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Productivity from Home

Some tips for anyone who is stuck at home due to Covid - 19

As many of use are stuck in self-isolation as work and school moves into an online format, I was wanted to share some of my best tips for remaining productive, and not going crazy, when you can’t leave the house.

1. Keep your space clean.  A simple concept but good to keep in mind, give your space a really good deep clean right now, and then keep things keeps by wiping down counters, doing your dishes, making your bed, and putting away clothes daily. 

2. Keep yourself clean When you are not seeing anyone it can be easy to fall into a rut of wearing the same sweatshirt every day and not washing your hair, but it is so important to stay feeling clean and fresh when you cant leave the house. Feeling good about yourself will help you stay more productive, and the acts of showing, doing your hair, and changing your clothes are little self-care things that are easily overlooked when you are not leaving. 

3. Build new routines Now that you don’t have to leave the house this is a great time to introduce new habits into your life. Always wanted to wake up at 5:00am? Give it a try! Want to do a meditation every evening? Go for it!

4. Connect with friends Don’t sacrifice your group meetings, Skype them in. Study with friends over FaceTime, or just call a loved one to chat for a little. Self isolation doesn’t need to feel lonely. 

5. Freshen the air Try to open the windows at least one a day to clean out your space. Have a nice candle going at night, or put your diffuser on during the day. Keeping you space smelling fresh is essential to not feeling like you are trapped.  

6. Make a plan Know what you have to do and schedule it. Try to schedule blocks of work and rest for yourself.  And ensure you are accomplishing a few things on your to-do list every day so that you don’t feel like you are falling into a slump! (Note: this can be something as simple as make the bed, take a shower, or eat a nice meal.)

Extra Little Tips:

Move every day (some yoga, a dance party by yourself, anything)

Drink lots of water 

Make sure you practice self-care: this is a stressful time!

Do a face mask, or paint your nails

Don’t wear pajamas all day, but you can stay comfy!

Bake some yummy snacks

Watch new movies or start a new tv show 

Treat yourself kindly in this hard time. 

[hermione-mode]

How to deal with the new normal

Accept your new routine - the measures that were put in place are here for our own good and anger won't bring back our old lives, it will only make us less happy

Catch up on news two times a day - although it is important to be informed, it is very important to not get overwhelmed and panicked

Take advantige of opportunites you have - take online courses in something you have always been interested in (coursera has a ton of free courses), learn a new skill or brush up on an old one, workout, read books you haven't had a chance to

Relax - although a lot of still have a lot of obigations regarding work and school, we still have more free time than we would otherwise and there is apsolutely nothing wrong with doing nothing with it

Connect with family - a lot of us are back home or surrounded by our loved ones more than we would be otherwise, talk, have movie nights, game nights, cook together...

Connect with yourself - spend some time everyday on your own, without any distactions, meditate, journal, write down your feelings, thoughts and wishes

Find a new purpose - for a lot us our day's, week's or life's purpose was going to school or work and we can feel lost without that. That's why it can be beneficial to find a project to put more energy in and that's going to get you out of bed in the morning like running a blog, writing a novel, getting in shape..

Be grateful - you are still here, you are alive and breathing. Make sure to think of at list 3 things you are grateful for every day

[hermione-mode]

How to live your *BEST* life during quarantine : achieve your goals from the comfort of your home!

So.. Schools are closed, everything is basically down and you’re up to at least 2 weeks of quarantine. You’ve bought your toilet paper, made your pasta stock (no penne lisce of course, who tf eats them anyway?!), completed 30 levels of CandyCrush and now you may be wondering… What the hell will I do during this whole time??

Well… I got you covered. I’ll just make a couple of articles on how to help YOU to make the best of this homestay! side note : this may be the first and the last time that you can save the world from your couch, so be happy about it : we’re living a historical moment!).

