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“Some people don’t realize what they have until it’s gone, but that does not always mean they are supposed to get it back.”

— Stephan Labossiere (via suspend)

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Japanese Dialects Masterpost

Dialects can be fun and offer cultural insight. They may be useful to learn, though usually only if you have geographical links to a specific area of Japan- perhaps you have family there, personal heritage there, you live there, or are going to do a language exchange in a specific area. Linguists may also be interested just because they are really interesting.

In almost all instances for non-Japanese people learning to understand a dialect when it’s spoken/written (rather than produce it in your own speech) would suffice for communication. As far as I can see the best reason to learn to actually speak a dialect is because you want to communicate with elderly people from that region specifically; most young people have had far more media exposure so they can easily use ‘standard Japanese’/ Tokyo dialect.

If a non-native Japanese speaker learns a dialect and can’t speak standard Japanese, they may find they are seriously limited in conversations and people will inevitably find it weird. They might just find they are incomprehensible:

’I spent three years living in Nemuro, the easternmost town in Hokkaido. […]  Hokkaido-ben is often misunderstood outside Hokkaido, Nemuro-ben can’t be understood even in the next town over. So it’s basically useless unless you’re planning a trip to Nemuro (which I would recommend.) However, it does show how many variations there are in dialect, even within one island.’ [Tofugu, my emphasis]

Someone with a low communicative ability in English who could only speak using Cockney rhyming slang, but didn’t know standard English unfortunately would sound ridiculous to natives of that area. It would seem crazy to know ‘You’re ‘aving a bubble mate!’, but not ’You must be joking!’. They’d sound odd and in many instances their language would sound antiquated. Be aware that you may well get a similar reaction if you pepper your speech with regional dialect as a non-Japanese person without being conversationally fluent in standard Japanese. I’m not saying don’t learn dialects, please do if they interest you, learning to understand them when you hear them, rather than necessarily use them in your own speech, is a great idea. If you want to speak in them, please try to do it all in good time and in a respectful way that is not accessorizing the language and culture.

For beginners:

Many of the resources here will be only in Japanese, as this post is aimed at higher intermediate and advanced learners. The section below is in mostly English and will give you a general overview if you’re interested:

lingualift article (scroll down past their email sign up stuff to read)

FluentU will teach you a few basic phrases in a variety of dialects

Wikibooks has links to a few examples of phrases in different dialects

The wikipedia article will give you an informative introduction

Tofugu has a few articles on dialects:  Hokkaido |  Tohoku |  Kansai

Japan Times article on dialects

For intermediate and Advanced learners:

I’ve organised this by prefecture, but it’s worth noting that some prefectures contain several dialects and I’m by no means an expert, I hope the Tumblr Japanese learning community can contribute to and help improve this post. General:

Dictionary for dialects in EVERY prefecture

Short animations about various dialects　

Women from every prefecture saying I love you in their regional dialect

Japanese dialect Wiki

There tend to be Line stickers on sale for dialects, as people think they’re cute and want to show local pride, try searching the Line sticker store for the dialect you want and you can use them in conversations, which will give you a little practise.

Big Weblio guide to all prefectures’ dialects

方言で話そう on Twitter will show you phrases in a variety of regional dialects from around the country

Project Guttenburg article which gets more into the linguistics of Kansai ben

I made a post on Kansai ben a while back and @similarjapanesewords made a post about it before too

video comparing local variations of the same phrase spoken by native speakers 1 2

This Youtube channel has a lot of different dialect tutorials (all Japanese)

There’s another Youtube channel here too (all Japanese)

hougen-japan

ALC dialect quizzes

The Japanese Wikipedia page has a lot more detailed information than the English page, naturally.

Kansaibenkyou

Maps of where some dialects are spoken

Wikipedia has a lot of basic introductory information on dialects, there are almost certainly dialects I’ve missed from this list, if you search for the prefecture or geographical location and the word 弁 or 方言 then you’re likely to find a dialect, even if it isn’t simply called [place name]弁.

Hokkaidō |  Hokkaidō ben dictionary |  Hougen.u-biq |  Tofugu introducation to Hokkaido ben

Aomori |  Goo Aomori ben dictionary |  Japanesepod101 1 2 3 4 5 |  animation about Aomori ben  |  Kindle book written in Aomori ben

Iwate |  Phrase guide  |  dialect dictionary

Miyagi |  Hougen.u-biq | Vocabulary | Introduction to Miyagi ben | Sendai ben

Akita |  Akita ben course  |  How to use け in Akita ben  |  How to use こ in Akita ben

Yamagata |  A few introductory phrases  | Yamagata ben phrases  |  Yamagata ben dajare  |  Yamagata ben grammar

