dentistry studyblr

A User’s Guide To The Brain

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stair at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.

1.chemis-try

2.chemis-why

3.chemis-cry

“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”

I didn’t get the job.

However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.

So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.“ 

I want to be the best version of myself. I want to be proud of myself. I want to love myself. I want to achieve my goals. I want to be happy.

It is hard to follow ones dream, to be disciplined, to study, to work out, to eat healthy, etc. Everything that we should do is hard, nothing is easy at all. Yet I would rather exert myself than hate myself and my way of living.

I am ready to change. I want to change.

- 100 days of productivity challenge - always going to do my homework or try to at least - and do them as soon as I have the time to instead of waiting until I must do them - create a study plan for the next two months - be active during class, listen, answer questions, ask questions, get that B in oral - be organized, probably thanks to my bullet journal - try to build a better relationships with all my teachers accept that one stupid ass fucking man who wants me to fail I hate him - read more books, English, German and Italian - always take notes

- gym five times a week - cardio and weight lifting - 3 exercises for ass, 2 for arms and 2 for arms - drink a lot more water - more walking, less bus taking  - more bike riding, less bus taking - healthy diet - always use stairs if possible - no more eating 5 hours before going to sleep - three meals, three snacks - never go hungry! never skip meals! - meal prep if necessary - one cheat snack a day because I love sweets and they make me happy

- toxic people are not part of my life anymore, bye - no unnecessary beef anymore - try to not be as stressed anymore, mediate, do some yoga - 8 hours of sleep - fuck boys and girls and every other person who wants to put me down - cleanse, exfoliate, shave, take care of my nails, etc - put my own interests first, take care of myself first - smoke less cigarettes - be thankful, be kind - less negative vibes and thoughts, be optimistic or realistic - listen to my gut instead of my heart - never ever let a toxic man inside my life ever again

1. They understand that they have to think about themselves first

They are selfish as hell and that’s why we hate them.

2. They don’t overestimate or underestimate themselves.

In life it’s crucial for a person to recognize it’s level in order for others to see it too.

3. They constantly pick up things from people.

The people in history books and self-help book are not the only inspiration in life. They look at people around them, pick their best trait and make use of it.

4. Celebrities count too.

You hear on TV from other actors how incredible this person is. If you do a little digging you can find what makes them special and why the people around them talk a certain way about them.

5. Learn about you favourite characters from your author or the actor playing it, if it’s from a movie.

If you hear about how an incredible character was created you’ll understand why you admire them and use those qualities instead of just holding them dear to you heart.

6. They use people around them to advance.

They will annoy teachers or classmates who are better with questions, problems and matter of solving them

7. They know people care about themselves first.

They talk about yourself and ask you questions because they know that’s what you want to hear.

8. Not giving up

Another “How To Study” post!! part 2!! 

Also check out part 1: How to Study Biochemistry !!

I never took physics in my LIFE before taking it in college and honestly I probably still don’t really understand anything in physics but I got A’s in my college physics classes so in reality i think this post is more about how to get an A than how to actually learn physics (so if you are looking to learn how to acTUALLY learn physics then this may not be for you lol)

studygram: @markiveelle

General Study Tips

Not gonna lie physics can be tricky but hopefully you have a good background in math!! mostly calculus tho

Physics is an application-type subject (which means yeah you gonna have to learn the material but you’re also gonna have to be creative when you have to solve problems) so you better make sure you understand the concepts first and foremost

USE THE TEXTBOOK AND ONLINE RESOURCES AND YOUR FRIENDS

Taking Good Notes

First of all, I use the GoodNotes app on my iPad Pro with Apple Pencil (more on my notetaking stuff in this post) (also these are raw notes from lecture but this happened to be a slow lecture day which is why everything is really neat) (not all my notes look like this!!!)

