Be a bit delulu... Believe in yourself; every goal you set yourself is archivable!! ;)

Challenging/tedious tasks first!! Get them out of the way!! ew!!

Visualise your goals!! What do you want to archive? How will you feel when you reach your goal? Write everything down, and make a cute vision card on Pinterest. Always helps me stay motivated <33

Make the most of your time. Got some free extra minutes? Start working on something from your to-do list!! :)

Organise your space. Being in a comfortable and inviting environment is so so important to be able to focus properly. Some scented candles, a cute bookshelf, some pictures…

Plan ahead, make a simple to-do list (no more than 7 points)

Fix your sleep schedule… I'm still working on this myself… once I figure out how I'll definitely make a little guide lol…

Take breaks, especially when studying. Exercise is perfect for relaxing your mind; if you don't love working out - like me... lol - going on a walk is a great option too!! <33

Be aware of procrastination… are you procrastinating right now..?

Reward yourself!! Spend some time taking care of yourself, invest time in your hobbies, eat your favourite meal, or get yourself a nice coffee… small things that make you feel good :)

As always, Please feel free to add your own suggestions and tips in the comments!! <3

MDCalc - just a whole load of medical calculations so you can stop having to google what each one requires - like CURB65, Well’s, etc

I use the following:

MDCalc, for all your well’s score and other calculator needs. you have to sign up, but it’s free. I love having most of the medical formulas I’ll need in one place. The multiple  icons you see there are links to the web pages for the calculators before the app included them all.

The BNF- now you don’t need an athens email, and all BNFs are combined in one app. I use it very frequently; it’s basically a best friend. Naturally, it doesn’t replace my friendly neighbourhood pharmacist; it just saves me asking them silly questions. NICE also have guildelines up as an app. 

iResus. I redid my ALS recently, but it’s nice to have the algorithms in an app. Useful revision aid.

Microguide. Most trusts I’ve worked at have used this app to make their microbiology guidelines accessible. Your ID team will love you if you refer to the guide before asking simple questions like “What do I give for HAP?”. The BNF will lie; always go for your local protocol if at all possible.

Induction. YuMost hospitals have all the relevant bleeps on it. If they don’t, add them in or update them. I’m always ruthless about adding and updating wherever I work. Plus, you can switch hospitals, so if you need the contact number for the oncall gastroenterologist at another trust? Why not bypass as many switchboards as possible, and save everybody the hassle?

Dr Toolbox. It’s like Induction but for some specific trusts, and it can have lots of useful information. If your trust uses this, it’s worth a shot. 

Pastest. Self-explanatory. Passmedicine and RCPmasterclass don’t have apps. If you’re doing exams, doing them on your phone is pretty convenient. Doesn’t make the revision hurt any less, but you get it done a bit more easily.

Your usual phone calculator. Your 3am brain can’t always be trusted. If you aren’t feeling confident with your mental maths, that’s what technology is for.

Your alarm/watch/timer. Self explanatory. I set far too many alarms due to different shift patterns and my pathological need to snooze alarms. Hopefully you won’t max out the number allowed (Hint: it’s 50 on a Samsung).

A decent Flashlight app. You need to check those pupils and your penlight died three oncall shifts ago? Your phone has you covered.

Whatsapp. Whether you want to or not, you’ll be added to a million workplace related groups - watch out for the ones with the consultants on them. They may save your bacon a few times - remember to add anyone useful to your contacts. ALSO remember to add anyone useful in the following format: Dr Jeevan Patel paeds consultant DGH. Trust me on this one; in a few years you may have a dozen colleagues or former colleagues called Sarah or Dr Patel or whatever, and you will NOT remember who these people are. Your brain tells you that you will always know, but your brain is a liar.

Outlook, Email, whatever. You’ll need to check your email a lot. You can also put a link to the NHSmail website directly to your phone homepage if you choose. I recommend getting an NHSmail address as soon as possible; it’s really useful for getting information securely from other trusts. 

A period tracker, if you’re of the menstruating persuasion. This isn’t a medical app, but when you’re done with oncalls, you won’t even remember who you are, let alone when your last period was. Oh, they may also become irregular from the stress and messed up circadian rhythm.

A good calendar app. I upload every shift type onto my brightly coloured Samsung calendar. When you can barely remember what day it is, you really want to know what shift type you are working.

Various Transport apps. Make sure you can work out how to get home safely after that 3am shift in A&E. Make sure you have your local area’s taxi app, too.

Doodle. You’ll want to see your friends sometimes.

Your bank app. It’s really satisfying seeing your account go £££ on payday. There are also apps you can use to budget.