Fukushima |  Fukushima ben Dictionary  |  Usage guide

Ibaraki |  Ibaraki ben dictionary |  Learn Ibaraki ben phrases

Tochigi | Tochigi ben guide to pronunciation and expressions | Tochigi ben dictionary |

Gunma | Five page vocabulary guide | 7 lesson course in speaking Gunma ben

Saitama | North Saitama dialect vocabulary | Phrases | More vocabulary | Saitama ben dictionary on Goo

Chiba | East Chiba dialect | Learn Bōsō dialect | Another Bōsō website | Bōsō dialect quiz | Sotobō dialect guide

Tokyo | dictionary |  Tokyo dialect on Jlect | Tokyo ben on Chaku wiki | About Tokyo ben | vocabulary

Kanagawa | 10 phrases | Yokohama and Kanagawa dialect dictionary | Kanagawa ben on chaku wiki

Niigata |  Niigata ben dictionary  |  Japanesepod101 1 2 3

Toyama | Vocabulary | Toyama ben on Wikibooks | Simple phrases | About Toyama ben | Basic introduction to Toyama ben | Toyama dialect competition

Ishikawa |  Ishikawa ben Dictionary on Goo | Wikibooks Ishikawa dialect guide | Kanazawa ben guide | English book on Kanazawa ben

Fukui | Fukuiben.com | Hokuriku dialect (spoken in several prefectures)

Yamanashi |  Koshu Dialect Laboratory | Koshu ben dictionary | Yamanashi ben on Goo | There are a couple of posts here in English

Nagano |  Goo Nagano ben dictionary  |  Nagano prefecture guide to Nagano dialect  |  Matsumoto dialect page

Gifu |  Large vocabulary list  |  Mino ben guide |  PDF guide with accent information etc  |  another vocabulary list  |  Short video in Mino Ben

Shizuoka |  Page with links to several local dialects found in Shizuoka  | Shizuoka ben version of a commerical  | 10 funny phrases

Aichi |  Hougen.u-biq |  Nagoya ben website

Mie |  phrase guide |  features of Mie ben

Shiga |  large word and phrase list  |  vocabulary list

Kyoto |  Hougen.u-biq |  vocabulary list  |  More vocabulary

Osaka |  Hougen.u-biq |  video tutorial |  Kansai ben/Osaka ben word list

Hyōgo |  vocabulary list |  Hyogo ben on chaku Wiki |  

Nara |  Nara dialect on Chaku Wiki  |  Video discussing the subtelties of Nara dialect within Kansai ben  | vocabulary list

Wakayama |  Word list |  Some honorific expressions in Wakayama dialect PDF | Wakayama ben article |   Wakayama Kansai ben vocabulary |  Apparently there’ll be a radio show about Wakayama dialect soon so maybe they’ll have a podcast

Tottori |  dictionary |  large word and phrase list |  another vocabulary and phrase list

Shimane |  Izumo-ben 出雲弁 | Izumo ben in detail

Okayama |  large word and phrase list | Okayama ben corner | Interesting Okayama ben

Hiroshima |  Hougen.u-biq |  Hiroshima dialect

Yamaguchi |  Yamaguchi ben |  Vocabulary | quiz

Tokushima |  Awa ben video tutorial  |  vocabulary list  |  large phrase and vocabulary list

Kagawa |  vocabulary and phrase list  |  phrase list

Ehime |  Some Iyo vocabulary  |  Iyo dialect guide

Kochi |  Origins of Tosa ben and Hata ben PDF (bilingual)  |  Tosa ben introduction  |  Hata dialect introduction  |  The Lexicon of Kochi Japanese PDF (academic paper)  |  Kochi funpage on Youtube

Fukuoka |  series of videos on how to use Hakata ben |  video tutoiral |  verb conjugations

Saga |  Saga ben dictionary | Goo Saga ben dictionary

Nagasaki |  Nagasaki ben resource with recordings of sample dialogues |  Goo Nagasaki ben dictionary |  A story book written in Nagasaki ben (available on Kindle)

Kumamoto |  How to use Kumamoto ben  | Kumamoto ken vocabulary, a lot of these seem rough/rude

Ōita |  video |  Goo Ōita ben dictionary

Miyazaki |  Miyazaki ben explanation |  vocabulary and explanation

Kagoshima |  Vocabulary |  big word list  |  More vocabulary and phrases 

Okinawa |  Traveller’s guide to Okinawan dialects  | Huge list of Ryukyuan vocabulary  |  Uchinaguchi dictionary

There are books on dialects, typically designed for native speakers, such as this dialect dictionary, or this Tosa ben guide available in Japan, but you’d need some very advanced Japanese to be able to access them, in which case I doubt you’d be following my blog.

