Do Ya Future Self A Favor And Work Hard Now

Turning your life around? Coming out of a funk? Getting over a breakup? Need to reignite your spark for life? Need to feel in control? Want a boost of confidence? Dealing with low self esteem?

Where to start:

Exercise every day

Skincare + makeup of personal preference (yes this includes not wearing makeup at all if that is your personal preference)

Hair done

Showered and moisturized

At least one hobby you engage with on a daily/frequent basis

At least one skill you are developing on a daily/frequent basis

If you haven’t gotten a 7 day workout streak and completed the other bullet points on this list yet, stop moaning, get to work, and kill your distractions.

This is level 0.

how to get motivated when you just want to sit on your bed and eat popcorn (aka me yesterday)

I’m going to be splitting this post into 3 categories

1) general motivation “tips”

2) how to be motivated for school stuff

3) motivation for other tasks

———————————————————————

1) General motivation tips

• if you can do it In 5 minutes or less do it NOW

If won’t take long to do get it done then go back do doing what you were doing, “losing” 5 minutes of electronic time is better than never finishing what you need to do. Ex: I can clean off my desk in less than 5 minutes so I’ll do it now instead of waiting

• the hardest part is getting up

I know if you don’t have any motivation getting out of bed is the hardest thing and you’ll need some help with that so if you get on your phone as soon as you wake up put it somewhere where you have to get up to get it then don’t go back to your bed until you finish one thing you didn’t do yesterday

• I know it’s hard to find motivation but as soon as you do one small task you’ll want to do a bigger task then before you know it your to do list will be all marked off

2) motivation for school

Doing school stuff after school isn’t the most fun thing since you’ve been there most of the day and you just want to relax when you get home

• study/homework as soon as you get home or right before bed.

If you want to get homework out of the way do it as soon as you get home then you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want, if you need some time to have a break right after school do what you need to do then save a few hours before you go to bed and do homework then (bonus: if you’re doing homework before bed and not using your phone you are increasing your ability to sleep)

• no distractions

I know this all too well and get distracted super easily especially when I’m trying to do school work, to solve this I turn my phone all the way off and put it in a different room, this helps because I can’t just reach over and get distracted by notifications or endless scrolling. Whatever you get distracted by remove it

• keep everything you need on your desk

If you know you need a ruler for your homework get one before you start and put it on your desk so you don’t have to get up and get it, keep a water bottle and a small snack on your desk so you don’t have to get up and get distracted getting it, if you know you need Lip balm, hand sanitizer, gum, ect. Keep that at your desk too.

• find the best study method for you

If you’re struggling with one study method try a different one, find a method that works for you so you want to study

• summarize notes into short “essays”

If you missed a day of notes get them from a friend and summarize the main points into small paragraphs so when you need to study but don’t want to you can read the paragraphs (a little something is better than nothing)

3) motivation for other things

• find inspiration

I do this a lot and I think it really helps. When I’m going to clean my room and I’m not in the mood I’ll give myself a few minutes to get on Pinterest and go through my future bedroom board to get motivated then I’ll clean

• start small

Do something small first then work your way up to bigger things

• 2 minute tasks

If you have no motivation force yourself to do something for 2 minutes, if you still don’t want to do it after 2 minutes get up and do something else but once you start for those 2 minutes you are more likely to keep going

— I’m probably not the best person to get motivation tips from but I hoped these helped even just a little, this is my first time doing something like this so feedback would be greatly appreciated <3

How to Study Like a Harvard Student

Taken from Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of the Tiger Mother