NHS meds safety. A fun app from the Manchester Pharmacy school testing your med safety knowledge. Not for work, but good for new FY1s.

I used to have a few of those ECG identification apps and murmur apps for fun, but I might have gotten rid of them, now.

I use Genetics4M to swot up on obscure genetic diseases, so when I present my patients I know exactly what to watch out for.

Once you’re past foundation years, everyone accepts you’re in training out of choice and as a result will do what they can to keep you in training.

I think it is easier to do LTFT “just because” if you do so from the start. If you’re changing to LTFT part way through then they usually want some sort of reason, but (for me at least) it was so they knew if any extra support was needed and if there was anything that could be changed to accommodate continuing full time if that would be prefere.

Attention Management: How to Take Control and Live Intentionally

We live in an age of information, and it’s becoming even more difficult to be in control of our attention. Every second, it seems like there’s something new to be consumed, something new to pay attention to. Because of this, it’s important to take control of our attention and more intentional about how we spend our time, and we can do so by practicing attention management.

Keep reading below for a transcription + some other posts you might be interested in:

Energy Management

Flexible Time Blocking

The Mandatory Midday Break

A Small Guide to Journaling

Staying Focused while Studying

Hope this helps!

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%. 

So there’s this old German remedy for getting rid of boils. A mix of eggshells, egg whites, and sulfur rubbed into the boil while reciting the incantation and saying five Paternosters. And according to my prof’s friend (a doctor), it’s all very sensible. The eggshells abrade the skin so the sulfur can sink in and fry the boil. The egg white forms a flexible protective barrier. The incantation and prayers are important because you need to rub it in for a certain amount of time.

M Y    T I M E    H A S    C O M E

You guys don’t understand how excited it made me to read this post, I literally wrote my master’s thesis on this exact topic.

STORY TIME

Sometime in the 10th century in Anglo-Saxon England (for context, this is before the Norman Conquest and near-ish to the reign of Alfred the Great), a dude named Bald asked another dude name Cild to write a book. Not just any book. A leechbook, which was essentially the medieval version of WebMD for practicing doctors. BUT NOT JUST A LEECHBOOK. This leechbook was gonna be the damn Lamborghini of leechbooks. This thing was going to be split into two parts, the first dealing with external medicine and the second dealing with internal medicine—something that was unheard of at the time. It was going to be organized (head to toe, like all the good leechbooks were). It was gonna be nice (leather and vellum). It was gonna use all the best ideas (from all over the known world). And the whole thing was going to be written in Anglo-Saxon. Now, a few medical books had been compiled in Anglo-Saxon before, but none like this. This one was going to be EPIC. And it was—and still is.

Bald’s Leechbook (also goes by the more boring but more informative MS Royal 12 D XVIII over in the British Library) contains a lot of medical remedies. A lot of them rely on things like prayers and chants and odd charms, like one for a headache, which recommends plucking the eyes off a living crab, letting the crab back into the water, and wearing the eyes about your neck in a little sack until you feel better. However, it’s worth pointing out that the really wild remedies, the stuff that makes absolutely no freakin’ sense, is most often recommended to treat ailments that are hard to treat even today—migraines, toothaches, cancer. These things are really painful or deadly and, without modern medicine, almost impossible to treat. So are you going to make up some nonsense to make your client at least feel like they’re doing something, and hey, if it sort of works, it works? Of course you are. You want to help people. Even if it sounds crazy, what else are you going to do? You have to try something, and the people who are suffering are willing to try anything.

But there’s also things that make complete sense. To echo concepts that have been mentioned by commentators above, there is a recipe that calls for the recitation of the paternoster while boiling a honey-based salve meant to treat carbuncle. The book instructs the physician to bring it to a boil, and sing the paternoster three times, and remove it from the fire, and sing nine paternosters, and to repeat this process two more times. A century ago, historians read the use of the paternoster as a magical incantation, but today, most agree that in lieu of a stopwatch, the paternoster is just meant to make sure you don’t burn the honey.

BUT THAT ISN’T NEAR THE COOLEST THING.

