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chemistry. but in class notes, mistakes and all, and on a budget.

huge thanks to @emmastudies who answered one of my asks the other day about being insecure posting notes with ballpoint pen and no mildliner. without that I would have never posted these

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One of the main reasons why you don’t make progress or why you are stuck in the vicious cycle of procrastination is the lack of courage to take that one small imperfect step. The more you are fixated on the end result, the less likely you are actually going to do something to achieve it.

A case in point of this so called ‘phenomenom’ is when you keep putting of you essay for a class you are taking. You keep convincing yourself that you have lots and lots of time to write it and suddenly your deadline is tomorrow. What do you usually do in these kinds of situations? I bet you usually open a new document and just start writing something, a quick draft, because you think you just need to get something done. In other words, you are actually just taking an imperfect step towards your end goal, which in this case is a finished essay. When you’ve taken your imperfect step, you often get this flow and just keep working and working until you are satisfied with your input. It seems surprisingly simple, right?

To summarise everything, you need to stop being so focused on the end result. The process is the most important part of your work and you can always edit and work on it later. An imperfect step is the most important step and more people need to realise this. If you have a long list of things to do or deadlines to meet, then just decide to start somewhere. Make that awful draft, scribble down something, make a mistake, just do something. Sooner or later, you are going to notice that you’ve made a great deal of progress. These imperfect steps are what you need in your life.

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Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It is your masterpiece after all

Nathan W. Morris ( @scholasticbabe )

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honestly my number one piece of advice for students is to like. be pragmatic about studying. because lbr doing your headings in perfect calligraphy with a £5 brush pen isn’t going to improve your grades. re-writing and re-writing your notes until they’re instagram-worthy isn’t going to help you retain the information. planning in a £30 bullet journal which you’ll then feel pressured into making really aesthetic spreads for when a £5 planner would do the same job isn’t going to make you a better student. yes, 100% take pride in your notes and by all means treat yourself to nice stationery every now and again but pls don’t waste your time and money trying to reach some unattainable studyblr goals.

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Morning all, plan for today is to finish making some notes on this article I’m reading then go and revise in a coffee shop.

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It´s about dedication and consistence. 

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Best demostration ever 👍 #studyblr #medblr

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Gain more knowledge. Grow your mental ability. Read, read, read. Don’t just watch TV and movies. Virtually all highly successful people do some form of daily educational reading. Regardless of what they read, they make sure it contains useful and meaningful information from which they can benefit from in the long run. Statistics show that the average person reads less than 1 book per year. If you could read 1 book per week, that would mean about 52 books per year. Now imagine what an advantage that will give you over everyone else. 

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Early Classes

Semester is about to start. You get your uni timetable, and sure enough you’ve got an early class. Few people like an 8 or 9 AM class, especially if like me, you live a long way from campus, which means getting up as early as 5.30. Its pretty much inevitable that at some point in your degree you’ll have a class that’s earlier than you’re used to. It’ll be an adjustment, but I’ve figured out some basic strategies to make it easier. This is how I personally deal with early classes; hopefully it can be helpful to some of you as well.

Be honest with yourself about how much time you need to get ready

If you know you have trouble getting organised in the morning, set your alarm accordingly so that you don’t have to rush or stress about being late.

Set your alarm 15 minutes before you have to be out of bed

Personally I find that having 15 minutes to slowly wake up, scroll through tumblr, and catch up on group chats makes it easier to get moving in the morning.

Anything that can be done the night before, do the night before

For me this means laying out clothes, preparing lunch if I’m taking from home, making sure my bag is already packed and ready to go, and taking evening showers.

Set yourself a bedtime based on when you have to wake up

When setting it, consider how much sleep you need to function (6, 7, 8 hours?), as well as how long it typically takes you to fall asleep.

Try to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, even on days you don’t need to get up early

So this is pretty much everyone’s number one tip for getting up early and being functional in the morning. For good reason: it’s about the most effective method. Unfortunately it’s also the hardest to implement. I have social commitments twice a week that keep me up way later than I should be. So compromise. Go to bed as close to your uni night bedtime and get up as close to your uni day wake up time as is feasible, as often as is feasible.

Don’t skip breakfast

You haven’t eaten in many hours, and soon you have to focus on a class. That means you need fuel. It’s well documented (a quick Google Scholar search will provide many articles) that students who eat breakfast perform better. Have some fluids while you’re at it- a glass of water can both rehydrate you after the night’s sleep and help wake you up.

