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gentle reminder for when you feel demotivated

there’s nothing wrong with feeling demotivated, so please don’t punish yourself for that – everyone, even the most successful people in the world, can fall into a slump

you can do it

i believe in you

it’s not going to be as bad as you think

don’t place too high expectations on yourself, especially when you’re feeling low

set small and specific goals – little steps are always important

print out or write down what you need to do and put that note where you know you’re going to see it

set yourself a specific time for when you’re going to start working on something, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself if you’re unable to

see what others are doing and achieving, and use that as motivation instead of comparing yourself to them and putting yourself down

call for help from others to cheer you on when you can’t do it on your own

counter your negative thoughts with positive ones

think about the benefits of doing the task, instead of the difficulties it will take to get there

take deep breaths and take a step back when things become too overwhelming or the stress takes over (here’s a written breathing exercise, or a gif you can breathe along with)

take breaks, don’t overload yourself

if you think that your schedule is becoming more and more of the same thing every single day, that can heavily impact your motivation - so try your best to try something new, or even just do something that you would usually do in a different way, or with a different outlook; it doesn’t matter if the change you make is big or small, because every attempt goes towards progress

when you’ve completed what you needed to, or even just worked at it a little bit, make sure to congratulate yourself, because you’re trying and i’m so proud of you for that

try your best, because your best is good enough

you got this

[w-xll-studies]

i wish people would stop romanticizing not eating breakfast and not getting enough sleep and being dependent on coffee to function and always being in a bad mood and treating yourself poorly because that behavior is very unhealthy for you

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a busy sunday getting notes ready for the week ahead, finishing the messy tasks in my bujo, and editing an essay that’s due tomorrow

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went to bed at 8:30 pm last night (????) and woke up at 5 am (again, ????) and now it’s 11, i’ve written 25 pages and, although most of it is absolute garbage, i’m feeling content.

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i’ve been really productive the past few months, which is actually quite rare for me bc i’m a slave to procrastination i get burnt out v easily. this time was a little different, i managed to keep my productivity levels really high for a whole 2 months all the way until exams ended, studying every single day without fail, around 10 hours a day, when i used to only do an average of 3 or 4. so here’s what worked for me and what didn’t!

what works: schedule your day

what happens when ur a virgo studyblr? u plan. i would write out everything i needed to accomplish for the day, the night before, and be really specific about it. i would then plug in the timings, this works for me, but u can choose to put the time in first and plan what u want to do around the time. 

a structured time plan pressures me and i end up getting everything done, especially when i set an alarm on my phone for all the timings!

what does not: cramming a lot of hours into a day

12+ hour work days are ideal, especially when u watch all the ‘study with me: 14 hour work day!’ youtube videos, but they are just tedious and unreasonable. 

let’s face it, even if u do complete one or two long study days, ur just gonna get bored and tired and have no mood to continuing this for a week or more. slow and steady wins the race!

what works: tweaking the pomodoro technique

i hate the pomodoro method. at the 25 minute mark, i’m normally on a roll and super focused on the task; and the 5 minute breaks were too short for me to actually take a break. 

that’s why i tweaked it to 45-minute study sessions with 10-minute breaks, and after 3 study sessions, a 30-minute break. longer study sessions meant i get a break when i really start to get restless, and longer breaks gave me more time to recharge. i suggest tweaking this to match what works for you.

what does not work; doing too many / too little subjects a day

1. u don’t want to cram all the same topics and subjects into one day. ultimately, it’s a choice of spending 8 hours solely on a subject / topic and not touching it for the next few days / weeks, OR doing just 2 or 3 hours of one subject / topic each day over a few days / week

2. just thinking about doing only one subject for a whole day already tires me out. i have tried it, but normally i get so sick and tired of it that after a few hours, i can’t bring myself to focus on it any longer. on the contrary, if i keep switching between subjects, i get super confused because i have to remember too much of very different info. 

what works: leaving the last portion of your day ambiguous 

i like to start and end my days early. but in the process, i found a benefit of ending them early: i end up w a chunk of time at the end where there are two scenarios:

i’m super motivated and want to continue studying

i’m rly tired and cannot bring myself to continue bc i need a break !1!!

surprisingly, option 1 does happen a lot. and i think this is a rly good work-life balance. u don’t get burnt out easily, but from time to time, u get a bonus extra few hours of work done! 

what does not work: forgoing sleep

sleep is so important omg. 3 hours of studying while sleepy = 1 hour of studying when ur refreshed and ur brain’s working. a tired mind is a slow mind, and an awake mind is a fast mind!

do not worry about that rly hard chapter that u must understand and complete! ur mind continue to works even when ur sleeping, i assume bc it’s rewiring and sorting through new information. after waking up, i find myself being able to better remember and understand information that i struggled on the night before!

what works: finding out ur energy levels and use it to ur advantage

some people work best at 6am and can’t focus after 9pm, some people can’t focus before 11am and work best at midnight. take note of and chart ur energy levels throughout the day for about a week or so, are u particularly refreshed in the morning? do u feel urself always dozing off at 4? are u the most productive at night? 

work ur body clock out and work around it! every body functions differently! like in the last point, 3 hours of studying at ur worst energy levels = 1 hour of studying at ur peak energy level! forcing urself to work when ur body refuses to do so will only lead to procrastination. 

i sincerely hope these few tips can help u out w being productive! what are some of the things u do to get shit done? 

[w-xll-studies]

New Video! Check out my exam season vlog, I have one more that will be uploaded. Exam season has been a little kinder to me, but well... not ideal, I talk about it all in this vlog and the upcoming one. 💖

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ig: slow_ri

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15/02/2020

five exams down, one left to go next week (also studying in bed is great at least for me because I can't study at my desk anymore)

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Psych revision! I did a unit about psychology for sustainability this trimester and it was so so interesting!!

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1/100 Days of Productivity, 14.02.20 officially starting with my thesis on virtual reality, conceptions of seeing & immersion through wearables i.e. google glass. what a way to spend valentines day. let’s do this.

[pistachio-colered sweater made by mum 🌹]

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Spent half of the morning making flashcards for my clinical psychology exam (which is in July), I can‘t bother studying for my sociology exam yet, but I can‘t stand not being productive, so I‘m studying for clinical psychology instead :D I hope I can force myself to look at my sociology notes though.. I‘m going to watch Call me by your name tonight and I‘m really excited!

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let me be tired

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let’s treat ourselves more gently. let’s go to bed early. let’s rest when we need to. let’s live life in a way that doesn’t make you feel burnt out after a few weeks. i want us to have fun, to enjoy everyday life, to be present and not to always push ourselves to the last limit. challenge yourself but also treat yourself with love. okay?

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I don't know what student needs to hear this right now but there is no superiority in being constantly stressed out. if you find yourself competing with classmates to see who has the most work or studying to do or who got the least amount of sleep last night, please, please stop. I promise you it's so much better for your long term health to not engage in those kinds of toxic interactions. get enough sleep, eat enough food, and stay away from people who derive their self worth from how much work they have to do