text but I find its easier to read that way.

Mainly I like to make sure my notes are easy to read and that the information in the notes and are locatable in my Google doc and in the text. This plain black and white is my aesthetic when it comes to note taking.