Beyond regional dialects there are also many languages that are native to Japan that are not Japanese. If you’re interested in learning Ainu, one of the Ryukyuan languages, Japanese sign language, or another language from Japan that is not standard spoken Japanese then this Tofugu article may interest you. Many of these languages are endangered. Thanks to these bloggers who helped contribute to this post:

@suzustarlight @tomatograffiti  @grapefruitcake Disclaimer: There are a massive number of regional dialects in Japan, I am neither Japanese, nor an expert, so inevitably I will miss some off this list. If you want to share information about a dialect from a part of Japan you’ve visited or lived in please reblog and add some information or resources, so that we can get this post to a point where it’s as comprehensive as possible. Many thanks!

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Anyone else constantly on edge because we are in the final stages of late capitalism and these next couple of decades are gonna be make or break for the western world, and this just happens to coincide with the part of my life where I’m supposed to make something of myself :/

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My country’s literal revolution is happening right now but nobody cares bc it’s not impacting the US/Europe

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You are good at something, stop lying to yourself. You’re good at breaking down comic book plots, cooking ramen perfectly, making your friends happy, knowing the time without looking at a clock, getting the perfect ending at RPG’s, or figuring out the twist ending to movies. Don’t let society tell you your talents are meaningless because they don’t serve an economical purpose. Your talents reflect your interests and passions, and what’s important to you is important.

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me on the first day of college vs me now

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concept: I’m with my friends. Everyone is laughing and having fun while we are exploring the city together, eventually sitting down in a cozy coffee shop. Outside it’s starting to rain while we tell each other stories and joke around. Laughter and warmth fill the little room, decorated with books and plants, as we are drinking our coffees and hot chocolates. We are happy.

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Anyone Up For Some Friendly, Platonic Screaming

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concept: me travelling the world alone, figuring myself out, taking tons of cute aesthetic pictures, befriending kind strangers, drinking a cup of tea on a cute cafeteria, and trying out things for the first time.

[onederings]

Ano-ano // 0002

Tuesday June 6, 2017

Today, I received some of my papers back and I am honestly not surprised at all. As expected, I did very badly. I failed my Chemistry for the first time ever. I wasn't overly taken aback by it honestly, I got the marks I deserve and I am accepting it.

Tomorrow I'm getting back the rest of my papers and I'm definitely hopeful. I don't know how I'm going to break the news to my parents. I'm expecting my parents to scold me and repeatedly ask me why I did so badly and probably have my phone confiscated or something. I accept it anyways.

I gotta get my grind on.

Went to Jollibee for my friend's little brother's birthday. It was funnnnnn. Had a picture with Jollibee because my Mom insisted and as well as a squad photo with my two fams. Made me temporarily forget my school woes.

Thank God school is almost over. Basically five days of school left and ya homegirl is freeeeeeeee, sort of. I'm having IELTS training sessions during the course of this whole month and then will be taking the exams in July.

My schedule is legit so full this upcoming holidays. Like, a friend from earlier invited to watch Wonder Woman this Thursday. I don't even know if I can go. My grades suck. And then another friend invited me for her sleepover birthday bash a week from now (?). Then some schoolmates are planning a farewell party for a friend this coming July.

Then there's my birthday. Lol. Sort of dreading that. Then Sport's Day too. Which I dread even more. Also, PTM. Sigh. June-July is going to be a fabulous period, I can already tell. I honestly hope nobody bothers me on my birthday so I can wallow in self-pity. Lol.

Today, I had been pushed into admitting the green-eyed monster within me to the actual boy that I've been having my jealousy issues over. I honestly feel so screwed over and very much a loser. He knows exactly what I feel about him and her and he knows how painful it feels having to bear that.

So, um, this is legit why I rather not share my feelings. Those feelings with catch fire and I would probably go rampant in a ridiculous and dramatic fashion. Then I end up doing or saying things I will regret sooner or later. Which has already happened today. Aha.

The boy however was persistent in having me spill out my inner demons, which he succeeded in. He has dubbed himself my "second diary". And has been constantly trying to cheer me up which I appreciate but I still can't help but feel guilty because he and my friend have more than just something and I feel like loser butting in.

So, ummmmmm.

My will to live has honestly dissipated. Sigh.

Yours truly, Alexa <33

[onederings]

Hormonal // 00001

Monday

June 5, 2017

Life’s good.

 I had my last mid-year paper today which was POA Paper 2 and to say that the paper was horrendous would be a complete understatement. It could definitely be compared to a goblin or perhaps a gremlin. However, I couldn’t stop thinking of how easy those papers could have been had I studied since the beginning of this year. Huge, fat regret there.

