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Is there a skill you’ve always wanted to master someday, but kept procrastinating on? A language you started learning – then abandoned? A topic in class you’ve never quite grasped? Or maybe you just want to expand your horizon and try something new? Distract yourself from your usual studies?

This challenge is the perfect opportunity to achieve that! Pick a skill and see how much you can improve and grow in 30 days – or really start working on your to-read list (I know those books have been piling up), your portfolio for that dream job in Illustration you want, or your blog you’ve been meaning to post more original content on.

Self-growth and development are so, so important, which is the main reason why I created this challenge.

The idea of this challenge is that people from all communities come together to gain knowledge, add skills and just have fun with the amazing amount of resources out there. This way, we can all support and motivate each other, whatever field you might be interested in.

Post an introduction with the hashtag #30dol with your goals and expectations for the month (starting June 1st), and what your current level is. (Of course, you can join in later as well, but it’s fun to start a the same time!) In the end, you’ll be able to compare and see how much has changed!

Rules:

choose a topic or field you want to concentrate on

post an introduction to #30dol 

define your goals or aspirations

update daily or weekly, we want to hear from you! ♥

post a picture, a sketch, or audio, whatever you deem fitting to show us all your progress for the day/week

Here are some ideas for you:

bullet journaling (read about it here on @emmastudies, here’s an amazing online course on it) 

books/reading (if you don’t have a personal to-read list, here is one with the best books of the 20th century, best series with a gay plot/subplot, and books everyone should have read at least once)

coding (here are some sites to learn html, css, data science, python 3, java, etc.: x x x x)

design/illustration ( stickers and illustration, character illustration, Ink Illustration, 45 best adobe illustrator tutorials, 

business/freelance/open your own shop (tips on how to open your own sticker shop, digital skills: web analytics and marketing)

languages (apps like lingodeer, duolingo, lingvist, busuu, blogs like @lovelybluepanda. there are also so many pdfs and amazing websites out there depending on your target language!)

online mass education courses (edx, coursera, skillshare, futurelearn where universities and professionals teach you about their subject - be that astronomy, engineering, ancient greek history, artificial intelligence or medicine!)

social media (learn to take iphone photos for your tumblr or instagram, and here’s a great post by @studyquill on how to start and maintain a studyblr!)

photography (travel street photography, find photographers you admire like annie leibovitz or henri cartier bresson and read about their path, or browse youtube channels like negative feedback which specialize on photography)

creative writing (there are tons of workshops online - you could also try to set yourself a piece or word limit similar to nanowrimo) 

culinary (check recipe websites, or challenge yourself to try one new recipe a day, or dedicate the month to a specific cuisine)

music (learn music production, andrew huang has also made a video on how to start making music here)

film and filmmaking (karsten runquist’s channel is wonderful for film analysis,  learn about cinematography basics here and film history here)

painting (acrylic painting, sketchbook illustration. you could challenge yourself to fill an entire sketchbook/create a piece every day or week, or to improve a specific technique) 

Every resource linked is free (if you click on the links you can get Skillshare for free for two months and cancel anytime), so all you need is some free time and lots of motivation!!

I’m very happy to be announcing this to you all, and will be working on my Japanese for this challenge – so excited to see what you all and I will do and how far we can come!

Use #30dol as the general tag, and add your field (your specific subject, or writing, painting, lang(uages), pho(tography), film, book, design) to find people doing something similar! Though honestly one of the things I’m most excited about is the multidisciplinary aspect - we are such a brilliant and colorful community :)

Have fun guys!!

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hottest language learning tip

write a diary

literally

just write a diary, it has helped me sooo much and i dare say it has been the most developing thing i’ve done while learning french, nothing else compares

1. you’re exposed to the language daily

2. you quickly see which words are missing from your vocabulary

3. you learn to write about the things you think about a lot

4. learning to actually think in your target language

5. having to look up words and when reading the entry back a couple of days later you can’t even remember which words you didn’t know

6. going back to the earlier entries and seeing all the mistakes and knowing how much better you’ve become

7. when you’ve been writing for a few months and your target language becomes a natural way for expressing yourself

8. when you’ve been writing for a few months and you start seeing the diary writing as a way of self-expression and stressrelief, and the language learning aspect becomes natural and secondary

9. filling out a whole book using only your target language and physically seeing how much you’ve accomplished

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Bullet Journaling: A Guide

I’ve decided to make a little guide for anyone who might be thinking about starting a bujo but doesn’t know where to begin. 

