Productivity who? Never heard of her

12.5.19 //

i love you

grad school is fucking hard. around september i start getting messages from first-year grad students who are in various stages of first-year panic–i’ve made a mistake, i can’t do this, everyone knows more than me, i don’t understand what i’m supposed to do, why did they accept me, i’m an idiot. few things here.

it’s okay if you are having a rough go of it. you’re not alone in that. if nobody’s told you that this is normal, here it is: this is normal. that doesn’t make it suck less, but it may be comforting to know.

nobody “does academia” naturally. we learn it at different stages, and it also looks different at different institutions. just because other folks seem to have a different mindset or approach to grad school than you do, this does not mean yours is incorrect or inferior. we all do it differently. that is a good thing. 

faculty are humans too. some of them are better teachers than others. don’t make someone’s bad teaching your fault. if you’re showing with a desire to learn, and you’re doing the work, you’re doing good. 

it is often a steep, steep curve. give yourself a break, be kind, and trust yourself to get there. i have been on grad admissions committees. we don’t make “mistakes”; nobody gets in accidentally. if you’re there, you’re there because they believe you can do it. it’s up to you to decide if you want to.

↳ 12.04.19. wednesday

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year.

Its a YOU year! Cheers to happier days in 2020 friends 🥂

based on this post, with my own additions. these tips can be used both for school tasks and for everyday tasks like cooking or cleaning, but they are mostly focussed on school!

not working because you feel tired?

eat and drink something! often I don’t notice that I’m hungry or thirsty and just feel really fatigued and don’t know why. then I eat/drink and feel better really quickly!

have something with a bit of caffeine.

try to expose yourself to natural (or at least bright) light.

do a mini workout to get your heart pumping. skipping is fun?

keep yourself stimulated. play upbeat music, use bright colours in your notes, etc.

not working because you’re struggling to think straight or or organise your thoughts?

talk through what you need to get done with a friend, your teacher/professor, etc. they can help you organise your thoughts around the task and come up with a plan!

break the task up into small, easy to approach chunks. write them down.

use a visual planning method like a mindmap to organise your thoughts - putting them down like this can help you sort out the confusing tangled mess of thoughts in your brain.

not working because you feel bored or frustrated with the task and are struggling to push through it?

reward yourself for completing parts of the task (keep the reward non-distracting though, or it can lead to the next problem!). you could set up an accountability system with a friend - they could, for example, promise to bake you something if you manage to get a task done on time.

list the reasons why you should finish the task. use these as motivation.

relieve your restless energy by doing something active during your breaks (like working out), and by keeping yourself stimulated while working on the task (for example by using a fidget toy).

if it’s frustrating because it’s difficult, get help!

modify the task to make it a bit more fun. relate it back to your interests, use fun stationery, etc. this might involve asking your teacher/professor if you can complete an alternate task. they’re usually pretty accommodating.

not working because you’re distracted by other activities?

use an app like ‘Forest’ to encourage you to work solidly on your task for a period of time without getting distracted.

block distracting websites.

write down thoughts and activities that you want to come back to later after finishing your task, rather than getting caught up in them.

related to above - use the Chrome extension ‘Tab Snooze’ to put distracting browser tabs away for later.

if you don’t need internet for your task, go work somewhere where you can’t access the internet.

not working because you feel stressed about the task and trying to do it makes you feel worse?

try the two-minute rule - work on the task for just two minutes. you might find that after this time the initial anxiety around starting the task has faded and you can continue to work on it.

similarly, break your task up into small, manageable chunks and approach them one-by-one. remember that something is better than nothing, even if that something is just writing out the subheadings in your report.

try to make your work environment calm and comfy to soothe you while you work on the task - turn a heater on if you like it to be warm, keep the space minimal and organised, play calm music, etc.

may 2020 bring you your “i’m doing better than i ever was” moment