Speaking of regrets, I have been pondering into a particular regret I have kept to myself for months now. Only for these past few weeks has it started to bite me in the butt. Well, there was a boy and I think you get the gist of it. I guess my hormones are acting up.

 I’m not going to make known the whole story which has lead to this pang of heavy regret that I feel so strongly at the moment, I’ll save it for another entry when I’m ready (whenever that is). I kept finding myself wondering how things would have turned out if I had handled things more differently or reacted more differently than I did when certain situations had been presented to me.

Man, I ain’t gonna lie or sugarcoat things anymore, like, bOI IT SURE HAS BEEN A DANG TOUGH LIFE LATELY. I really sincerely wish that it’s just my PMS and that I’m going to find some blood stains in my panties sometime soon because if it’s not that then dear God, please be with me. I haven’t felt this type of shitty since year 8, I believe, which was back in 2015. Woah! I thought I was well over this “phase” but apparently not :////// 

I just have been feeling super shitty. Well I mean I feel shitty daily but this kinda shitty is like when you just feel like a sore and utter loser. Most days, I totally werkin’ that soreloser attitude with mega confidence. But it’s just kind of a façade I put up and usually it doesn’t bother me as much but lately, boi has it been taking a toll on me. Like, my walls are slowly being torn up and knocked down and I just feel so huhu.

For starters, I feel ugly. Like shit ugly, like nasty. I have so many good-looking friends and they don’t notice how good they look and I just feel so inferior to them. They’re all such pretty flowers blooming under God’s shining grace. I already had my blooming moment I think and I just feel super withery and drained. 

Furthermore (waw this sounds so proper), I feel dumb and stupid. Like, my friends are wayyyyyyyyyyyyy studious and driven than I am and are actually rewarded for their attitude towards school. And me? I know for a fact that I have done a superb job in mucking up my mid-year papers. No surprise there, haha. Yeah, I feel really dumb. Basically.

In addition (wow seems like im typing up a summary up in here woohoo u go girl), I feel like a hoe. Yes, you read that right. A hoe, a floozy, a flirt or whatever you wanna call it. I’m going to spare you the details as to how I ended up feeling like this but well, I  feel like a major disloyal dog as of late and it’s killing my ever so slowly from the inside. Like a parasite eating it’s way out of my body.

To condense all this into one emotion, adjective or whatnot is um basically shitty. I actually honestly would love to see a therapist because what makes this whole ordeal much more worse than it is, is the fact that i cannot cry at all. I have tried many ways to get myself to cry but to no avail. Like that saying ‘cry a river, build a bridge ad get over it’ would totally have been gr8! advice for me right now but my tear glands are uncooperative so, Imma have to suck it up and just live with it until my tear glands start working or I forget that I am held within the grasp of this torture.

On the bright side, it’s Abel’s birthday celebration tomorrow. It’s going to be at Jollibee so YAY MFKERS. And there’s a public holiday next week on Monday. YAYAYAYAYAY. And the school holidays too!!!!!!!Then there’s retreat which I have like mixed feelings for. Eh, idk. Like always.

I don’t know.

Yours truly,

Alexa <3

[onederings]

today sucked

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i hope in november you look cute and get good grades

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For everyone who keeps pets, stay safe

ATTENTION PET OWNERS

This post is going to rushed but I’m still shaking and it’s hard to type but I NEED people to know this

My mom just took my dog to the vet She(my dog) was(still is?) having a seizure

Last month we took my dog to the vet and they told us she had developed diabetes, they told us it was caused by the food she was eating, purina beneful. They told us that there have been many many many reports of Beneful has been causing diabetes, seizures, and even death in dogs.

We had no idea

We immediately switched her food and put her on a special diet plan for her diabetes, unfortunately the effects were already permeate.

Today at 11:20 my mom woke me up crying, I helped her carry my dog to the car (while she was still having a seizure) and watched her drive away red faced and still crying.

Please please PLEASE if you are feeding your pets Purina beneful PLEASE switch their food ASAP Beneful is poising dogs and I don’t want anyone else to experience what I just did Also if you could please help me signal boost this so everyone can know

[onederings]

GIFT FROM THE GODS

Properly managing your time is a skill that every successful student needs. In today’s post, I’ll be sharing ten of my most effective time management strategies. Let’s go!

1. DEVELOP THE RIGHT MINDSET

First things first, get rid of the “I just don’t have enough time” mindset. Managing your time starts with taking responsibility for conquering the challenges in your life instead of giving up and resigning yourself to accept less-than-ideal amounts of sleep and/or study. In the following activity, I’ll show you that there is absolutely a way to fit rigorous studying into a balanced schedule.

There are 168 hours in a week. Let’s see how that time might be spent:

40 hours at school (8 hours x 5 days) (**Post-high school students will likely only spend 12-18 hours in lectures every week!)