Now, this book was compiled by a master physician (we don’t know if it was Cild himself or if Cild was the scribe for an unnamed author) who was compiling recipes that had been written down for some time, and had, as many things do, gone through various permutations over the years. Many came from Greece or the western Mediterranean, and had been adapted for local English horticulture and herbs. Some came from around what is now Germany, and some ideas came from farther away in the Middle East (King Alfred was a sickly king; some scholars believe that he had his physicians seek out cures from all over the world in an attempt to treat himself). But there is one recipe that has only ever been identified in England. Not only has this recipe only ever been identified in England, it’s only ever been identified in this one manuscript. When translated into modern English, it reads as follows:

Work an eyesalve for a wen [stye], take cropleek and garlic, of both equal quantities, pound them well together, take wine and bullocks gall, of both equal quantities, mix with the leek, put this then into a brazen vessel, let it stand nine days in the brass vessel, wring out through a cloth and clear it well, put it into a horn, and about night time, apply it with a feather to the eye; the best leechdom.

For those who don’t know and/or are lucky enough to have never had one, a “wen” or a stye is a bacterial infection that manifests like a boil or a cyst that on the eyelid. They hurt something awful, and can cause larger infections of the eye. They are usually caused by Staphylococcus aureus. 

With me? Okay. Fast-forward to 1988. A former biologist turned historian called M.L. Cameron decides to take a look at this old medical leechbook to see what he can see. He takes a good look and says “Lads I do believe these Anglo-Saxon leeches weren’t nearly so daft as we thought they were” (he did not and probably would never actually say that, I’m paraphrasing). Cameron was particularly interested in the recipe above. As a scientist, he knew a few things:

Garlic and cropleek (leek or onion, or another related plant) have been known to have antibacterial qualities for centuries.

Wine (alcohol) also has antibacterial qualities.

Bullocks gall (literally bile taken from a bull) is known to have detergent properties, and has long been used as an additive to soap for particularly tough stains.

A brazen vessel, or a vessel made of brass, contains a good amount of copper in it. And that copper, when left to sit around for, I don’t know, about nine days, would have plenty of time to react with the acids in the onion and garlic and the tartarates in the wine to create copper salts. 

Coppers salts, as it happens, are cytotoxic, meaning they kill everything: tissue and bacteria.

What an interesting find.

Fast-forward again to 2015. A paper is published by a team from the University of Nottingham, who’ve been working on an ‘Ancientbiotics’ project to investigate ancient medical remedies and see if they actually work. They’ve turned their sights to the Anglo-Saxons, and are, as was Cameron, particularly interested in this recipe for an eye salve. Without boring you with the finer details of the experiment and its various trials (read it yourself!) I will spoil the ending by telling you that they discovered a few things:

This recipe, which was over 1,000 years old when they tested it, worked.

It worked well.

It worked extremely well. 

So well, in fact, that (in a lab setting) they even got it to kill Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or as it’s more commonly known, MRSA. MRSA is a modern superbug that has built up a resistance to the antibiotic Methicillin. And this goddamn Anglo-Saxon witches’ brew freakin murdered it.

Now, as an advocate for modern medicine and sound scientific method, I’m not about to say that we should go throwing this salve on everything in 2019, because it is, if anything, just a starting point for modern scientists. This salve is still incredibly crude by modern standards and comes with a lot of potential problems. But as a historian… it works, you guys, it really works.

Medieval physicians were not idiots. They believed in magic, they believed in all things supernatural, they believed in all those things that are ‘unreasonable’ or unpopular today, and they practiced them too. But they also interacted with the real world with brains and intellects as sharp if not sharper than yours and mine. They were smart, they studied, they talked to each other in Latin and Greek and Arabic and Anglo Saxon. They made old recipes better and came up with brand new ones. They tried dumb stuff and they tried smart stuff. They didn’t have access to even the smallest fraction of the information we have at our fingertips today, and yet they created things like this. 

To this day, no one knows who created the eyesalve recipe. And no one truly understands why this is the only copy of it. If it worked so well, why isn’t it plastered to the headings of every medical textbook from Alfred to Victoria? Speaking personally, I would argue that it has to do with language. Not so long after Bald’s Leechbook was written, the French invaded England and took over. Latin and French became the language of the court, and while Anglo-Saxon lived on throughout the country, and certainly lay doctors would have used Anglo-Saxon books daily, the language of formal English medical education was Latin. Oxford and Cambridge were late to the medical ed game after Salerno, Bologna, Paris, and Montpellier, and naturally fell in step with continental schools as a result, using Latin almost exclusively, and sometimes Greek or Arabic. 

Point being, by the time medical licenses and medical college degrees are a thing in England, not only does almost no one of university-eligible class speak Anglo-Saxon anymore, no one has use for those Old English texts, because they don’t get you your degree, and you can’t make a living as a doctor without a degree and doctor’s license. And no one’s going to translate an old Anglo Saxon text into Latin when Avicenna’s newest old hit, now in Latin, is fresh off the boat from France.

