#studybreak

[yang-jin-seo]

Day 55 👭

2023.8.14

*친구 만나기

[and-sunshine]

4/01/23 • 100 days of productivity - 45/100

i am finally in my academic comeback era.

[srtvictoriaaldiaries]

this is a guide on how to get off to a good start at school or university.

First of all, cause a good look.

to do this, wear clothes that fit your style, do your makeup (no need to be exaggerated, the basics work), style your hair, be kind to people so that they will be like that to you.

communication and observation. in the first few weeks, observe people and teachers, analyze your environment, the people around you. But of course, be sure to talk to them. the friendship and communication you will make will be important for the rest of the years you will spend in this place (school or uni). help a colleague who has difficulty in a certain subject, or help a teacher, talk to him in his free time, do extracurricular activities, projects and more... get involved.

Be focus. staying focused during the school or university period is important. paying attention in class, studying a little of the content for at least 5 days a week will be much better than always studying at the last minute. keep your study routine, get some rest, have a coffee and stay focused. everything will be fine in the end if you prepare in advance, whether it's for an exam or a seminar. take advantage of the learning moments and write down what is important to you during the lessons.

balance. You can burn out at times and get tired, but being balanced is valid for these moments. make sure you are well rested, take time for yourself, for self care, for family and friends, be kind to yourself, go for a walk, listen to music you like, be with people you love , enjoy good food and above all live well.

that's all guys, hope everything works out for you, happy new year! see you in the next post.

[liam-notthepayneguy]

me: lemme just take a study break real quick

me, 6 hours later after doing the laundry, eating with my family, sleeping for 2 hours, having a pinterest tour, eating again, creating random instagram profiles, and chilling on tumblr for an hour straight: well, lets get back to work!

[digitalsobrietyblog]

100 days of work/study productivity

1/100 | 06/11/2022

As a new studyblr (and a long-time lurker), I’ve decided to hop on the 100 days of work/study productivity trend. I don’t know if I’ll be blogging every day due to time constraints, but I’ll definitely post an update here and there!!

I’ve been writing a usability report for my university’s Learning Management System (LMS) all day. It’s a pretty interesting topic to research and study, although the writing a report part is kind of a drag haha. Thankfully nothing hypes me up more than a rock playlist!

[harvardfineartslib]

Do you need a study break? We have art puzzles and games to get your mind off your work. They are available for you to check out, so you can play at home too. Last week, a student completed this colorful Alma Thomas puzzle in our reading room. Check it out!

[studycupoftea]

30. Aug. 2022.

[pursuitofknwl]

10.30.22

suddenly saw this pages again. it was when i went and ate with my blockmates in McDo. kinda memorable to me, 'cause interacting with others has always been a struggle of mine.

[xleyax]

I‘m currently taking a break from my term paper in order to finish my portfolio. I‘ts a tough decision which works to include and how to print them. Clearing my head at the gym at night always helps me to sleep better and to start the next day feeling energized. I love how little people are on the streets at night :)

[apc4ever]

Study Break

[yang-jin-seo]

Day 112 🦄

2023.6.21

📑: 국어의미론 기말고사 D-day

👩‍🏫: 대청교 20번째 근무

드.디.어. 종강이다..! 광란의 PARTY🤸‍♀️

[and-sunshine]

12/12/22 • 100 days of productivity - 32/100

• in all honesty, i have slightly refrained from posting as i just feel like my photos are not ‘aesthetic’ enough? i know it sounds so pathetic and completely deviates from the actual purpose of the challenge but today i decided to ignore that voice in my head. i studied for 6 hours today, yet i still have so much to do - crazy.

[unstablenoodle]

[study-and-be-gay]

Hi folks!

A rare post from summer holiday me, as I did a little bit of reading today to start prepping for my uni course. I'm obviously taking a big break from proper studying, but since I love the subject I'm going on to do I don't mind doing a bit of reading and research so I'm fully prepared for the start of my course.

Trying to keep up with current events is proving a task in itself though haha, I know I'll definitely sleep easier knowing a certain someone isn't long for number 10.