56 hours sleeping (8 hours x 7 days)

14 hours eating, bathing, etc (2 hours x 7 days)

21 hours socializing, extracurricular activities, etc (3 hours x 7 days)

5 hours commuting (30 minutes each way x 5 days) (**See Tip #10 to learn how you can make this time productive!)

3 hours exercising (30 minutes x 6 days)

Add all that time together and you get a maximum of 139 hours spent on all of the essential components of a healthy, balanced life– regular exercise, a full 8 hours of sleep per night, plenty of time for socialization and hobbies, and so on.

But that still leaves 29 hours of your week remaining, which is the equivalent of a part-time job! Nearly thirty hours a week is more than enough time to finish your homework and studying, guaranteed.

So recognize that there are indeed enough hours in the day to get everything done while maintaining your sanity! Developing this mindset will empower you to take control of the way you spend those remaining 29 hours. Make sure to check in with yourself often. Be mindful of how you’re spending your time, and regularly reevaluate to see if you’re on track to hit your goals.

2. PLAN THE NIGHT BEFORE

Each day, invest a few minutes in planning to save yourself hours in execution. While you don’t necessarily have to do this at night, I find that planning the next day right before I go to bed helps me to clear my mind, sleep better, and wake up with a purpose so I can hit the ground running in the morning. Pack your bag, set out tomorrow’s outfit and/or gym clothes, and make a few preparations for breakfast. Then, take a moment to assess the day you’ve just had. What went well? Where could you have made better use of your time? Were there any tasks you didn’t get to that have to be finished tomorrow? Using your mental reflection along with the rest of the tips in this post, create a schedule or a to-do list for the next day.

3. PRIORITIZE

Once you’ve made a list of everything you need/want to get done, sort them by priority to help you direct your focus towards the right tasks. For students with academic obligations, there are three main ways to prioritize tasks:

Urgency: Check the due dates for your assignments and prioritize those that are due the soonest. Study for tomorrow’s test before you practice for next week’s presentation.

Significance: Prioritize assignments that make up a higher percentage of your class grade. If your English homework is worth 5% of your grade but the essay is worth 50%, place a higher priority on the essay.

Potential consequences: Let’s say, for example, that you will most likely end up with a B in science– you have an 83% in the class, your test scores have been Bs throughout the year, and it’s unlikely you’ll score high enough on the final exam to end up with an A average. But maybe in history class, you’re hovering at the edge between a B and an A, and if you study hard for the final exam, chances are good that you can knock your class grade up to an A. In this case, any amount of effort spent on the science final will probably result in a B grade, whereas studying for the history final could put you up an entire letter grade. Therefore you should prioritize studying for your history final over studying for your science final.

4. GO STEADY

While you should knock out your prioritized tasks as soon as possible, also try to work on something that is important, but not urgent, every day. Start on an essay that’s not due for another month. Review your flashcards daily so you’re not scrambling to cram the night before the test. This also applies to activities outside of school; I, for example, make an effort to write a bit of a blog post daily in addition to completing my homework assignments.

Making steady progress on long-term projects will prevent you from getting stuck always rushing to finish urgent tasks (“putting out fires”).

5. BREAK IT UP

When writing your to-do list or creating a schedule (more on that later), break up your assignments and projects into small, actionable steps to make them more manageable. Avoid vague words such as study, work on, or practice when creating the actionable steps. Otherwise, you’ll drift aimlessly through your work with no clear guidelines as to what exactly you need to do or when to stop. Here are some examples of how you might break up your assignments:

study for trig test –> watch lecture on module 4.7, complete review problems 15-35, drill unit circle flashcards 2 times through

work on history research –> find 3 primary sources from library archives, annotate article 1, annotate article 2, annotate article 3, brainstorm possible thesis statements

practice French –> complete demonstratives lesson on Duolingo, drill Anki deck 3 times, write 10 orignal sentences using new vocab

6. EAT THAT FROG

This tip comes from author Brian Tracy, who was inspired by the following Mark Twain quote:

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

This means that you should work on your most dreaded task first, when your energy and motivation levels are highest. Your frog doesn’t necessarily have to be the hardest task, just the one you’re looking forward to the least.

Don’t sit there looking at the frog and cringing. Just eat it. Take action. If you can get the most horrible assignment out of the way first thing in the morning, the rest of your to-do list is downhill from there!

7. USE ENERGY-BASED TASK MANAGEMENT

On a similar note, it’s a good idea to plan your entire day around your energy levels, not just the frog. I call this technique energy-based task management, and it can be summarized in three simple steps:

Determine which time(s) of day you have the most energy. Are you a morning bird? A night owl? Do you hit a slump after lunch?