All that to say:  Never write something off because it’s old. 1,000 years is a long time ago, but human ingenuity and intelligence are hardly modern inventions. The science of the world hasn’t changed; only our tools and our perspective.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

Further reading:

The 2015 Ancientbiotics report: A 1,000-Year-Old Antimicrobial Remedy with Antistaphylococcal Activity

NPR: ‘Ancientbiotics’ Researchers Look For Old Fixes To Modern Ailments

Mental Floss: 20 Anglo-Saxon Remedies from Bald’s Leechbook

Read a paper about how scholars are building on the work of the Ancientbiotics project to better understand how to apply ancient ideas effectively to modern medicine.

Look through Royal 12 D XVIII for yourself! Bald’s eyesalve recipe is on f. 12v and looks like this:

09.01.20

this is stuff that i’ve found helpful and am in the process of working on. they may not be achievable for you without help and may not work for your specific circumstance, but this is a list of suggestions that you might be able to think about. i am also not a mental health professional so please do feel free to contradict me!!

self soothing.  having a toolbox to take care of yourself by yourself. bc sometimes nobody else is available and you just gotta put some lotion on, listen to a tune, and go to bed early. 

checking in. checking in with yourself to see if you’re okay. knowing how to alter your strategies when your strategies aren’t working. knowing when your strategies aren’t working. this is just taking some time every day to reflect on what goals you didn’t meet and why and what you can do to fix that.

there’s nothing you “should” be doing. if you get caught up thinking “i should be doing x” that’s false! stop that! “should” be doing better implies that you have some obligation to do whatever it is that you “should” be doing. you don’t owe anybody except yourself. analyze why you think you should be doing that thing and change that into…. “i want to be doing x because…” or “doing x will make me happier, because…”. overall, more productive and less self-shamey. 

disconnecting from the crowd. eating in a crowded dining hall can be stressful! knowing how to be alone in a crowd and stay calm is helpful

being okay with being alone.  tbh college is kind of… being alone a lot, in my experience. even though you’re surrounded by people, a lot of time is spent alone. making friends is hard. your friends have different schedules. you’re busy. shit sucks. we make the best of it.

knowing yourself. this relates to a lot of what i’ve already said but like. knowing your emotional state and knowing what helps trick the monkey brain is helpful. stop repressing your feelings, friends.

talking to strangers. ordering from a menu! paying library fines. going to office hours. asking for a cashier at the register if there isn’t one. ya this is hard. ya you gotta expose yourself. sometimes i just try playing a persona. like this isn’t me ordering a sandwich. this is a cool me who knows how to talk to people who is ordering a sandwich.

you don’t have to be friends with your roommates. you just have to live together in a way that doesn’t make you two hate each other. ideally, you two will coexist in a way that doesn’t interfere with the other’s daily life.

give and taking. on the topic of roommates, sometimes your roommate can be a shitty person, but sometimes you are the shitty person! give a little but if they’re negatively impacting your life, communicate.

communicating during disagreements. explain what your emotions are instead of blaming them. “i feel hurt when you…” or “i feel frustrated when” or “i feel unappreciated when.” if things get heated, ask if you both can take a ten minute break and then come back. and don’t bring up disagreements when the other party is preoccupied or going somewhere. you can legitimately schedule a discussion.

it’s okay to apologize. learning to swallow your pride gets easier each time.

knowing that people work differently than you. some people are not gonna click with you and it’s gonna seem like they have this whole brain process up there that is totally unlike yours. and yeah! that’s how it is. and that’s chill if they aren’t hurting anyone else. work with them and be flexible!! 

comforting people. you will probably/definitely see someone cry! hell if i know how to comfort people. someone please help. but some things i’ve learned are: 1) different people need different things. different people need different things! 2) people need different things at different times. 3) you can ask them what they want and it won’t be weird. 4) apparently a lot of people like hugs? but ask. and it’s okay to not want a hug. 5) just show that you care in some way if you don’t know what they need. i used to think that if somebody needed to tell me what they needed it was a sign that i just didn’t know them well enough and we weren’t compatible or i wasn’t being a good friend. that’s fake! friendship isn’t based off of fitting naturally in every way and making an effort to be good for them is important.

knowing it’s okay to not be liked by everyone. it’s okay if strangers think you’re dumb because you said something dumb in public. you know you’re not dumb. it’s okay if not everybody you meet likes you. it’s okay if you do something cringey. everybody has their own shit to deal with and you will not shatter their world.  grow and move on!

forgiving yourself. i’m trying this new thing where when i feel embarrassed about something i say. out loud. “i forgive myself.” and then i just try to grow from that and move on without getting caught in a spiral of shame.