First things first : MAKE A LIST. If you don’t stop one moment and think of everything you need to do, you’ll end up doing basically nothing, and this is why SUMMARIZING what you need to do can help you have a clearer vision : What are your top priorities (school work, job/college applications, deadlines, thesis, etc.)? What are your other priorities (exercising, cleaning the house, doing your laundry, washing your hands, feeding the cat…)?

Now that you’ve listed your work/home obligations you have 2 choices : either you have so much workload that you’ll basically only do this (and this quarantine will rather look like an exam session => I’ll write a 2nd article on how to study efficiently at home) OR you have still plenty of free time !

Which leads to asking yourself what are the things you’ve always wanted to do/improve/try but never had the motivation/time to? The examples are infinite : finish a book, start a blog, declutter, meditate more, journaling, etc..

Once you’ve made your list, you can PLAN your days. It doesn’t need to be super serious like a study plan but just knowing what you’ll be up to each day will make you less anxious and the time will pass faster.

Last thing : don’t forget to CHILL ! As I said, it’s the first time you won’t feel guilty about staying at home! So keep some time apart to watch your favorite TV show, enjoy precious moments with your family, sleep, and take care of yourself.

So tell me.. What would you like to do during this quarantine? Do you have any goals?

I’ll come back very soon for more details !! In the meantime, please STAY SAFE, wash your hands and AVOID close contact!!

Studygram 

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this is so cute !!

ig: kaiilatte messy simple monthly’s

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I can feel that 2020 is going to change my life for the better and that i’m going to be in a new direction. I can’t even describe it, I just have a gut feeling that i’m going to meet people and be in the right place at the right time for the circumstances that are divinely timed just for me. overwhelmed with good thoughts and hopes for what is to come 

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sometimes we end get very stressed, and this can easily transform into a continuous cycle of stress. it’s the worst, and it’s easy to forget what it feels like to just relax. so, here are some steps you can take to get yourself out of this stress cycle!

be aware of the state you’re in right now. how are you feeling? sad? stressed? tired? this is pretty simple, but the first step is to just acknowledge those negative feelings, so that you can get out of them.

accept the state you’re in too. not only should you be aware of it, accept it! every state is temporary, whether it’s good or bad. you’re never going to feel happy or sad or stressed forever. also, try to accept what cannot be changed in your current situation (aka the thing you might be stressed about) and act on what can be changed.

get your thoughts out of your head. don’t leave them jumbled inside of you mind! get out a notebook or a piece of paper, and jot down all the things on your mind. i like to make a mindmap, because sometimes i don’t have the energy to write in full sentences. but if journaling isn’t your thing, you can also try talking to someone you trust!

ask yourself: will this matter in a day? a week? a year? the answer is most likely no! so if you’re not going to stress about it then, don’t stress out about it now! i know this is way easier said than done, but think about a time when you were equally as stressed, and how after it happened, you survived and it’s all good now!

alright, now it’s time to get up. get off your couch or bed! start cleaning/organizing your space (because a clean space = a clean mind). it’s also nice to go for a walk or start exercising (i personally don’t do this very often, but when i do, i feel great after!).

do some self care. dedicate a night to pampering yourself and making yourself feel good! paint your nails and put on a face mask, if that’s your thing!

embrace the silence. consciously do nothing. we drift through our busy lives without pausing. we’re often running around anticipating what’s to come next, treating the current moment as if it’s not enough. this is continuous stress. but stopping and just listening to the silence around you will allow you to actually hear your own thoughts. this may seem completely boring at first, but it can be super calming! this way, you will find so much more peace by focusing on where you are right now than where you would rather be.

don’t sweat the small stuff. maybe someone said something rude to you, or maybe someone accidentally pushed you over. but don’t dwell on it for too long. just brush it off, and continue on with your day. dwelling on it for too long adds to your pile of negativity and stress. we all have a limited time on this earth, so why would you constantly spend it with negativity?

take action. if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed by all the things you have to do, just take the first tiny step, and keep going from there. and when you’re done, let everything go (including the stress). work hard, and have trust in the universe that it it will all work out.

enjoy yourself! find balance between everything. try something new, hang out with friends, or do a hobby you enjoy! work hard, but just make sure to have fun every so often.

alright, so i hope these tips helped! i know that it’s easier said than done, but if you practice these steps, you will find more peace and less stress in yourself!

if you have any more questions or need to vent about your day, my ask box is always open!