Maybe hold off on the coffee, though

If you’re prone to crashing in the middle of class once the caffeine wears off, you may be better off with low-caffeine tea, decaf, or just plain water in the very early morning. I find midmorning to be the best time for my first coffee of the day.

Get into the groove

One of my favourite ways to be upbeat and alert in time for an early class is to listen to music on the way to uni and sing my lungs out. I specifically choose songs that make me want to dance and belt out the lyrics as loud as I can, because I find they really get me alert and ready to go.

Bear with it

The first few weeks are always the hardest, but as you push through, it gets easier and easier to deal with an early class. Eventually you stop having to begrudgingly drag yourself out of bed. I’m not saying that I leap out of the bed with a joyous smile surrounded by singing woodland animals, but these days I usually wake up a few minutes before my alarm, and I’m far less groggy when I wake. I think I’m even becoming a morning person. I like to get to campus early even when I don’t need to, purely so that I can enjoy looking out over the quiet buildings and ovals before it fills with people.

These are just some small things that really helped me. They won’t work for everyone, but hopefully some of them can be of use to you.

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15 things I tell myself when I don't want to work/study

1. You are very lucky and privileged to have access to almost unlimited knowledge and you should appreciate that. 

2. Be one of those rare people who step over their insecurities and succeed. 

3. Only 5 minutes. Only today. (Repeat it 5 minutes later and every day). 

4. You will know what to do as soon as you start. Ideas never appear from inactivity. 

5. Make yourself proud. 

6. One hour every day doesn’t feel much but it’s 365 hours a year. You can’t not succeed after so much work. 

7. It’s not supposed to be easy. Nothing good is easy. 

8. If you had a child to look after, you’d make them study because you want them to accomplish something. Don’t you love yourself? 

9. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” George Adair 

10. Every mistake increases our chance to make progress. 

11. If you give up now, you’ll have to return to this later anyway but from the very beginning. 

12. Let the process be your result. 

13. Every moment you thought your fears would suppress you has become the time you made it. 

14. Maybe you think you can never find something to use your skills and mindset for. But if you continue investing in what matters to you, it will find its way out there. 

15. I allow you to think globally. You have a right to the boldest dream.

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[09.04.16] some directional terms for anatomy  ….all these terms are confusing me haha

{6/100 days of productivity}

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Spent nearly a WEEK solely on projects and assignments, and it’s THE HOLIDAYS. How can they expect us to work during the holidays? 😐Haiz.. And I have an interview coming up soon for my change in course, next year I will be pursuing the Biomedical science course and no longer in biotech anymore😀😀wish me luck ! I have been wanting to post these pictures for a while, well finally they r here😃And look at those post it notes aren’t they adorable!!!!! I just got them for $3 at a Japanese shop in town.

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15 things I tell myself when I don't want to work/study

1. You are very lucky and privileged to have access to almost unlimited knowledge and you should appreciate that. 2. Be one of those rare people who step over their insecurities and succeed. 3. Only 5 minutes. Only today. (Repeat it 5 minutes later and every day). 4. You will know what to do as soon as you start. Ideas never appear from inactivity. 5. Make yourself proud. 6. One hour every day doesn’t feel much but it’s 365 hours a year. You can’t not succeed after so much work. 7. It’s not supposed to be easy. Nothing good is easy. 8. If you had a child to look after, you’d make them study because you want them to accomplish something. Don’t you love yourself? 9. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” George Adair 10. Every mistake increases our chance to make progress. 11. If you give up now, you’ll have to return to this later anyway but from the very beginning. 12. Let the process be your result. 13. Every moment you thought your fears would suppress you has become the time you made it. 14. Maybe you think you can never find something to use your skills and mindset for. But if you continue investing in what matters to you, it will find its way out there. 15. I allow you to think globally. You have a right to the boldest dream.

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+100 days of productivity [ 04.08.16 ]

day thirteen: i had a test on trig/geo this morning - i didnt study enough but it didnt seem too hard!! also found an unused compass set

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4/100 | friday july 29 2016

Didn’t really do anything academically productive today but I did clean my room. Also I submitted my first college application last night (ahhhh)

Sorry for the weird lighting I took this at night :/