knowing what you need vs what you want and what is better at the time. what you need: a shower. what you want: to not do that. solution: take a shower! or maybe what you actually need is to go to sleep? but guess what. you probably know what is good for you. the hard part is actually doing it.

realize that building habits is less work than discipline. emotional effort is expended every time you have to make yourself do something. just make it part of your routine and you’ll just think it’s normal to do all the good things! like, for example, i’m trying to make it a habit to eat structured meals instead of a “eat when i’m hungry” thing because i know that makes me skip meals, which is bad!

you won’t be able to do everything. forgive yourself for that. write down  things that are top priority and focus on them. everything else is not important right now and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for not being able to do them.

your health is important. i’m not saying health will solve all your problems. it won’t! but health will cause a lot of your problems to go away. because let’s face it. not sleeping causes a lot of problems. 

An Overview of Note-Taking Styles

Ok. Listen. I just graduated college on time with two degrees, a minor, and a 3.9 GPA, and now that it’s back-to-school time for some of you folks (my grad program doesn’t start until September) I’ve been seeing some study tips that are half-useful but mostly bullshit. So I’m here to give you some tips for collegiate success as a person who was pretty successful in the collegiate realm.

1) The Three to One Rule is Useless

Here’s the truth. Some classes are going to require minimal effort. Some are going to require more than three hours of outside study time per credit. It’s not a good rule of thumb because different people have different skills and take different amounts of time to do shit. For organic chemistry, you might be spending more 9 hours per week studying (and according to the success rates of some of my peers, I recommend you spend at least that much time on o-chem). But there’s also, say, Oceanography. I took that class. I studied/put in work… maybe an hour per week, and it was a three credit class. But I also took a class that was 3 credits called 18th Century America, and I would say I probably put something like 10-15 hours per week doing the readings and assignments for that class. It just depends, you guys. Figure out what works for each class and then distribute your time accordingly (and don’t waste time studying for something you very obviously know and have already aced). 

2) Study When You Can

Sometimes you have to cram. I don’t recommend it, but it happens. If you do, use the whole day before to go over stuff and test yourself. Do not do it the morning of, don’t do it right before the test. That is useless. If you have a good memory, you can study the night before/two days before.

That said, if memorization and improvisation aren’t your strong suits, do go over your notes at the end of each day, and if you don’t get something, as your prof or your TA or your friend who definitely knows what they’re doing. Talking about it will only help you remember it more.

Overall, study when you can find the time. Sometimes that means staying off twitter for a few minutes and reviewing your notes instead, but if you’re paying good money for higher education (and I assume you are), don’t waste it by never studying or blowing off an exam. 

3) Manage Your Time, But…

Just because you manage your time to make school a priority does not mean that you should let the other things in your life fall by the wayside. People often forget basic self care when they put school before everything else. Remember to shower and brush your teeth and take a minute for yourself because life is a lot and school is just a small part of your life. You cannot let time management become a synonym for school > everything else. It just means that you need to spend all of your time wisely, whether that’s getting some socialization in there or eating dinner or doing homework or taking a shower.

4) You Are Allowed to Forget Stuff

Look. I recommend always having more than one writing utensil, but you can forget one day. You can forget a notebook or a textbook every once and a while. I did, and yet I succeeded with flying colors. Definitely try not to be rushed all the time, but don’t freak out if you grabbed the wrong notebook. Just take down notes and staple them into the right one, or however you do it. 

Also, yeah, your college profs aren’t here to attend to your personal needs, but if you have a class on one side of the campus and only ten minutes to get to the class on the other side of the campus, see if you can leave early or let the prof know that you’re going to be a few minutes late because you can only cross a mile so fast. Professors are far more understanding than they let on (some of them aren’t, but they’re just dicks, and you’ll either have to deal with that or be prepared to challenge them).

And, of course, if you’re struggling, ask for help. Profs want you to succeed, actually, and if they don’t, then it might be time for a discussion with the chair of the department.

5) Stay Organized, Whatever That Means

Some people stay organized with color-coded pens, tabs, and a designer planner. Some people have the patience for bullet journals. Some people write their assignments down on their phones, or set a google/apple calendar alert. However you remember things, just remember them. What’s organized to you won’t be organized for someone else, and what’s organized for someone else might not look organized to you. There is no objective way to stay organized. I don’t recommend trying to store everything inside your head, but you’ll figure out what works for you. 