Best wishes to everyone finishing off the school year <3

Date: 8/7/22

[digitalsobrietyblog]

Productivity: Embrace "Good enough"

~~ 8/11/2022 ~~

Warning: Long post ahead; TLDR is that you should settle on a single system that doesn't take too much time or effort to keep up, and then just stick with it even if it's not perfect. The goal is to do quality work, not optimize an arbitrary system.

~~

What I'm going to talk about in this blog might seem obvious to some of you, but I've personally struggled with it as someone who grew up with technology and generally has a huge love and appreciation for it. This is for my fellow tech nerds that have found themselves struggling with productivity and procrastination in the search for "the perfect productivity system".

First, a little bit of context: I've always considered myself a nerd, I love reading and learning new things like most people here. I also always loved notetaking and studying, which led me to the "study tips" circles of YouTube years ago. As I grew up and my responsibilities expanded beyond what was required of me in school and university, I naturally wandered into the "productivity gurus" sphere thanks to the all-mighty power of the YouTube recommendations algorithm. I fell down the rabbit-hole of trying to find the perfect productivity tool to manage all my tasks. I've tried so many apps and software - Asana, Trello, Figma, Todoist, TickTick, TeuxDeux, Google Keep and Calendar, and so much more. I've done time-blocking, pomodoro and bullet journaling. I went through so many daily, weekly, monthly and yearly calendars. I've done both digital and analog calendars and planners. I've done it all. Nothing worked, and nothing stuck for more than a week. Ultimately, nothing changed, except I wasted a whole load of time.

Now, that isn't to say that you might not be successful in your search, and I don't want to discourage you from trying to improve your productivity system. BUT, I want to remind you that you should be realistic in your search, and to keep your end goal in mind - doing great work. It took me many years and a lot of wasted time to learn this lesson, because it's way too tempting to assume that you're only one tip away from completely transforming your productivity. It's not my fault, and neither is it yours if you feel this way - it's the fault of advertisers and savvy marketers whose goal is to make their latest and shiniest new productivity app popular.

So, remember: no tool or system is going to transform your productivity. That part is on you. What will produce results is setting up a system that isn't in your way. What does that mean?

It means you should craft a system that won't take too much brainpower or input to work. To achieve this, the system needs to be based on your average day. It naturally follows that you shouldn't blindly copy what others are doing (although getting ideas is fun and can be helpful), because they've optimized for their own specific needs.

I'll give you a few examples from my personal journey of uncovering the system that worked for me:

Project management apps like Asana weren't a good fit for me because they required way too much thinking and planning on my end. I'd also always need to stop what I'm doing to look up what I'm working on and what still needs to be done

To-Do apps like Todoist encouraged me to write down tasks after completing them just to get the dopamine hit of checking things off a list

I struggled with focusing with most digital tools because of the distractions and the inherent restrictions (either too many or too little functionality)

Preparing a bullet journal took too much of my time and just didn't feel right for me

As you can see, I was being very picky. I eventually got lost in trying to find the "perfect" system. I'd get bothered by any little inconvenience and I'd figure that I should continue my search. Meanwhile, my assignments kept piling up.

How did I fix it?

I'm a big fan of Cal Newport's books, and I was listening to his podcast one day. He was answering a viewer's question on productivity and why he doesn't use a To-Do app to manage his tasks, because writing things down in a paper planner takes longer. He responded with "I'm not in the business of saving those extra few seconds. I want to do quality work over a long period of time." I'm paraphrasing here (wish I remembered which podcast episode it was so I could link it), but those words finally made something click in my mind.

I went to my local book store and immediately bought a weekly paper calendar. I decided there and then that that, along with a blue and black pen, would be my productivity system from now on. Blue is for writing work tasks, black is for personal tasks. Here's how it looks:

Not exactly what I'd call the "cutting edge of technology" haha. P.S. I can't show the filled-in pages because they're full of work stuff that's under an NDA, sorry!