Start by actually paying attention in lecture (like don’t play with your phone and don’t talk to your friends so much, you got the entire day after your lecture to do that kinda stuff so like just dont do it)

Actively listen to what the professor is saying and make sure you get the important stuff down (and honestly if you’re like me, just write down everything and decide later what is important lol)

MAKE SURE YOU WRITE THE EQUATIONS BECAUSE THE EQUATIONS IN PHYSICS ARE LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART 

Be attentive while writing, don’t let it just be monotonous stuff your hand is doing and your brain is not registering. If you try to absorb material DURING lecture, then doing homework won’t be super hard and you’ll have a background when you go to review later (also if you learn now you won’t have to spend as much time later)

Practice makes perfect, writing really quickly and neatly is a skill that needs practice. Don’t be so disappointed if you feel like you can’t get your notes down the way you want them on the first try, you’ll get better at it!

Doing Homework

I reaLLLY suggest you do homework with a study group because they are a good source of support and information! I always did my studying with a group because they caught my mistakes and whenever I taught them something I felt like I learned it even better

If you have the answers, try not to look at them so much. Focus more on HOW you are going to get to that answer so you learn problem solving techniques that WILL come in handy later on

Trying to just get the darn answer may lead you to solving that one particular problem, but you won’t really absorb any Methods of problemsolving, so when another problem comes along that has a little twist, you’re just gonna be at the beginning again.

Save your homework problems to study from before the exam because they are useful!

Studying for the Exam

I reviewed for the exams by opening both my lecture notes and the textbook

The lecture notes are a guide on what to study; the stuff the professors usually talk about in lecture will be what they will test you on most of the time

Therefore if there is something in the book that isn’t in my lecture notes, I usually don’t spend much time on that because IM JUST TRYNA GET AN A IN THIS CLASS YOU KNO

The textbook explains things in a different way (usually in much more detail) than the professor, which is good because it gives you a different perspective on how to understand concepts. Learning all the angles to a certain concept helps you master it

After I reviewed the textbook I did all ALL ALLLLL the practice problems that were given to me, and maybe a few from the book that I decided were worthy. 

I tried to only do the problems that i had the answers to because honestly when you cramming for an exam, you don’t wanna be walking aimlessly trying to do something and not knowing what the answer is (which is why I believe in teachers giving answer sheets…………….)

Make sure your calculator is something you know how to use and you are comfortable with because honestly the comfort of my own calculator helps me study better because it’s one less thing to worry about

So yeah I hope that can help someone out there that’s worried about physics like I was (but again honestly i was just trying to get an A and not trying to really learn physics lol not a good mindset but you kno :C )

A new “How To Study” series!! Part 1 of ???

see part 2: How To Study Physics

How to study BIOCHEMISTRY (from yours truly, a biochem major at ucla)

(but also note that i’ve only taken one biochem specific class so far but this class was general biochemistry so hopefully the tips and tricks i learned from taking this class will apply to higher levels of biochemistry!)

studygram: @markiveelle

Biochemistry is a VERY dense subject, it requires a good background in general chemistry (such as acids and bases, thermodynamics) and a strong biology background (hence BIO cheMISTRY) (who would have ever guessed)

Anyways I like to think that biochem is not exactly a strenuous subject in that you won’t need to rack your brain to solve application problems, but it DOES require a LOT of memorization which is arguably less painful, but is still scary.

General Memorization Tips

Start early! The earlier you start your studying, the more time your brain has to process the information which means it will get more comfortable with it and you’ll probably be able to remember it more easily later.

BABY STEPS, don’t try to memorize like 600 terms in one sitting. You’ll probably get them mixed up. The brain doesn’t work that way (for most of us!). Instead, start with the first ten things, get them down really well, then move on to the next ten, then try to get all twenty together. And then the next ten, and then a cumulative self check, and so on. I think this was the best way to start. You have to find how much information you can retain in one sitting!

Make use of free time, try to recall things when you’re waiting in line for food, for the bus, for the shower to warm up, etc. Jogging your memory at all times helps make it more solid.

Make whatever you’re studying your phone/laptop background so it’s of easy access to you! I made the amino acids my iPad lockscreen when I was trying to memorize all of those!

Seriously flashcards help

Memorizing the 20 Amino Acids (and their structures…) in one week

My first quiz in my biochemistry class was to be able to remember all 20 amino acid names, three letter abbreviations, one letter abbreviations, and structures at physiological pH. It was scary lol I had to memorize all that in oNE WEEK (evil)

Grouping them into their respective types can help you in the long run when you may be asked which amino acids are present in polar/nonpolar environments. 