[hermione-mode]

how I’m trying to reduce my screentime

So... I spend a lot of my time on my phone. And when I say a lot, it’s A LOT. 

I really enjoy watching YouTube videos, so most of my time is spent there, and I just watch one video after another. Sometimes - most of the time, actually - I don’t even watch the videos and just listen to them while I’m doing other things, including homework. This really does not help my productivity, because I’m neither completely focused on doing my homework or completely focused on watching the video. 

Because of this, my screentime can go as up as 9 hours a day, and that is definitely not good. It’s the worse it’s ever been. 

I also find that spending more time on my phone and scrolling on Instagram for hours does not contribute to my anxiety or mental well-being at all. In October, I used my phone so much, one day my screentime was as high as 13 hours, and coincidentally, October was a month full of anxiety, overthinking, mental breakdowns, and just in general not good for my mental health. 

I’ve always used ‘App Limits’ and ‘Downtime’ (if you have an iPhone - I’m not sure if there’s an option for this in Android - you can go to Settings, Screen Time, and then set up your Downtime and App Limits, so that you can control the time you spend on your phone), but I would just keep clicking ‘15 more minutes’ or just ‘Ignore Limit for Today’.

At the start of November, I realized my screentime was just excessive. By the second week, I just knew I had to do something about it, so I set a goal for myself. I didn’t write it down or anything, I just changed my mindset and started trying to drop this bad habit. Sometimes, when I think through what I want to do too much and start planning excessively, I just get lazy and never actually end up doing it, so that’s why I just did it. 

On Monday, I decided that it was going to be the day to start changing my bad habits. So I got home, put on some music and threw my phone on the couch while I was doing productive stuff for once in my life like cleaning my room, taking a shower (I usually procrastinate and end up showering really late at night), and making lunch. I had a nice lunch with my family without looking at my phone once, and as soon as I finished I went to my room to start doing homework. I turned off my phone completely and just played some music on my computer, and finished my homework at 6pm.

I find that if I just play some music, I’m fine and don’t feel the need to check my phone every 5 minutes since my main problem is that I can’t be alone with my thoughts or I’ll literally go crazy lol (still working on that one).

This whole week I’ve been doing that, and I’ve been actually respecting my App Limits instead of ignoring them! My screentime has decreased from a 9-hours-a-day average to a 2-hour one, and, for example, today I only used my phone for an hour and a half, which is quite an improvement, if I can say so myself.

And the benefits of this? 

Mental Health: My anxiety has been way better this week, and I’ve just been feeling a lot better. 

Time Management: I actually have time for everything! I’ve been finishing my homework early, so now I have the whole night to relax, read, take care of myself and go to bed early.

Sleep: I’ve actually been sleeping lol. I’ve been going to bed at 10 or 11pm, and waking up at 5:50am, which is pretty good for me. Today was the only day I’ve felt (physically, not mentally) tired and that’s probably because I volunteer every Wednesday and that exhausts me lol. 

Productivity: I’ve been working efficiently because I’ve been more focused and concentrated while doing my homework and studying, so I’ve done more work in fewer time :).

Content: I’ve been more conscious of the content I consume. Before, I would just add every YouTube video on my Subscriptions page to a playlist so I could watch them later even if I wasn’t that interested in a video or it didn’t contribute or improve my life in any form. Now, because I know that the App Limit I set up only allows me to watch two videos or one really long one, I try to really think through what I’m going to watch and prioritize what I’m most interested in. 

So, how to stop using your phone: 

Change your mindset. Start right now. Don’t wait for Monday or for a new month or a new year, just start. Put your phone away right now and go read a book or do that task you’ve been putting off for weeks. 