This purchase was made on July 17th, 2022. Today is November 8th, 2022. This has been the most consistent productivity system I've ever had. I kept wondering why it worked so well, and here's what I think:

It's simple. It doesn't get any simpler than a pen and paper. No learning curve. Just write words and cross them out.

It's not a distraction. Planning with iPads is so fun. So, so fun. It's pleasant and it makes you feel important. But it's so easy to get distracted doing it because you're always one swipe away from the good stuff of your device. Separate paper planner does one thing. You're not going to be browsing through your old to-do lists and work tasks for fun (take a walk if you're that desperate!!!). It's boring and that's what makes it awesome.

It's flexible. I bought an A5 size planner because I found that to be the perfect size for me. I have enough space to write out a couple of tasks per day without it feeling overwhelming. Plus, paper planners are great because you can scribble, add, stick, snap, rip etc. etc. If there's something I need to jot down quickly, I'll grab a sticky note and pop it onto the current day/week page. You can't do that with an iPad (imagine sticking a physical sticky note on your iPad and walking around with it haha). There are digital sticky notes within planning apps but they always take way too much time to set up, which defeats the whole purpose of quick-access sticky notes.

It's reliable. When I was buying the planner, I immediately envisioned that it'd be placed in the top-right corner of my desk, open and always ready for notes. I don't have to run around the house trying to find it. It's always there.

It feels good. Nothing beats grabbing a real pen and watching the shiny ink dry under the desk light. Crossing tasks off my physical list feels like I earned it. There's something special and satisfying about how every cross-off/tick is unique: sometimes the line gets a little wavy, sometimes you're in a hurry, and sometimes it's absolutely perfect. You can't replicate that personality in a digital app that does the same animation every time you complete a task.

It's good enough. It's reliable and lets me remember what I need to do. I don't need all the bells and whistles. It works for >80% of my requirements, and makes me complete tasks. What else do I really need?

All in all, I love this planner with a passion. It's great, and it's amazingness partially comes from the fact that I'm not taking it too seriously. If I mess something up, I won't freak out. My OCD is being kept in check. I'm chilling.

I used this calendar for months, until one day I decided to start going out more. I started looking up local events on a bunch of websites, and I started signing up for them. I realized that my little paper planner would not be the ideal choice for signing up and keeping track of events that I've signed up for digitally. So, I decided to hit up my old buddy Structured (www.structured.app, not affiliated, just love the product).

I bought it a year ago or so for a flat fee of 5 euros, and I loved it because it offered something I'd always looked for in a planning app - to do lists incorporated into a calendar, but structured like a time-blocking system (quite a demand, I know). Plus, I'd already bought it, so why not use it? Here is how a day schedule looks in the app:

I synced it with my iOS calendar and iCloud so that I can also see the schedule on my iPad. It's a simple app that just works. I either just add a new event manually in a few clicks or it syncs automatically via my iCal.

I value work-life balance a lot, so I've decided to create a boundary between my day-job task planning and my personal life planning. That way, when I close my physical planner, I know work is done. I don't look at my Structured app during work, it's just set as a huge block of time called "Work" and I don't plan for anything else during that. Once the workday ends, I close the planner and start looking at my Structured app to see what's happening and I what I want to do for the rest of the day.

This is a system that works for me, and I hope it inspires you to think about your values, your life circumstances, and what feels the best for you. Sometimes introducing a new tool works. Sometimes it doesn't. The key is to choose something that does the job (helping you plan and complete high quality work), and stick with it. Don't actively try to find faults in the system.

Embrace "good enough" and you'll find peace.

[caught-in-a-dusty-web-of-secrecy]

hello again loves!! <3

i didnt really end up doing much at all today, because, because of the blood tests i had and the heat, i was feeling really lightheaded so i decided to just take a break. i'm going to go to the library tomorrow, so i'm thinking i'll be able to do todays work then, as well as at least part of what would have been tomorrow's work.

i did watch a few documentaries; one on medieval torture methods, one on the story of medusa in greece compared to rome, one on the development of architecture and one on vikings. i also rewatched that last few episodes of wednesday, and worked on a couple of my wips for a while. i might end up writing a snippet later today, i might not, who knows (not me).