I started memorizing the negative and positive amino acids first (there were the least of them lol). I used the cumulative batches method where I memorized the negative ones completely and then moved onto positive ones, and then did a cumulative self check. When I felt comfortable with those I moved onto nonpolar, then aromatic, then polar (idk why i did that order tho)

Most of the one letter abbreviations are the first letter of the name of the amino acid, especially in the nonpolar cases. I remembered the names and abbreviations of the nonpolar ones by just remembering GAVLIMP (read down the column!)

Glutamic Acid is GLU, E (which just spells glue)

Arginine is ARG ARRR ® like a pirate (lol)

Glutamine is Q and that’s weird so that resonated with me

Glutamine and Asparagine are similar to Glutamic Acid and Aspartic Acid in structure!

The nonpolar amino acid structures kind of build upon the previous one, which is also how I remembered those structures

I mainly took advantage of photographic memory in this case because whenever I was asked to recall a certain amino acid, in my head I would think about where that amino acid was on this poster I made. That helped my brain keep everything organized!

Memorizing Fatty Acids/Certain Carbohydrates

FLASH CARDS

Whenever you have to identify or name things, flashcards are the best!! I remember I made flashcards for everything on this page and me and my friends quizzed each other while waiting to be seated at korean bbq lol

Photographic memory again!! Write out all the stuff you gotta know onto one piece of paper (try to limit it to just one side) and study from that. It’s like organizing how your brain will remember stuff (kinda like you knowing exactly where something is in your drawer because you organized it that way)

Memorizing Pathways or Cycles

Glycolysis was the first pathway I had to remember, this one took me the longest because we were required to remember the structures, the names of the enzymes, the cofactors, LITERALLY EVERYTHING in one week it was a STRESS MESS

On this poster I have the detailed version that includes structures on the top and then a brief overview on the bottom that just has the names of stuff. I thought this helped (not sure how)

If you have taken organic chemistry in the past, then memorizing the structures may come a little easier to you because the names of the structures are super close to IUPAC naming so you can deduce from there!

It’s important to run through this IN ORDER over and over and over. Write it out so your hand gets a feel for it. 

GOING IN ORDER IS JUST SO IMPORTANT because it conditions your brain to follow that order and you’ll notice that everything builds upon the other (the brain loves patterns and order so this will expedite memorization)

We also had to track carbons, so color coding would have helped in this case too! Color code each carbon so it’s clear where everything goes. 

I think biochemistry is also a subject that requires a lot of time and effort, so make sure you give yourself time to study for it. Make a good study group as well so that you have many other people to correct you if you make mistakes, and you can correct them on their mistakes! I also think that catching errors or learning from previous errors is the BEST way to remember the RIGHT information because it shakes you; no one likes to be wrong!

Everyday for a month (i hope) i’ll just rant about something collegey on instagram bc I wanted to give my instagram some content that is unique from this studyblr and i want to start using it more often bc it’s a little more accessible lol so yeah here is the list for August:

August 2018 (studygram: @markiveelle)

General supplies for college/things you should bring to the dorm that you may not think of (at least what I didn’t think of lol)

Couponing and saving money!

How to deal with all your clothes omg

Quick breakfast things for when you have gross morning classes

Personal statement tips (mainly stuff I used i guess, it’s been a while)

How to memorize things faster

What to do when you’re sick (ugh)

Dorm room etiquette 

Avoiding ~the freshman 15~

Organization tips for all of life’s responsibilities

Meeting new people!

Professional email etiquette

Tips on how to avoid all-nighters

Dealing with test anxiety

Low-budget date ideas (or just friend nights u kno)

Homesickness and what you could do about it

Dealing with ur feelings in college

Notetaking methods

Thoughts on iPad Pro and Apple Pencil???

Financial aid and types of LOANS ew

DRINKING RESPONSIBLY

Communal bathroom advice 

How to not lose your keys or get locked out (story of my life)

Stress relieving activitiesss

How selfish should you be in college??