Preliminary Steps 1. Choose classes that interest you. That way studying doesn’t feel like slave labor. If you don’t want to learn, then I can’t help you. 2. Make some friends. See steps 12, 13, 23, 24. General Principles 3. Study less, but study better. 4. Avoid Autopilot Brain at all costs. 5. Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time. 6. Write it down. 7. Suck it up, buckle down, get it done. Plan of Attack Phase I: Class 8. Show up. Everything will make a lot more sense that way, and you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run. 9. Take notes by hand. I don’t know the science behind it, but doing anything by hand is a way of carving it into your memory. Also, if you get bored you will doodle, which is still a thousand times better than ending up on stumbleupon or something. Phase II: Study Time 10. Get out of the library. The sheer fact of being in a library doesn’t fill you with knowledge. Eight hours of Facebooking in the library is still eight hours of Facebooking. Also, people who bring food and blankets to the library and just stay there during finals week start to smell weird. Go home and bathe. You can quiz yourself while you wash your hair. 11. Do a little every day, but don’t let it be your whole day. “This afternoon, I will read a chapter of something and do half a problem set. Then, I will watch an episode of South Park and go to the gym” ALWAYS BEATS “Starting right now, I am going to read as much as I possibly can…oh wow, now it’s midnight, I’m on page five, and my room reeks of ramen and dysfunction.” 12. Give yourself incentive. There’s nothing worse than a gaping abyss of study time. If you know you’re going out in six hours, you’re more likely to get something done. 13. Allow friends to confiscate your phone when they catch you playing Angry Birds. Oh and if you think you need a break, you probably don’t. Phase III: Assignments 14. Stop highlighting. Underlining is supposed to keep you focused, but it’s actually a one-way ticket to Autopilot Brain. You zone out, look down, and suddenly you have five pages of neon green that you don’t remember reading. Write notes in the margins instead. 15. Do all your own work. You get nothing out of copying a problem set. It’s also shady. 16. Read as much as you can. No way around it. Stop trying to cheat with Sparknotes. 17. Be a smart reader, not a robot (lol). Ask yourself: What is the author trying to prove? What is the logical progression of the argument? You can usually answer these questions by reading the introduction and conclusion of every chapter. Then, pick any two examples/anecdotes and commit them to memory (write them down). They will help you reconstruct the author’s argument later on. 18. Don’t read everything, but understand everything that you read. Better to have a deep understanding of a limited amount of material, than to have a vague understanding of an entire course. Once again: Vague is bad. Vague is a waste of your time. 19. Bullet points. For essays, summarizing, everything. Phase IV: Reading Period (Review Week) 20. Once again: do not move into the library. Eat, sleep, and bathe. 21. If you don’t understand it, it will definitely be on the exam. Solution: textbooks; the internet. 22. Do all the practice problems. This one is totally tiger mom. 23. People are often contemptuous of rote learning. Newsflash: even at great intellectual bastions like Harvard, you will be required to memorize formulas, names and dates. To memorize effectively: stop reading your list over and over again. It doesn’t work. Say it out loud, write it down. Remember how you made friends? Have them quiz you, then return the favor. 24. Again with the friends: ask them to listen while you explain a difficult concept to them. This forces you to articulate your understanding. Remember, vague is bad. 25. Go for the big picture. Try to figure out where a specific concept fits into the course as a whole. This will help you tap into Big Themes – every class has Big Themes – which will streamline what you need to know. You can learn a million facts, but until you understand how they fit together, you’re missing the point. Phase V: Exam Day 26. Crush exam. Get A.

The difference between love and lust is a simple one: lust makes you want to sleep with someone; love makes you want to wake up with them.

Here’s some weapons for your essay writing arsenal!

Hemingway Editor Calmly Writer  The Most Dangerous Writing App Purdue O.W.L. One Look Thesaurus JSTOR Google Scholar

Reply with your favourite or other great websites I didn’t include!

Well. Here’s a big’un. I finally had time to work on printables so I decided to make a new version of the exam pack printable. Hopefully this helps with exam season.

Includes:

IFTTT - Write down rewards for accomplishing important tasks! Motivate yourself!

Exam Schedule - Keep track of all the deets for up to 18 exams! (dear lord, I hope you never have to suffer such a fate…but in case you do, I added a couple rows, just for you). Check off your exams as you take them.

Monthly Calendar - Keep track of important exam dates. Plan up to 6 months in advance, like the extremely prepared student you are/aspire to be. Comes w/ legend if you like color coding ‘n stuff . :D

Major Topics - Keep track of topics covered on your exam(s).

Scoreboard + Graph - Keep track of your exam scores as you take your exams. Visualize your progress. There are enough graphs to record exam scores in 6 subjects.

D-Day Calendar - Figure out your study schedule in the context of how many days you have left until your exam. Each page has 36 days.

Weekly Calendar - Keep on top of your study schedule; you can plan out your days or just write about your study plan for the week. Also serves as daily planner.

Self-Evaluation - See how you did on certain topics on an exam. Helpful when you’re reviewing past exams or mock exam results.

Click HERE to download the printable (PDF).