During your high-energy times, work on the difficult, thought-intensive tasks such as brainstorming, writing, annotating, and active studying.

During your low-energy times, take care of the menial things that have to get done but don’t require a lot of energy, attention, or skill. This includes tasks such as creating flashcards, cleaning the house, exercising, and running errands.

Energy-based task management helps you make the most out of your energy potential instead of wasting your peak productivity times on easy, mindless tasks.

Click here to read my full post on energy-based task management!

8. BOX YOUR TIME

If you’re someone who needs a bit more structure than a simple to-do list can provide, timeboxing may be exactly what you need! Timeboxing is simply allotting tasks to certain periods of time. I’d recommend using a digital task manager to do this (Plan is my tool of choice), but you can also use a table or spiraldex.

Here are some guidelines for using timeboxing to schedule your day:

Schedule your fixed times first. These are all of the events you’ve already committed to, such as appointments and rehearsals. It also includes the absolute essentials such as times for sleeping, eating, and taking breaks.

Use your priorities (Tip #3), frog (Tip #6), important-but-not-urgent task (Tip #4), and general planner/calendar to create a rough list of things you need/want to get done the next day.

Estimate how much time each task will take you. When starting out, you are likely to actually need more time for tasks than you estimated, so add some wiggle room to prevent throwing off your entire schedule. As your estimates become more accurate, try scheduling slightly less time than you think you need in order to challenge yourself to get things done more quickly.

Use energy-based task management (Tip #7) to place high- and low- energy tasks in their respective places on your schedule.

Batch tasks whenever possible. Group similar items together so you’re not constantly switching between unrelated things.

Schedule your downtime. Putting fun activities on your schedule will motivate you to stick with the plan and get your work done faster.

Timeboxing is such a big topic that I’ll most likely make an entirely separate post about how I timebox, so stay tuned for that!

9. LEARN TO SAY NO

However tempting it may be, don’t take on every opportunity that arises. Don’t let others pressure you into signing up to take all the hardest classes and joining a gazillion extracurriculars. Turn down parties and social obligations with people who are negative, draining, or simply incompatible with you. Reject activities that don’t bring you real happiness, such as TV, social media, or games on your phone. Watching your favorite show is a great way to unwind, but consider if your time spent scrolling half-heartedly through Instagram could be better spent hanging out with friends.

Know when to stop working. Particularly when it comes to organizing and other mindless tasks. Your supplies are never going to be 100% neat and your notes won’t be perfectly pretty. Let go of perfectionism. In my experience, the amount of studying required increases exponentially as your goal grade rises. While I always believe in working hard, the blunt truth is that at a certain point, straining yourself to get a certain score makes no difference. So don’t spend 10 hours studying to get a 100% if you can spend 5 hours to get a 95%. And learn to settle for “good enough.”

10. FILL THE GAPS

Look for little gaps of time throughout the day during which you can work on tiny tasks.

Take advantage of:

downtime at the end of class

breaks between classes

waiting in line/in a waiting room

workouts on a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, or similar

commute time (if you’re driving, please be careful to focus on the road!)

The above are great times to:

start doing homework

drill flashcards

brainstorm new goals or ideas

listen to recorded lectures

listen to an audiobook or podcast

check/edit a completed assignment

update your planner

mentally rehearse a presentation

read a bit of an easy text

You can also put some homework in a clipboard and carry it around, filling out a bit whenever you get the chance.

A few minutes here and there may not seem like much. But even doing a couple homework problems at the end of class will make it easier to finish the rest when you get home, since you’ve already started. Plus, since the time quickly adds up but seems short and spread out, you can get a lot of work done without feeling like you’ve done any.

That’s all for today! I’ve got lots more advice to share, but hopefully these ten tips will send you on your way to becoming a time-management ninja!

Thanks for reading! All of my reader interactions and personalized advice can be found on my Tumblr. If you have questions, feedback, or post requests, feel free to drop a Tumblr ask or contact me.

+Click here for the rest of my original reference posts!

—Sophia

[onederings]

For future reference 8)

Writing an essay without any structure is like trying to find your way around an unfamiliar place without a map; frustrating, ineffective, and a bit of a garbled mess. Structure gives your essay a clear voice and coherency and makes marking a lot easier for your teacher or tutor! Here are a few general tips I often use when writing essays to maximise the effect of my argument and achieve the best results I can both in high school and university.

Text structure While the content of essays varies, the skeleton structure never changes. In order to clearly articulate an idea, an essay needs a beginning, middle, and an end. 

Introduction

Start with a macro sentence - use an interesting quote, fact, or idea which gives the reader a broad sense of what your essay will cover. This is the reader’s first impression of your essay and can determine their whole attitude while reading it, so make it effective!