Laundry (there is no shame in not knowing how to do laundry your first time)

Dealing with that bad grade on that one midterm

Little things that make your living space feel cleaner

What to keep in your backpack for minimal emergencies

Knowing your limits

Motivation

Feel free to do this yourself on your blog or instagram or whatever as well!! 

Study in the same format that your test will be.

The research: In a study done by Morris & Coworkers, participants’ retrieval performance, which was a rhyming task, depended on whether or not their encoding task was that of processing for meaning or for rhyming.  In other words, participants who had an encoding task that required processing for rhyming had a better retrieval performance than did participants who had an encoding task that required processing for meaning. This is known as transfer-appropriate processing.

How it applies to your studying: If you know your exam is going to be exclusively short answers, then study by answering short answers and not by completing practice multiple choice tests. If you know a set of terms will be tested in a matching format, then create a study guide that involves you having to match terms to definitions or examples.

Match the context.

The research: Godden and Baddely really worked hard to prove their point about encoding specificity.  They had half of their participants study, or encode, underwater while diving and half study on land.  Recall for all participants was underwater and those from the diving condition had a higher recall than those who studied in land.

How it applies to your studying: Study in the same room that your exam will be in.  If your exam is in the same room as your class, it’s even more beneficial.

Match your internal state.

The research: Eich and Metcalfe measured the impact of state-dependent learning by having subjects listen to happy or sad music and think thoughts that matched the mood of the music.  They rated their mood and once it reached “very pleasant” or “very unpleasant”, the encoding aspect of the study began and they studied lists of words.  The participants returned two days later, followed the same procedure to put them in happy or sad moods, and were then given a memory test.  Those whose mood at retrieval matched their mood at encoding had higher rates of recall. 

How it applies to your studying: Try to match your moods when studying with your mood during your exam.  This does not mean stress yourself out at all times, but if you’re relaxed and content when studying and during the exam, that is better than being sad while studying but content during the exam. 

Relate the material to yourself.

The research: Rogers and coworkers presented participants with a question for 3 seconds and then a word who then had to answer if the word answered the question or not.  Questions included “Printed in small case? Rhymes with happy? Means the same as happy? Describes you?”  During recall tests, subjects remembered 25% more words that they had rated as describing themselves, as compared to only 5% recall for size, 8% for rhyme, and 14% for meaning. This is known as the self-reference effect.

How it applies to your studying: Try to find things in your material to remind them of you.  For instance, I had an exam on the endocrine system recently and my dog has an endocrine disorder so I related the flow of hormones to my dog. By writing this article, I’m relating long term memory to myself in preparation for my Cognition exam. 

Use visual images.

The research: Bower and Winzenz used paired-associate learning (a list of word pairs is presented) and later presented only the first word.  Participants were tasked with recalling the word it was paired with.  One group was instructed to silently repeat the pairs while the other group was told to make a mental image of the word pairs interacting.  Subjects who created visual mental images remembered twice as many word pairs than those who silently repeated words.

How it applies to your studying: Assign different concepts to different things in the room.  This works whether you are studying in the exam room or if you’re studying in your dorm.  If I were doing this for my bio exam, I’d “hang up” the idea of the systemic and pulmonary circuits of the heart in my closet, put the idea of homeotherms and poikilotherms on my key hook, and microwave the concept of action potentials, etc.

Consolidate. 

The research: Muller and Pilzecker had two groups of participants; one group learned one list of words and immediately learned a second list while the other group learned one list of words, waited six minutes, and then learned the second list.  When asked to recall the first list of words, the six minute delay group were able to recall 48% more than the immediate group.  By having a delay, it allowed for the formation of a stable memory of the first list, otherwise known as consolidation.

Get a job

Learn guitar

Learn piano

Study a new language

Purchase new study materials for the next semester (i.e new notebooks, a new pencil bag, a new backpack, new pencils, pens, or highlighters – 10/10 would recommend Crayola SuperTips they are extremely cheap!)