For suggestions on how to use the printable, click HERE.

Good luck on your studies, everyone!!

Postscript: Unfortunately, this printable isn’t available for editing. Because of this, I’m opening up my ask box for feedback regarding some small edits you might like me to make on this printable. This means that at a later date, I will aggregate your feedback and try to make an even newer (possibly better) version of this printable! So all’s well that ends well.

The Really Big Studying Masterpost

I couldn’t get it together enough to do a graphic or anything, so here goes. Sorry this is massively long but hopefully it will be helpful!

Studying

Review season printables

The lazy kid’s guide to study guides

Studying tips for university

Non-cutesy study tips

How I make my study guides

My study process

How I study for science

Effective study routine for intense classes

How to “study”

50 things to do between your study sessions

Studying: how tos, advice, & tips

Learning styles and study tips

Motivation + tests/studying

My study tips tag

This has some stuff on exams

My exam tag

The pomodoro method

“How can I focus/study effectively?”

Get started studying

General exam/studying tips

Learning styles and study tips

Memorization

Using a mind palace

Memorization

Improving memory

Studying with a terrible memory

Memory tips

Last minute studying

Emergency study plan

More on late studying JIC

3 day study plan

Finals/exams

Oh-crap-finals-are-so-close masterpost

Last minute tips for finals

Ways to reset your mind

Examinations: reminders

The ultimate guide to final exams

Tips to focus on studying (finals)

Exam prep tips

I ran out of time (on a test)

How to remember everything for a test

Exams masterpost

What to do the night before an exam

What to do the night before an exam (2)

Standardized testing

Standardized testing

The imperfect guide on AP classes

Free SAT & AP prep

AP review set printables

Free standardized test prep

AP study resources

AP testing tips and tricks

AP cram packets

#1 tip for AP classes

SAT masterpost

The new SAT

Focus and productivity

Distraction-free studying

Do’s and don’ts of a good study environment

15 things productive people do differently

Concentration masterpost

How to concentrate

Studying 101: how to stay focused, motivated, and on track

How to stay focused

How to deal with being lazy in school

Study tips for the lazy student (1)

Study tips for the lazy student (2)

Being sick, focusing and studying effectively, & maintaining physical and mental health

A day of studying: tips

Productivity with a planner

Summer productivity

Waking up early and refreshed

Holiday productivity

Summer studying

My productivity tag

Burnout / motivation / procrastination

Doing homework when you’re sick

Studying with a lack of motivation

Burnout 101

How to start working when you really don’t feel like it

Got motivation?

General motivation

How to study when you don’t want to

Procrastination

Procrastination advice

Motivation

Motivation advice

Resource for procrastination

A very long list to help you survive school

How to stop procrastinating

24 tips to overcome procrastination

motivation.mp3

Ways to avoid burnout

Motivation (2)

How to self-motivate

My motivation tag

Mental health

Stress relief

Don’t let it ruin your education

Studying with depression

How to find peace as a student

Living and studying with anxiety

How to study with a mental illness

Depression/mental health resources

Managing stress for the overtaxed student

How to be less prickly when stressed

What to do when you don’t get the grades you want

What to do on a bad day

Why it’s okay to fail & how to deal with failure

Dealing with failure

I got a bad grade, now what?

What to do when you get a bad grade

Feel better

How to find peace as a student

How to love yourself

Calming and fun websites

Anxiety and negativity

A beginner’s guide to meditation

Taking finals with mental illness

My mental health tag

Self care

How to take care of yourself when you’re sick

How to stay healthy in inhospitable weather

Healthy studying

For people who struggle with self care, etc.

Self care cheat sheet

Finals self care (1)

All the self care

Small ways to improve your life

A self care masterpost to help you get through school

Finals self care (2)

Balancing a healthy lifestyle with studying

Hotlines/self care refs

101 self care ideas

My self care tag

+ self promotion (bc everyone seems to be doing this)

A masterpost of masterposts

College masterpost

Note taking masterpost

How to be the best student you can be

My study process

Lecture tips

Coping with obsession

Confidence

Money masterpost

My YouTube (not a studytube)

My Instagram (not a studygram)

i promise you this: whoever you're becoming, however much effort you're putting in everyday, whatever it is you're working towards outweighs the person you've been and the mistakes you've made. who you are today matters. you are not ruined.

meirl