Set up your App Limits and Downtime. You can go to Settings > Screentime > App Limits or Downtime. Try to figure out how much time you can actually spend on your phone and on each app according to your schedule and how productive you want to be on a daily basis. I’ve set up mine to: Youtube - 40 min, Instagram - 20 min, Twitter - 10 min, Netflix - 40 min (this is still a lot of time, but I know I can afford it so it’s fine :)). You can also specify if you want these app limits from Monday to Friday or also on the weekends, or on specific days. The Downtime option means your phone will ‘block’ at a specific time and ‘unblock’ when you wake up. You can still ignore the limit if you really need to use an app, but I would recommend setting up your ‘Always Allowed’ apps instead if you know you’ll probably have to use one (mine are Settings, Calendar, and Google Maps because I take the bus lol). I’ve set up my downtime from 9:30 pm (so that I have half an hour to disconnect before I actually have to go to bed) to 6:00 am, which is when I wake up. I would recommend that if you wake up, let’s say, at 6 am, you set your Downtime to end at 6:30 am, so that you’re not on your phone as soon as you wake up :). I only set up mine at 6 am because I have to check the weather and bus times while I’m getting ready. 

Now that you’ve set up your Screentime Limits, respect it! Try to avoid at all costs the ‘Ignore Limit for a Day’ or the 15 more minutes option, unless it’s really an emergency. I promise that if you use that option once, it will be hard to stop doing it. 

When you get home, put your phone in a place hard to reach or where you know you won’t be tempted to use it. I usually just leave it in the living room, on the couch, where I can’t see it.

If you’re like me and don’t like to be in complete quiet, try putting some music, but don’t get distracted! :). Just have a go-to playlist so that you don’t have to spend half an hour setting up your queue. 

Changing your bad habits requires a lot of discipline and time, so don’t worry if you use your phone for more than 2 hours one day! Just make sure the next one you go back to staying off your phone :). You can also reduce your screentime progressively if that’s easier for you.

If it works best for you, write down your goal of approximately how much time you want to spend on your phone daily and also write down how you’re going to do it :).

Try other hobbies! If you have other hobbies to do in your free time you won’t reach for your phone as soon as you don’t have anything to do. 

I think that’s all I have to share about this (a lot, I know), but if you have any other tips, let me know! I’ll try to share them here and also on my Instagram, hermionemode :).

[hermione-mode]

How to take notes from a textbook

Knowing what to and what not to write down from a textbook is a often an issue when studying. Should I include this or is that completely necessary? Hopefully these few tips will help anyone struggle to use their textbook!

Read the textbook prior to taking notes - This helps give you a solid understanding of the material so you can summarise and shorten your notes. Have a good understanding is great to help shorten your notes, since you can avoid copying the menial information.

Highlight some key points, terms and concepts before taking notes - Remember not to over-highlight, keep it brief and minimal; key words, facts, and statistics!

Have a colour coding system - This helps to visualise your notes when trying to memorise information and also makes your notes more effective material to learn from. Making sure you’re using the same colours for highlighting your textbook and writing your notes. My colour coding system can be found here.

Use the layout of the textbook to organise your notes - I found copying the headings and subheadings really helped simplify and ensure I was learning each section. It’s much easy to find information when you’re skimming through notes. This also ensures that you can remember what topic areas relate to others, meaning you can add more into your essays under exam conditions!

Include different ways to show the information - Use mindmaps, bullet points, graphs, flow chats, and post-it notes to help visualise the content. Breaking up your notes with graphics is a good way to avoid full pages of writing and great for memorising statistics or key elements of a topic.

Supplement your notes - Use other textbooks and your own research to expand the depth of your notes. This is highly important for subjects that can require evidence, statistics and evaluations. Making sure this information is embedded into your notes is great for writing essays.

Add your own personal touch - Add doodles, acronyms, and abbreviations to help your study. Little things that make important information unique and standout will help you recall it later!

Summarise each chapter - Make a final summary of each chapter using sticky notes or flash cards. Once you’ve read your textbook, you’ll have a collection of chapter summaries ready to study from.