Clean your room

Clean your apartment/home

Make your bed

Make a list of your goals

Exercise

Write

Find a new podcast (for my pre-law friends, I recommend Think Like A Lawyer)

Read a new book or read all of the books you have bought but not been able to read yet

Clean out your closet - donate clothes you do not wear anymore to Goodwill

Clean out your car/wash your car (actually necessary to ensure that dirt does not accumulate in its parts - TRUST ME) 

Be a tourist in your own city - find a new coffee shop you might like to study at when classes resume

Try new recipes - learn to cook by watching Youtube videos

Start a new skin care routine (I recommend Noxema {app $4} for your face wash, follow it up with Witch Hazel {app $6} and finish with Tea Tree Oil {app $8}!)

Start a new blog (or check out my new blog @tiny-personal-aesthetics-thing I know I’m shameless)

Volunteer at local animal shelters, retirement homes, hospitals, libraries, Habitat for Humanity, etc. 

Redecorate your room - try moving your bed or furniture around and see how it changes the fung shui (if you are into that)

Learn about photography

Work on your mental and physical health

Take your dog for a walk - I’m sure they would appreciate it

Ride a horse

Create a budget for yourself

Start a bujo

Draw

Paint

Watch a documentary

Create goals for next semester

Reflect on this past semester

Learn self-defense

Visit a museum or a park

Sell items you don’t want anymore on apps such as Letgo or via the Facebook Market

Start gardening

Call friends/family you haven’t heard from in awhile

Write friends/family you haven’t heard from in awhile

Go for a hike

Improve your vocabulary using resources such as: vocabulary.com, or enhancemyvocabulary.com

Fix your sleep schedule (!!!)

Learn about your family history

Utilize Khan Academy videos to brush up on math, science, or humanities

Clean out your email inbox

Get a test prep book for the LSAT/MCAT/GRE

Talk to an adultier adult in the field you wish to enter regarding your career options

Work on your resume

Increase your typing speed using websites such as: typing.com, typeracer.com, or rapidtyping.com

Write thank you notes to professors/instructors/advisors that you found particularly helpful - or to friends/family/mentors that also helped you out

Get your planner organized for the new semester (or buy a planner if you haven’t already)

Find and price the textbooks and access codes you will need for the coming semester

Jazz up/update your social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to reflect more on your professionalism (if you have those)

Update your style - new semester, new clothes, new you

Go swimming - nice low impact exercise 

Find a professional to shadow

Find an internship

Find scholarship opportunities (create a new email account to specifically use for scholarships!) 

Get a head start on the classes you will be taking by self-studying (a plethora of free information exists on the internet)

Be a mentor - tutor high schoolers/junior high students for SAT/ACT prep, or generally for whatever subjects they need help in 

Do manual labor - fix something, build something, mow the yard, clean the gutters

Do yoga

Work on breathing exercises

Treat yourself

Learn to say no

Go on graduate school tours

Travel (can be near or far, cheap or expensive - know your budget)

Do your own research project

Take an online sample course via edX,or Coursera

Start your graduate school application

Pet sit for someone

House sit for someone

Start your own Youtube channel

Work on your handwriting

Try sculpting

Attend networking events

Attend leadership events

Start a fundraiser for a cause

Learn to code

Study abroad - or solidify a study abroad trip

Create a four year plan for your degree

Visit family

Visit a friend

Get letters of recommendation

Get crafty

Take a practice test for the LSAT/ MCAT/ GRE

Take all of your loose change to a CoinStar and exchange them for cash

Learn about where your food comes from

Drink more water

Find an audio book to listen to when you are in the car or on the bus

Catch up on your laundry

Forge new good habits such as utilizing a planner or making your bed every day

Start a compost pile 

Grow your own herbs

Start meal prepping/meal planning 

Play basketball

Play tennis 

Get a haircut

Organize your desk 

Organize your laptop

Learn about astronomy

Inadvertently I’ve been picking up quite a few study hacks from my psychology class.

There’s a difference between recognizing something as familiar and actually understanding it. Whenever we study, we sometimes see a topic and remember talking about it or reading about, but we don’t actually remember it. However, because it triggers some memory, we just tend to skip over it and not review it. Be extra careful.

Typing is an ineffective way to take notes because we can often type faster than we can write. When we write, because it takes longer, we are often struggling to find the shortest way to transcribe information. This forces our brain to spend more time on the content.