What is a bullet journal and why should you have one?

It can work as a mix of a to-do-list, planner, diary, art journal, notebook, tracker etc.

you can use it as a planner for your work/school life, personal life or a mix of both

Tbh it can be anything you want, that’s what so nice about a bujo, some things may work for you and some things might not!

Use it to have some quality time with yourself, relaxing, being creative, getting your shit together. I think everyone has different reasons for having one. I do it because it helps me relax, makes me remember all I have to do and then it’s also a way for me to stay a little creative when I don’t normally have time to paint and draw so much.

What do you need to start a bullet journal?

You might have seen a lot of extremely beautiful pictures floating around the internet with expensive notebooks and fancy pens, but you don’t need anything like that at all. This is what I think you need:

Some kind of notebook. It doesn’t really matter which one, some people like Lechtturm or Moleskine, but any notebook you have lying around will work just fine. (Maybe just don’t get one with 300 pages as it will seem overwhelming to have to finish it)

Pay attention to if it has blank, lined, gritted or dotted pages tho! For a journal focusing mostly on art, I would recommend blank pages, and for writing a lined. If you want your journal to have perfectly straight lines, a gritted journal will probably work the best. If you want something in between or don’t really know exactly what you want, I think you should choose the dotted one (that’s also what I use).

Some kind of pens and pencils. Just pay attention to if they will bleed through your pages!

Optional: Scraps of paper, colored tape (washi tape), (polaroid) pictures, old tickets, stickers, watercolors, pressed flowers, cute wrapping paper or literally anything you have lying around or anything you think look cute! 

Practical things like glue, a ruler, a scissor

What should/could you put in your bullet journal?

I will give you a lot of ideas to spreads etc but don’t make them just because. Some things will work for you and a lot of things probably won’t. It can be tiring to make a lot of pages with things that don’t help you at all. Your bujo shouldn’t feel like a burden, so if you find a spread not working for you, then simply drop it :) 

*Start off with an intro page, maybe write your name, phone number and email in case it gets lost. Your bujo can quickly become one of your most beloved things so be careful!

*Make a key page with what symbols will you be using for tasks, completed tasks, events, birthdays, appointments etc.

*Maybe make an index. Some people like using it, but I abandoned mine pretty quickly, so again, that’s up to you.

*Yearly overview

*Monthly overview

*Weekly spreads. Most people include these pages and they might be the ones you will use the most with daily to-do-lists and the like.

*You can let your spreads be inspired by lots of different things as colors, seasons, holidays, the movie you just watched, an album, a place, a smell, a feeling, outer space, a person etc. Also don’t be afraid to play with different shapes and textures.

Page over your contacts, and important birthdays

*Habit tracker page (you can track sleep, water, exercise, spendings, medication, yoga etc) This can also easily be incorporated in your weekly spreads.

*Since we are close to the new year, you can do resolutions for the year.

Monthly/weekly/daily goals

*Memory pages. These could include a spread from new years, Christmas or a café trip with a good friend.

*Travel logs. You can write it like a diary or just glue in tickets and draw something.

*Gratitude log. Write 1-3 things every day that you are grateful for.

*Movies/series to watch

Books to read

*Book reviews

Music to listen to

*Favourite songs

Bucket list

*Paint test pages

*Brain dump pages

School assignments overview

*Grade tracker

*Exam planner

Class schedule

Favourite lyrics

*Favourite quotes

Gift ideas

*Christmas gifts planner

Wishlist. Update it whenever something pops into your mind so you will have some wishes when people ask you.

Dream log

Passwords for different websites

Countdown page

*Mood tracker

*Random doodle page

Highlights of 2018

Un-do list (bad habits)

Handwriting practice

*Different writing challenges like 6-word stories or a sentence a day.

Playlists for different moods

List of your favourite things

Savings tracker

Your budget

+ literally a thousand more!

*The ones I’ve tried

General tips

When you start your journal it can be very hard to be satisfied with it right away and you might be tempted to rip out pages. If you think this will happen, I suggest numbering your pages from the start. I would recommend not ripping anything out anyway because when you’re 50 pages in, it’s fun to see how much it has changed over time.

if you want your bujo to be a little artsy, I would recommend always outlining with a pencil before you start using your pens.