Briefly outline the main ideas and thesis - in absence of an abstract, your introduction will need to show the main ideas you will be covering so as to support your thesis, or answer the essay question. You will need to clearly express your position and how you intend to argue the point.

Set the limits - sometimes, the scope of an essay question can be very broad, or perhaps there’s a focus to your thesis not all ready indicated. Define the limits of your essay, whether they be a set of years for a history topic, or looking at specific artists who contributed to an art style.

Define key terms - if a term is important to the understanding of your essay, or perhaps you’ve taken your own approach to its meaning, be sure to define it in your introduction!

Body

Separate each idea into a paragraph - ideas can generally be separated chronologically or conceptually. The section below explores this in more detail! 

Start every paragraph with a topic sentence - introduce what the paragraph will discuss and how it relates to your thesis. Signpost it with critical words to make it easier to understand exactly what you are addressing. Ensure it is clear and to the point!

Make a claim and the support it - like in reality, when you make a claim you need to provide evidence to support it so it can be taken seriously. Make your claim early on in the paragraph, generally in the topic sentence, give relevant detail and explanation, analyse it, and then justify it with authoritative quotes, sources, examples, etc.

End every paragraph with a linking sentence - refer back to your thesis or question and make sure what you set out to cover in the paragraph actually addresses it! This is an opportunity to draw a link between this paragraph and the next.

Conclusion

Do more than just restate your points - your conclusion is more than just a rehash of your introduction. Link ideas together and demonstrate how they are interconnected on a less superficial level. An English teacher once told me, your essay is like a mountain. You put in all your hard work to climb it in your introduction and body paragraphs, your conclusion is a chance to look back, make connections where there were none before, and solidify your argument. 

Establish the overarching theme and idea - what idea underlies all the points you have made? How does it relate to your thesis?

Draw a profound and insightful conclusion - what are the implications of this? Is there relevance today? This can transform a standard essay into a more profound and overall, more interesting essay.

Don’t introduce any new information - your essay is complete! All your information should have been expressed in the body paragraphs, so nothing new should be introduced here.

Reaffirm your thesis - restate it with some finality! Your body has provided all this evidence to support it, remind them of this.

Chronological or Conceptual? For the most part, an essay can take one of two approaches; a chronological approach, where each body paragraph follows the text, history, etc., sequentially, or a conceptual approach, where the main idea is broken down into its constituent elements, each addressed in their own paragraph(s).

 In my experience, conceptual essays usually score higher, showing a greater sense of understanding of the topic and its inner workings. You can demonstrate a funnel effect more easily, where each element funnels down from its body paragraph to the conclusion, contributing to the overall idea of the essay. A chronological approach, however, can be easier to follow and is occasionally implicit within the essay question. Choosing which approach to use depends on which you are comfortable writing with, the demands of the essay or your teacher, and can vary from essay to essay. 

Continuity and Cohesion Something I think is highly underrated, yet critical to holding an essay together, is transition words and phrases. They create continuity and cohesion between ideas and paragraphs, and serve as a bridge of sorts within your overall structure. Here are a few posts which have comprehensive lists of transition words and phrases:

Transition Words for Essays - @staedtlers-and-stabilos Essay Transition Phrases - @study-like-you-mean-it Transition Words For Your Essays - @soniastudyblr

I hope this can help with structuring your essays and getting the best marks you can! Please message me if you have any questions :)

Other essay writing posts: How to reduce your word count Understanding the Question How to Write a Killer Unprepared Text Essay

[onederings]

I have to do this 😌

The Full Potential Challenge

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lived up to your full potential? Would your body be healthier? Your skin clearer? Bank account bigger? I think about these things all the time, and, judging my a previous post, you guys do to. Below is a chart designed to help all of us live up to our full potential. I’ve broken it down into time frames to help keep you from getting overwhelmed. Write the chart down and hang it someplace where you can see it all the time. I will be starting this challenge tomorrow, 9/8. I’ll check in with you guys every Sunday to track my progress. I have specific goals in mind for myself, and you guys should make some too! I really want to know how you guys are doing. Tag your progress posts with #sbfpc so I can track it and take a look. Let’s get to it!

EVERY MORNING

Stretch. First thing. Really give your body enough time to wake up. Touch your toes. Roll out your shoulders. Do not hit snooze!

Do your full skincare routine. I have mine detailed here, but do whatever works for you and your complexion. Be gentle and consistent. 

Brush your teeth and floss. I used to be a big floss-skipper too, but you’d be amazed at how dig of a difference it makes. Rinse with a whitening mouthwash. I use one by Crest, and I notice a major difference in my teeth’s overall whiteness in just a few days.