Each of these tips have helped me recreate notes that are well-rounded and full of brief but useful information. I hope this information helps. Let me know if it does! 

[hermione-mode]

Working on my confidence

We all want to be confident. We all want to be able to go out and be ourselves. However, it’s harder to do this for some of us. For me, it’s definitely hard.

My journey to self-confidence has been quite bumpy. In my “early teenage years” I was not confident, AT ALL. Then, when I was around 13 and 14 years old that started changing. I actually started feeling good about myself and confident enough to be me in front of people other than my friends and close family. Then I moved to Canada, and my confidence dropped considerably. But now, I’m slowly getting back to that point where I felt very comfortable with myself. 

Well, I think the key to improving and working on your self-confidence is doing things you’re passionate about. I had stopped dancing, which is something I love, but the second I came back to it I started feeling better about myself. I also started my studygram, and I was in the dance team of my school (it was not really a dance team lol I just don’t know the name for it in English oops). Basically, I worked hard on the things I loved and not only in school, which is something really important. 

I know it can be hard and scary to do all those things you love doing because there’s the possibility that you’ll fail, but what is life if you stop doing everything you love because you are afraid to do it, right? 

[hermione-mode]

How I Deal with Stress

I can get quite stressed when it’s about school or something really important to me. And probably most of you get stressed too. It’s completely normal and it shows that you care about what you’re doing. 

I usually get stressed when I have loads of things to do or when I have a big project like a final assignment, so here are the things that help me deal with my stress. 

For the first situation what usually works for me is planning. Planning helps me make sure I have time for everything and even if I don’t end up following that schedule exactly, it calms me down. What I usually do is, first, in my calendar (I use Google Calendar so that I can access it from my phone and my laptop), set up the due dates or deadlines for the different assignments I have.

Then, on my bullet journal (you can also use a random piece of paper for this) I write down all of the things I have to do (I usually do it on my weekly to-do list). I do this so that I can see in one place all of the tasks I need to finish. Also, by doing this, I can have an idea of when I’m going to do each thing so that I have enough time for everything. 

I also have a daily to-do list, but I like setting this up on the same day. Remember to not overload your day with tasks! You only have so much time and it’s impossible for you to do every single thing, and that’s okay. As long as you organize and don’t waste your time, you will be fine, so don’t worry! I really struggle with this though, for some reason I think I’m Wonder Woman or something and I write down on my to-do list 100 tasks and I only end up doing like 3 or 4. Not good, because then I feel like crap for not doing what I wanted to do. 

For when I have a big project to do that it’s due in like a month, I usually get stressed because I’m scared I’m going to procrastinate and do everything the last week. I also get scared to do it really early because what if the teachers gives some advice during the month? (My science teacher did this EVERY TIME we had a project and literally a day before the due date he would tell us something really important like “oh, by the way, you need to type it”. Like, seriously?! I already did the whole thing). 

So, what I do is planning, yes, again. Planning calms me down, okay? Sometimes I give the project its own calendar on my bullet journal. For example, I did this for final exams: (I know it’s technically not a project but it’s one of the most recent things I did)

I basically just write down the deadline there and then I write down when I’m going to work on it and what I’m going to do each day.

To do that, first, I write down all the tasks regarding the project. Like, every single task. Even the least important thing. This is so that I have an idea of how much work I have to do. I sometimes categorize the tasks, for example: 

And the list can be even longer. Basically, it’s important that you know all the tasks you need to complete to do your project. 

In the calendar, if the list of tasks is too long, I don’t specify what tasks I’m going to do each day, I just put that the x week or x number of days I’m going to work on x category. 

So, basically planning is the solution to everything, at least in my case (lol). But it truly makes me feel like I have everything under control, which is, most of the time, not true, but you know, fake it ‘til you make it ;).

[hermione-mode]

My Journey to Self-discipline

I always see every single studyblr talking about motivation (which is great, don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate it). Well, motivation is a great thing. But, what if it's not as essential and necessary as we thought it was? What if, all that we're looking for is in self-discipline?

