welcome,

01/23/2021 ✨ happy weekend!

how to self motivate & learn on your own when your university goes online 

☁️ map out your entire course(s)

make a list of everything you need to know by the end of the term.

add HOW you will learn each outcome (textbook sections, online lecture videos e.t.c.).

make a list of all assignments you need to complete and their due dates.

☁️ make a longterm plan

add all important dates to a calendar. I personally prefer to put them on my phone and set alerts. 

make your own due-dates of when you will have outcomes learned by, based on when you will have to understand those concepts to complete assignments and assessments.

☁️ set up a work-only space

set up an area in your home that is for study/work only! make this a place where you’re able to focus without distraction.

☁️ mimic a class schedule

attend any live online classes as they occur

take notes from any pre-recorded lectures when you would usually have that lecture in a day

OR: make your own class schedule with the same number of hours per course that you had during the regular semester

keeping to a regular schedule ensures you’re on track and keeping up

☁️ ask for help!

don’t be afraid to contact your instructors and TAs!

I can’t stress this enough. I wish I could get through to everyone I know. If you try to organise and be productive with every minute of your day, eventually, your body will pull the rug out from under you in a dramatic fashion, and you may end up being able to do very little at all, in a world that has no sympathy for people who need to rest.

So rest now. And work on making sure the people around you know it’s OK to rest.

And don’t feel guilty for resting. Practice telling yourself that rest - quality rest, where you’re not stressing about something you feel you ought to be doing - is actually a productive thing to do for your body.

You are an animal. You need to respect that animal’s needs. That includes laying about doing nothing as much as it does enrichment and running about.

Even your fucking computer gets overheated and slow if you don’t allow it to shut down and update sometimes (which is actually a lot of what sleep does for humans, btw). You eve notice how sometimes your browser just crashes sometimes because you have too many tabs open, or one of the tabs is causing the whole machine to run slowly?

So don’t tell yourself you want to work like a machine because guess what? Machines fucking fall over all the time if you overload them, try to do too many things at once, or don’t let them rest.

so let me tell you, in case you haven't heard this ever, that in my experience, being an adult is 100x better than being a kid or teenager. being able to more or less control my living space and who i spend time with, being able to prioritize my health and wellbeing, being able to be who i truly am and pursue my interests and hobbies... all of that is worth the other dumb stuff, and none of it was possible when i was a minor. honestly, I've just gotten happier and happier the older I've gotten.