Repeating something is NOT a good way to get it in your long-term memory. It’s actually something called maintenance rehearsal, and it will keep whatever you’re repeating in your head for a little bit, but not permanently. So when you’re studying, reading the same page over and over again or repeating a definition dozens of time won’t actually do anything. The way to get something into your long term memory is called elaborate rehearsal. It’s when you actually understand the meaning of something and make connections between it and prior knowledge.

One theory of why we need sleep is that it consolidates our memory. Basically, during our sleep our brain (theoretically) takes the information from the day and shifts it into long-term memory. This means that if you study right before you sleep, you have a better chance of retaining that information.

It turns out that we cannot actually multitask. Sometimes I am so pressed for time that I try to study while doing other things, but this just means I will do both tasks poorly.

I think we can all agree that the mere idea of having holiday breaks from boring lectures and all-nighter study sessions sounds like heaven; although this romanticized idea of having so much free time often turns into wasted summer days, oversleeping, and basically an anti-social teenage version of house arrest. so, to help you out (or, more to help Myself) here are some things I do to keep myself busy, on a budget (kind of), and mentally healthy during long breaks from school.

continue your morning routine. this is important; by this I mean to basically treat your summer mornings as you would your school mornings, without the rush and alarm. brush your teeth, brush your hair, start/continue a skincare routine, get out of your pajamas and into real clothes, make your bed, make some coffee, eat some breakfast, do it with some music on, whatever you want. this keeps your mind and body into a daily routine. don’t let all your precious no-class mornings of summer go to waste!

savor sleeping in, but not too much. I know its super tempting to go to bed at like 2 AM and wake up the next “morning” at 12PM, but trust me, you’ll regret fucking up your sleep schedule once you actually have to set an alarm and get your ass to class next fall. I’m not saying you should force yourself to set a summer alarm (although, if you really want to train yourself this isn’t a bad idea tbh) but for the love of god, at least go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times. don’t waste your entire day!!

force yourself to see your friends a couple times a week, even if you really don’t want to. obviously this excludes mental health days, but I’ve found that spending time with my friends actually distracts me from any anxiety I’ve felt during the past week. I love my alone time, but human interaction is super important both mentally and physically. as college students we’re all pretty much broke, so don’t underestimate the power of free things- watching netflix at someone’s house, having a boardgame night, going to parks, you name it. as long as you’re with your friends, you’ll have a great time!

clean out your music library + make a playlist or two. y’all know I love a good playlist. this is something totally 100% FREE, and a perfect way to make use of your free time. delete all the stuff you don’t listen to anymore and make a few playlists of your favorite songs, or even go with playlist themes to organize your songs. it’s fun and your future self will probably thank you later for getting rid of so much audible junk.

get back into reading. this is something that was on my personal summer to-do list. I haven’t read a book for myself (aka not for a class) in sooo long, and let me tell you- I don’t know why I ever stopped reading. I know for a fact that once the semester starts I’ll have zero free time to read for myself, so summer is the perfect time to get into a new book or two!

eat your three meals a day +hydrate. I mean this. its very easy to skip/forget meals when you really don’t have any set schedule whatsoever, so plan your meals into your day. even make an alarm if its necessary. also: if you don’t know if you’re drinking enough water, you probably aren’t.

deep clean your room/workspace/closet. I’m super guilty for putting this off but, long breaks like summer are the perfect times to deep clean! what makes it easier for me to clean my room is to go section by section, which means not doing it all in a day (because that gets hella overwhelming and stressful, let me tell you). grab a garbage bag, put on some tunes, and pick a section to clean that day; you’ll be done with the entire space in no time!

outfit plan. for someone like me who has way too much in my closet and somehow still “never has anything to wear”, this is essential! set some outfits out on the floor/bed and take pics of them on your phone so that you can look back on them for some style inspo the next time you have “absolutely NOTHING to wear”.

find a new hobby, even if you’re bad at it. make some collages of your friends, make a scrapbook, learn photoshop, paint a little, learn how to sew, garden, cook, practice your phone photography skills… if there was a time for you to try out new things, it’s NOW.

make a post about all the shit you should do. I’m doing it right now. literally. you’re reading it right now. its not a bad idea.