Want better grades? Self-discipline is the answer. Want to actually have time to do stuff? Self-discipline. Want to be less of a mess? Self-discipline.

The thing is, I'm not great at it. I'm afraid that, self-discipline is actually really hard. It requires a lot of strength and determination, which is something I sometimes lack. I can easily get distracted and forget about my goals - what I am and have always worked for: being better. And I believe the solution for this is self-discipline.

So I want to share with you my journey to self-discipline, because it’s not only going to be easier for me since now I have this pressure (who am I kidding, what pressure? NOBODY'S READING THIS), but I hope this encourages you to start your journey to self-discipline too.

I started by making my bed every day. It's a really easy task that probably most people do, but sometimes I can get lazy, and now that I'm in summer break, I don't mind a messy room as much (not really, I just don't mind avoiding it as much). So, making my bed is my simple, easy start. When I wake up, the first thing I do is make my bed. This way, I don't have to think about it.

I have found this is the key. Not thinking about it. Self-discipline is doing something because you know you HAVE to do it, even if you don't necessarily want to. The easiest way is to not think about it, and the easiest way to do that is by establishing a routine.

It doesn't have to be specific. And since it's summer break you can make it a little flexible so you don't feel pressured, this is your time to relax! So for example, I’m doing online summer school during July, so I have established a specific period of time dedicated to it. Since it’s online and I can choose when I want to do it, sometimes it’s hard to actually be productive and do it in the mornings. So, in the mornings, I get up between 7:30 and 8am, then have breakfast, and then I have a little time to relax. I usually watch a TV show or just read, or in this case, write :). Then I start doing my online class and doing all the homework. This way, I have time to do everything I have to do (clean, cook, etc.) before my parents come back from summer school (they have English classes) and I can spend time with them. I also have time to go back to doing everything I love: playing Sims 4, watching movies and TV shows (lots and lots of TV shows), reading, writing, doing research in subjects that interest me, etc. So I think it’s a great start. 

It’s still hard though, to actually stick to it, but I’m trying my best and that’s what matters. 

I’ll update you guys soon on how I’m doing and I hope I can hear from you too! And remember that motivation is not the only key to being productive :). 

[hermione-mode]

Hello!

Hello! My name is Adriana and I guess this is my studyblr. You see, I've already tried this. Kinda. Sort of. Well, the thing is that I have a studygram (if you wanna follow me, I'll just casually leave my username and link right here... @hermionemode). It was kinda dead for a while, but oh well, here I am. So, you see, I do not feel like I am in any position to give advice about studying, school and all that stuff. I'm kind of a mess right now. Tired, exhausted, completely burnt out, but I'm finally in summer break (after a year and a half in school, nonstop. Don't worry, I'll explain later) and I need something to... I guess destress. I just want you all to know that if you're feeling lost, exhausted, etc. you are not alone in this, sister (or brother, or whatever you feel comfortable with ;)). So this is my way of dealing with this and trying to help you deal with it too. Hope it helps (I really do or this is gonna be really embarrassing). Now, let me tell you more about why I'm feeling what I'm feeling. Eight months ago I moved to London, Ontario, Canada. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. You see, we left before I could finish what is grade 9 here (but third year of high school back in Peru), and when it was mid-first semester here. Because of the difference in school years, I basically had to redo grade 9. Let me tell you: NOT FUN. So most of the time I felt stuck, like I was wasting my time. Lost, if you want to call it that. Back in Peru, my life was easier I guess. I had a routine and I was doing great (school-wise and in life in general). But then everything changed when we got here, obviously. So now, I'm lost because, well, because of many reasons, but one of them is because I don't even fully understand how everything works here and I still need to figure out a lot of things. So right now I'm trying to get my life back together. I want to feel good again - about myself and my life in general. And well, this is my kind of studyblr but not really because I will mostly talk about my struggles and try to give advice but not really 'cause my life is a complete mess. :).