If you don’t feel like an index will work but you still want it to be organized, you can color code it with tape on the side of the paper. Ex. you can use your red flower tape every time you start a new month.

Check tags like #bujo #bulletjournal #weeklyspread and #journal on social media to get tons of inspiration. 

Check some of my favourite bujoblrs out like: @bujo-rd @bujo-ie @howlsmovingdesk @peachdanik-journal @studylustre @studygramjess @studyblr @problematicprocrastinator @kaylareads @heyrosiebee @academi @ohghiblies @hannybstudies @therobotstudies @studyquill @vanillastudies  @stillstudies + many many more. You can also check out my blog for inspiration.

I think that’s about it, I hope I covered it okay. Happy bullet journaling!

- Bujowsofie

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My little work corner 📚📚

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A Writing Cheat Sheet: for linking actions with emotions. 

As always, click for HD.

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I love my university, our beautiful libraries and I am so grateful that I can study here

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a bit of time at the local library ✨

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chamomile and rupi - the perfect 2am combo

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24 Invaluable Skills To Learn For Free Online This Year

Here’s an easy resolution: This stuff is all free as long as you have access to a computer, and the skills you learn will be invaluable in your career, and/or life in general. 

1. Become awesome at Excel.

Chandoo is one of many gracious Excel experts who wants to share their knowledge with the world. Excel excellence is one of those skills that will improve your chances of getting a good job instantly, and it will continue to prove invaluable over the course of your career. What are you waiting for?

2. Learn how to code.

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Perhaps no other skill you can learn for free online has as much potential to lead to a lucrative career. Want to build a site for your startup? Want to build the next big app? Want to get hired at a place like BuzzFeed? You should learn to code. There are a lot of places that offer free or cheap online coding tutorials, but I recommend Code Academy for their breadth and innovative program. If you want to try a more traditional route, Harvard offers its excellent Introduction to Computer Science course online for free.

3. Make a dynamic website.

You could use a pre-existing template or blogging service, or you could learn Ruby on Rails and probably change your life forever. Here’s an extremely helpful long list of free Ruby learning tools that includes everything from Rails for Zombies to Learn Ruby The Hard Way. Go! Ruby! Some basic programming experience, like one of the courses above, might be helpful (but not necessarily required if you’re patient with yourself).

4. Learn to make a mobile game.

If you’re not interested in coding anything other than fun game apps, you could trythis course from the University of Reading. It promises to teach you how to build a game in Java, even if you don’t have programming experience! If you want to make a truly great game, you might want to read/listen up on Game Theory first.

5. Start reading faster.

Spreeder is a free online program that will improve your reading skill and comprehension no matter how old you are. With enough practice, you could learn to double, triple, or even quadruple the speed at which you read passages currently, which is basically like adding years to your life.

6. Learn a language!

With Duolingo, you can learn Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, or English (from any of the above or more). There’s a mobile app and a website, and the extensive courses are completely free.

Full disclosure: BuzzFeed and other websites are in a partnership with DuoLingo, but they did not pay or ask for this placement.

7. Pickle your own vegetables.

Tired of your farmer’s market haul going bad before you use it all? Or do you just love tangy pickled veggies? You too can pickle like a pro thanks to SkillShare and Travis Grillo.

8. Improve your public speaking skills.

You can take the University of Washington’s Intro to Public Speaking for free online. Once you learn a few tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to go into situations like being asked to present at a company meeting or giving a presentation in class without nearly as much fear and loathing.

9. Get a basic handle of statistics.

UC Berkeley put a stats intro class on iTunes. Once you know how to understand the numbers yourself, you’ll never read a biased “news” article the same way again — 100% of authors of this post agree!

10. Understand basic psychology.

Knowing the basics of psych will bring context to your understanding of yourself, the dynamics of your family and friendships, what’s really going on with your coworkers, and the woes and wonders of society in general. Yale University has its Intro to Psychology lectures online for free.

11. Make your own music.

Step one: Learn how to play guitar: Justin Guitar is a fine and free place to start learning chords and the basic skills you’ll need to be able to play guitar — from there, it’s up to you, but once you know the basics, just looking up tabs for your favorite songs and learning them on your own is how many young guitar players get their start (plus it’s an excellent party trick).