Give yourself enough time to get ready. Whether you’re a wash-and-go kind of girl, or someone who spends an hour doing a full contouring routine before class (and either one is fine!), make sure you aren’t rushing. If you need to wake up a few minutes earlier than normal, so be it. Rushing sets an awful, stressed-out tone for the rest of the day. Allow yourself to be relaxed before taking on the day.

Eat something. I’m not going to say eat a big breakfast, because some people (myself included) just can’t eat in the morning. But you should eat, or at least bring a little something with you to work or school. If you can’t eat a full breakfast, grab a fruit! You won’t be as hungry come lunch time, making you less likely to gorge yourself.

Shower. You can do this at night, in the morning, whatever. Again, this is something you should allow some time for. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I do condition it every day (from the ears down). Scrub yourself with a delicious-smelling body wash. If you shave, make yourself as smooth as a dolphin, dude. If you don’t, then don’t and don’t ever ever ever let anyone make you feel bad or weird about it. When you get out of the shower, wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and totally slather your sexy self with lotion. Top to bottom. Do it as soon as you can post-shower so it can really sink in. 

Put leave-in condition throughout your damp hair and comb it through.

Put on an outfit that makes you feel good! So important!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Take a look at your daily to-do list. Knock out the most pressing stuff first. Take pride when you cross things off your list.

Make your bed! Oh my god, make your bed. Do it. Do it. Do it. 

EVERY AFTERNOON 

Follow the “touch it once” approach. This is a truly life-changing thing. When a task is in front of you, no matter how big or small, just do it right then and there. How many times have you gotten a work email or homework assignment and thought, “Eh, I’ll do it later”? And then later never comes? Once something pops up, do it once. Squash it and be done. Cross things off your list and feel like a badass.

Try to go for a walk at lunch. Even one little lap around the block or campus will reenergize you like nobody’s business. 

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Be present. This is so hard for me too, but you have to make a major effort to be present in whatever you’re doing. Be engaged and plugged-in and just exist in the moment. Give 100 percent.

Be friendly to friends and strangers. A smile goes a long way.

Eat something. Eat what you packed for lunch (see below) and take a break from working while you do it. You need “you time”!

EVERY EVENING

Take your makeup off as soon as you’re in for the night. Wash your face with your full routine and let your skin have a break. 

Workout. You can also do this in the morning. Whatever works for you. Make a great playlist and go hard af. Get your cardio in. Get your strength training in. Earn every freaking sweat bead forming on your forehead. Earn your shower!

Knock out your homework. Life is infinitely better you don’t have anything hanging over your head. Half the time, the energy and emotion you spent dreading/putting off your work is ten times worse than the work itself.

Make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. It’ll set you up for success the next day, and you won’t forget anything!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This will save you SO MUCH TIME in the morning omg I can’t even tell you how important this is.

Eat something great. And once you’ve decided to be done eating for the night, be done. Brush your teeth so you can’t eat again.

After brushing, do a whitening treatment. Whether it’s classic baking soda, a Crest white strip, or a laser. Do something. And floss! Retainers in too, ladies 0:)

Relax! Take a few hours to do what YOU want to do. Scroll through Tumblr, binge on some Netflix, FaceTime gossip with your friends, anything. Do whatever makes you happiest. 

Shut the electronics off an hour before you want to go to bed. Put your phone on sleep mode. If you stare at the screen, it will keep you awake and alert and you won’t be able to fall asleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for weightless and general happiness lol

Do a quick sweep of your room and see if there’s anything you can put away real quick. A clean space is a happy space.

Crawl into your bed (aren’t you happy you took the time to make it?!) and read a book by lamplight for a while. When you start to feel sleepy, go to sleep. Don’t push it. You kicked ass today and you deserve rest. 

EVERY WEEKEND

Do something with your friends. It just has to be one thing. Even if you’re just hanging out at the coffee shop, spending time with your squad will make you a better, happier person.

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Do something just for you. Set your laptop up in the bathroom and watch a Netflix marathon while you take a bubble bath. Buy an old school bottle of Mr. Bubbles ($3 at Target!) and really just soak. Relax. Light a candle.

Do something creative. You can read a book, write, blog, draw, code, anything. It just has to be something that speaks to your passion.

Track your progress. Just do this once a week so it doesn’t become all-consuming. And remember that non-scale victories are just as important as shedding pounds.

Take the time to be grateful. Tell your friend how much you admire her taste in music. Mention to your mom how much you love her cooking and how happy you are that she takes care of you. Thank your teaching after an especially interesting lecture. When you do something awesome, take a moment to admire yourself. Be grateful for even the little things.

Anything I missed? Reblog + add yours! Don’t forget to tag your progress!