"I Just Want An Identical Experience To DL"

my trick for getting through grad school is learning to navigate the quadrants with all their nuances

bro kins mulan

bonus:

"Studying is not a trend. It's a lifestyle. A lifestyle is not an amount. It's practice. So what are you waiting for? Take action. "

-thelostfilesofstudents

"Don't use Libby because it costs libraries too much, pirate instead" is such a weird, anti-patron, anti-author take that somehow manages to also be anti-library, in my professional librarian-ass opinion.

It's well documented that pirating books negatively affects authors directly* in a way that pirating movies or TV shows doesn't affect actors or writers, so I will likely always be anti-book piracy unless there's absolutely, positively no other option (i.e. the book simply doesn't exist outside of online archives at all, or in a particular language).

Also, yeah, Libby and Hoopla licenses are really expensive, but libraries buy them SO THAT PATRONS CAN USE THEM. If you're gonna be pissed at anybody about this shitty state of affairs, be pissed at publishing companies and continue to use Libby or Hoopla at your library so we can continue to justify having it to our funding bodies.

One of the best ways to support your library having services you like is to USE THOSE SERVICES. Yes, even if they are expensive.

*Yes, this is a blog post, but it's a blog post filled with links to news articles. If you can click one link, you can click another.

reminder that donating just a few $ to gofundme campaigns actually helps, you don't have to donate huge amounts if you don't have the funds, every little bit is useful. give $10, $5, even $1. it all adds up. don't scroll past because you think you can't help. help in your own capacity. donate a dollar. share and speak up.

How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!

my #1 tip for school is to keep it simple and sustainable

don't get crazy with your bullet journal with the expectation you'll have that energy every week/month. sometimes its just gonna be a barebones checklist and that's okay! it is first and foremost to keep you organized, dont stress over consistency or aesthetic cohesion. same with your class notes; if you focus too much on the quality of your handwriting you'll forget what you were writing in the first place (ask me how i know)

dont go nuts color coding stuff bc eventually, inevitably, one of your highlighters will die, they wont carry folders in your Designated Color, etc. dont let that collapse your system

dont chunk up your time doing 15 minutes kf math 15 minutes of english 15 minutes of chemistry. you'll go crazy trying to be more efficient (ask me how i know!!! 😭) and retain less

basically dont spend so much time thinking about how you're gonna study that you don't focus on what you're studying. thats what made me have to drop out of my latin class in college; i was so sure that if i could just devise the perfect system the classwork would just flow and i'd be golden. well i never found the perfect system (bc it doesnt exist) and i went weeks without doing any work bc i was so petrified to start in suboptimal conditions. you know "do it scared"? do it sloppily. do it messily. do it on the back of a napkin. do it with so little fanfare that the anxiety doesn't have time to take hold before you're done.

damn we got 9/11 tomorrow

it gets easier. everyday, it gets a little easier, but you gotta do it everyday. that's the hard part. but i promise it gets easier.

Unironically waiting for the bus in the rain rn. Real ones know ✌️🌧️🚌☔