6) You Don’t Always Need to Read/You Don’t Always Need to Take Notes

Some classes are really important, some are not; some textbooks are really useful, some are not; taking notes can be effective, or they could be useless to you by the time the exam or essay rolls around. I took very light notes for my Brit Lit class (and did 75% of the reading), my World Drama class (90% of the reading), my Monuments in History capstone (20% of the reading), and I got A’s in all of those classes. I took heavy notes for Biology and Western Mythology and read about half of what was assigned. I took no notes for my Anthropology of Sex & Reproduction class, but I read absolutely everything. 

It will probably take you about three weeks to figure out your prof’s teaching style. If it’s an English class, you’re gonna need to read most of it. If it’s a science class, maybe not. If you only have a midterm and a final, and not tests i between those, you might want to keep the textbook handy. But different classes have different requirements, just like they do with the number of hours you spend studying. So you know, act accordingly.

7) Read The Assigned Chapter Before Class, But Don’t Read Ahead

Look, most profs are gonna tell you to read the chapter before class on Monday, or maybe they’ll give you until Wednesday, so you should read in advance. But unless a prof says to read ahead, you really don’t need to read ahead, especially if you have content-based reading quizzes. It just gets really confusing and getting ahead is only necessary when you know that otherwise you’ll get behind. I mean, read ahead if you want to, but know that you probably don’t have to.

8) Show Up, For Fuck’s Sake

Look, showing up is the easiest thing in the world. And I know what having those 8am/9am classes is like. I’ll admit, I didn’t show up half the time to my 9am freshman philosophy class, but I bet I wouldn’t have failed two tests if I’d shown up (I still got an A in the class, don’t worry, there were a lot of assignments and one test didn’t count for much). I just wanted to sleep. But if you show up and pay attention, you’re more than likely going to get a lot of out of the class.

Oh, and if your prof takes attendance. Show up. Especially if it’s a small class. Trust me, they’ll notice, and it will be so embarrassing. 

But also, don’t sweat it if you’re sick one day or sleep through the alarm. It fucking happens, and like I’ve said before, profs are pretty understanding most of the time. 

9) Take Notes However Works For You

Some people use that weird method of dividing the paper in half hot-dog style, and that’s fine. Some people scribble shit down that no one else can read. Don’t feel pressured to rewrite your notes unless you can’t understand them. Do not review right after class - give your brain some fucking time to process that shit. But maybe review in the next 48 hours, it’ll help you be ready for the next class.

10) Don’t Be On Your Phone

Unless you’re literally not learning anything. I spent more time in my Geography class on my phone or computer getting useful things done or playing games than I did actually learning anything from the professor. In my Asian History class, the teacher was mediocre at best, so my friend and I sat there in the front row and played hangman (which was kind of disrespectful but we were idiots at the time so). But if your grades slip because you’re on your phone and not paying attention, or if your teacher has to tell you more than once to get off your phone, you might have phone addiction. See someone about that, k?

11) Review? Maybe

If you choose to review your notes, do so in a quiet, calm, and un-rushed manner. Don’t just look at them - actually try to absorb them. Otherwise there’s no point in reviewing them. 

12) Study When You Can

Wait, didn’t I already have this one? Yeah. But! I saw a thing that said study early and often, which is great if you can make the time, but the truth is that if you study too early you’ll forget everything, and if you study too often you likely won’t be able to focus on other things that require your attention. So study not too long nor too shortly before the exam, and don’t study so much that your brain explodes. Give yourself a break. Have a kit-kat.

13-14) Flashcards? Mnemonic Devices? 

Use them if they work for you, and maybe try color coding them. That can help with memorization. But if they don’t work for you, don’t use them.

15) Don’t Rewrite Your Notes

Unless you can’t read them. Then definitely either rewrite them or type them up, so that they’re actually usable. 

16) Consolidate

This suggestion was actually pretty okay. Making lists and/or tables or whatever can really help, especially if you’re a visual learner. But if they don’t help you, don’t use them, because then it’s just a waste of your time.

17) Teach It To Someone Else

Yeah, this one is good, too. But make sure the person you’re explaining it to doesn’t have a lot of background knowledge, because it’s being able to explain it correctly to someone who hasn’t heard it before that really counts.

18) Is There Even Such a Thing as a Good Study Environment?

Some people can’t study on their own. I sure have a hard time of it, especially because I get distracted on my own. For me, studying with others for exams has saved my grade. But there are times or assignments that are best done on your own.

What I will say, is that when you study with other people, sometimes it’s best to study with your friends who are studying something else. My friend Breea and I had completely different majors and classes, but we made the best study partners because she could explain science to me and I could explain anthropology and history to her, and that’s how we knew we were good to go. 

