Be Great. It's What You Were Born To Do.

Some days, I struggle. I nap at 7 PM, wake up at 9 PM, convince myself to haul my ass out of bed and study. 

Most days, I lose the motivation to study. I pour over the 15-20 page notes I typed over the course of 80 minutes and get overwhelmed that within this material holds the information to affect real people.

Here’s a short list of comforting activities to do this October! These range from basic self-care to luxurious so there should be something for everyone.

- snuggle up with blankets and pillows

- try a new recipe, even if it’s just adding spices to your hot chocolate

- pick your own pumpkin (bonus for supporting local growers!)

- journal, particularly gratitude journaling if you suffer from seasonal depression

- stay hydrated!

- eat! trying a new dinner idea once a week is a good way to keep food interesting if you have the money.

- go on an autumn stroll (keep cosy if it’s cold out and pre-plan an accessible route if you need to)

- write a list of things you need to do this month and challenge yourself to tick at least ½ off

- set yourself achievable goals

- read a scary or autumn-y book

- try to have at least one day completely off your phone even if this is broken up into hour-long blocks across the month

- have a candle-lit bubblebath or a luxurious shower

- invest in light therapy if the darker months get you down

- change your bedcovers or buy new seasonal ones

- try a new craft such as knitting

https://www.edx.org/school/harvardx

But TBH I prefer the MIT Open Coursewear approach. Feel like taking a class on the policy and economics of nuclear engineering? MIT’s got you covered:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-topic/#cat=engineering&subcat=nuclearengineering&spec=nuclearsystemspolicyandeconomics

In fact they’ve got  you covered with A LOT of their courses, everything from fine arts to immunology.

Here is a link to the 2018 Journal Challenge prompt list in case you get lost or forget which prompt you left off on.

2018 Journal Prompts

There is also a full uploaded version of the year’s worth of prompts when you click the link on the blog’s homepage.

01.06.18

Debuting my positive puppers! ✨🐶I’m so proud of these little doggos, and I hope their positivity helps you shine today! Featuring a shiba inu, german shepherd, and pomeranian. 💛

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.