Step two: A delightful free voice lesson from Berklee College Of Music.

Step three: Have you always thought you had an inner TSwift? Berklee College of Music offers an Introduction to Songwriting course completely for free online. The course is six weeks long, and by the end of the lesson you’ll have at least one completed song.

Step four: Lifehacker’s basics of music production will help you put it all together once you have the skills down! You’ll be recording your own music, ready to share with your valentine or the entire world, in no time!

12. Learn to negotiate.

Let Stanford’s Stan Christensen explain how to negotiate in business and your personal life, managing relationships for your personal gain and not letting yourself be steamrolled. There are a lot of football metaphors and it’s great.

13. Stop hating math.

If you struggled with math throughout school and now have trouble applying it in real-world situations when it crops up, try Saylor.org’s Real World Math course. It will reteach you basic math skills as they apply IRL. Very helpful!

14. Start drawing!

All kids draw — so why do we become so afraid of it as adults? Everyone should feel comfortable with a sketchbook and pencil, and sketching is a wonderful way to express your creativity. DrawSpace is a great place to start. (I also highly recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you can drop a few dollars for a used copy.)

15. Make your own animated GIF.

BuzzFeed’s own Katie Notopoulos has a great, simple guide to making an animated GIF without Photoshop. This is all you need to be the king or queen of Tumblr or your favorite email chains.

16. Appreciate jazz.

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Have you never really “gotten” jazz? If you want to be able to participate in conversations at fancy parties and/or just add some context to your appreciation of all music, try this free online course from UT Austin.

17. Write well.

Macalester College’s lecture series is excellent. If you’re more interested in journalism, try Wikiversity’s course selection.

18. Get better at using Photoshop.

Another invaluable skill that will get you places in your career, learning Photoshop can be as fun as watching the hilarious videos on You Suck At Photoshop or as serious as this extensive Udemy training course (focused on photo retouching).

19. Take decent pictures.

Lifehacker’s basics of photography might be a good place to start. Learn how your camera works, the basic of composition, and editing images in post-production. If you finish that and you’re not sure what to do next, here’s a short course on displaying and sharing your digital photographs.

20. Learn to knit.

Instructables has a great course by a woman who is herself an online-taught knitter. You’ll be making baby hats and cute scarves before this winter’s over!

21. Get started with investing in stocks.

If you are lucky enough to have a regular income, you should start learning about savings and investment now. Investopedia has a ton of online resources, including this free stocks basics course. Invest away!

22. Clean your house in a short amount of time.

Unf$#k Your Habitat has a great emergency cleaning guide for when your mother-in-law springs a surprise visit on you. While you’re over there, the entire blog is good for getting organized and clean in the long term, not just in “emergencies.” You’ll be happier for it.

23. Start practicing yoga.

Most cities have free community classes (try just searching Google or inquiring at your local yoga studio), or if you’re more comfortable trying yoga at home, YogaGlohas a great 15-day trial and Yome is a compendium of 100% free yoga videos. If you’re already familiar with basic yoga positions but you need an easy way to practice at home, I recommend YogaTailor’s free trial as well.

24. Tie your shoelaces more efficiently.

It’s simple and just imagine the minutes of your life you’ll save!

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❄️✨ completing an art assignment on surrealism while preparing for the next semester. 🤓 Also planning to start 100 Days of Productivity! Have you guys tried it//been successful with it? 

Also does anyone have any good & cheap planner recommendations? please inbox me:)

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29/12/18 - saturday 🥞

oh oh my the year’s ending already? can’t believe school is starting next week and i’ll be taking my o levels soon :”)

happy studying lovely people !! 🦄

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november mood  🍁 🍂   //  instagram

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breakfast & revision of wave physics 🍳

🎵 crazy little thing called love; queen

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“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” happy Saturday! if you have time, I would highly recommend watching this TEDx talk: Perfection is the wrong direction. it is simultaneously motivating and relieving. ☃️enjoy the day and don’t forget to take a break!

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[ January 7, 2019 ]

· that moment when you notice spelling mistakes in your notetaking photos!!

· i’m going to be taking more psychology notes soon in developmental psychology, starting friday!! 📔

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some more gallery pictures, I love monet so much!