19) Sleeeeeeeeeep. Plan. Deal. 

Get a good night’s sleep before an exam and try not to be late. Mean profs will not let you make up a missed exam. Good profs will, even if it was just a traffic jam. But generally speaking, try to prepare for all worst case scenarios when you have an assignment due. 

20) Ask. Questions. Jesus. Christ.

Look if you get something wrong, don’t be embarrassed or ashamed. Ask why you got it wrong, and if you think you did something right but the TA or prof just graded it wrong, feel free to point out their mistakes (in private, though, not in front of the class). Go to office hours and make use of that time, or make an appointment with a prof so that you don’t have to skip class to go to office hours.

21) Midterms and Finals Are Different. Or Not.

Ask your prof at the beginning if the final will be cumulative. If it is, keep reviewing that midterm material through the end of the class. If not, feel free to forget most of the stuff from the midterm and earlier. Each prof is different and some finals aren’t even exams, they’re papers or projects. So, you know, plan accordingly. 

22) Don’t Keep Your Fucking Textbooks

Look, unless you fell in love with a text (happens to English majors), sell back your books. And after a few weeks (or once the next term starts) throw out your notes, especially if you can’t read them or if they’re for a class you had to take for university credit but didn’t actually need for your major. 

SELL. THOSE. BOOKS. I can’t say it enough, you won’t make much, but it’ll be nice to get that lunch after finals are over. But remember, don’t sell the book until you’ve taken/turned in the final. 

23) Talk to People!

I saw something that said not to discuss grades/quizzes/tests/exams with classmates. Fuck that. I mean, try not to talk about it before the exam starts or whatever, but fucking talk about that shit. In my Mediterranean Archaeology class, we all talked about the readings before class on Fridays because we had a reading quiz and no fucking idea what the reading was about (those were some of the hardest readings ever). It was really helpful to discuss and summarize to make sure we got the point of the article. Also, like, if you’re comfortable with sharing grades, do, and if you’re not, don’t. It’s your grade, you can do whatever you want with it.

Also, if you’re unsure about something, you can ask a classmate. That’s probably a better first resource than a prof, who will get annoyed, especially if you didn’t do the reading.

THAT’S IT.

Have a nice day!! ✨

042420

As most people are working and studying from home right now, I wanted to share some concrete, implementable ways you can help yourself feel better. Though I believe productivity and quantity of work done (or lack thereof) doesn’t/shouldn’t translate into your self-worth and how you view yourself, when you get work done, you actually do feel better in your own body. 

By the way, it’s the first time I’m formatting a tips/guide post like this, so I apologize that I couldn’t be more concise.

I’ve spoken to a licensed professional counsellor as well as to some professionals who have been working from home for a long time, and some of the advice above is from them. I’m also sharing from my own experience as someone who used to be very productive and an (ex-)overachiever, and still attach a lot of my self-worth to grades and other tangible accomplishments. I hope these slides can help you. In case it’s hard to read, I’ve included it (reworded) in text form if you’d like to read more. 

stay safe out there i love u 

DO NOT expect yourself to be fully accountable. you won’t be. you can’t be. think of how many times you said to yourself “i don’t want to go to class”. you cannot expect yourself to just... overcome that same amount of despair when pokemon is in another tab.

so instead DO find people who will ACTUALLY hold you accountable. i know my mistake was just sitting a room with someone else and saying “let’s study” but we were both on instagram. find someone who is like. nope, m/w/f we are ACTUALLY doing work from 2-4. specific schedules are imperative. 

log out of social media and then switch laptops and/or phones with this person. definitely the phones. you wanna know how not to spend hours on social media? literally don’t have access to it. & this way if you get an emergency text you can obviously act on it since your friend will see, but you’re still being kept honest. if you have to ask for your phone back, you are more accountable for what you’re doing on it.

have punishments & rewards in place. if you ask for your phone back for non-emergencies more than 3 times, for example, or 3 minutes, you owe ur friend 5 bucks. or if two weeks of focus happens, you both get some kind of reward for each other under 10 bucks. etc.

DO NOT assume this means u can wait until friday to learn everything, because friday’s due dates will roll around and you’ll be fucked lmao. I lie to myself and set deadlines closer than they are and bc i have adhd i just. believe the lie lmao thanks time blindness.

DO take it seriously. otherwise next semester will fucking suck bc the other classes will be expecting knowledge you don’t have bc you cheated on the online courses. yes i know you can and do cheat. but like,,,, just don’t if you don’t have to ??? you’re paying for these classes either way, it’s just a matter of how fucked you will be if you don’t learn this stuff.

none of us can fucking focus when it’s just words on a screen. i NEED the extra distraction of background music, but that just means spending 6 hours on youtube finding the “right” one. pre-download video game music or deep vibes etc. 

on that note be aware of your own body’s signs of over or under stimulation. i need to be busy with my hands, i just do, and while this means taking notes when in person, online i also play extremely low-info games like cubefield. in person you have audio and visual stimulation, so i recommend when stuff is just audio or visual to... like do something else at the same time. i usually suggest video games as long as you make sure these are low-text, low rule-changing, low difficulty games so they do not overwhelm the information you’re processing. if you’re the kind who need to be doing something with your hands to listen to a podcast, this one is for u.

read it out loud to yourself and record the reading. auditory processing WHOM! now you can listen back to your notes while reading a second time and see where you stumbled while reading out loud - probably the same places you’re not understanding the work.

kahn academy. youtube. do not underestimate how incredibly helpful follow-along videos are.

if you can teach it, you know it. usually around every 5 paragraphs of new information (just bc of my major and reading comp but yours can be every paragraph or every page, just keep it on the smaller side), i like to take 20 seconds to say - how would i teach it to another person? how would i explain this to someone with literally no context? this helps us establish really clear flow maps mentally of “okay to know this thing u must know this. now this new idea. which is akin to this old idea”. so instead of just a bunch of new information, you have a web of clear items and can see where it is failing.

whenever you can be, if you can be, don’t be online. lmao. i had to print out my papers and edit them by hand bc i just WOULDNT do a good job when on google docs. if you can do it in person, do. you absolutely should be trying to take in-person (NOT typed) notes, barring obviously accommodations. typing does not encode information the way writing does and like. i know you don’t remember what you said on the discussion board bc neither do i. obviously!!! this is not always possible! but like do at least take screen breaks when you can. 

speaking of which. like i said, i recommend really specific times, and i actually don’t recommend breaks during this time? i think neurotypical ppl probably can take breaks but my brain is like. oh we done? we done forever. instead, like i said, make a schedule where you’re hyperfocusing for however long. then take the break after (NOT before lmao you’ll never begin). read books, make art, do a tiny workout. now u can go back to screens. otherwise..... the depression (screen type)

i also recommend really specific places. when u are doing work you’re in THIS chair or that part of the floor. i live in my bed but i work on my couch. do not make the adhd mistake of being like “today i will sit in my ‘free time’ space and then get up and go to my work space” bc you wont and we both know that and it’s okay we’re in this together. instead, while you’re procrastinating, don’t go to either space until you have the motivation to do your work first. i do not recommend beds be used for anything but sleep (seriously this is actually like super important for all people) however if you’re like me and just don’t have a lot of options, make sure you at least change the orientation of how you’re sitting before doing free time stuff. do not just sit up in bed on your phone.

copy lecture notes, put em into word (google drive if u must but i try to go as webfree as possible), and make the font bigger and different. weirdly, and this is true, comic sans works reaLLY WELL for making shit more focused in your brain. you will glaze over 12 pt serif fonts after 6 classes. if each class has its own (READABLE) font, it weirdly helps pattern recognition of “oh this was THOSE notes”. 

answer questions out loud first, and feel free to record your answers. while i think with my writing, there are SO many people who think by speaking (which is like. why discussion classes actually work). do not underestimate how much thinking you do out loud, even if it feels silly.

lmao make tiktoks or other videos doing joke versions of the lecture or the notes. how would you sarcastically sum this up? congrats now you’re having fun and also learning like way better. 

similar to the above, singing/dancing/making art of concepts feels kinda silly but helps us literally so much. yes also STEM majors even you guys.

inertia is fucking everything. you live by this and u die by this now, she is your master. if you find the energy to take a shower, can you leave your phone charging? if you can shower, can you get dressed? can you walk the dog? can you do 1 class of work? can you do 3? if there’s a situation where you know you tend to “stop” during a normal day, take it as a hazard during these times. for example, i “stop” every time i go to unplug my phone, bc then my phone is in my hand and i can be on social media. usually, i have a very strict and helpful schedule which means i know at some point the fear of being late will make me put my phone down. without that fear, this has become a 2 hr long “stopping point”. find your stopping points and avoid them if you can, or treat them at least like bigass sandpits. go in focused on getting out asap.

skype!! your friends!! and teach each other stuff! do the classes together! 

put your calendars other places than just ur school’s zoom/blackboard/moodle/etc. have a physical place you can see when and where stuff is happening.