#architectofthought

8.31.18

23 • 11 • 2017 // translate, translate!!

bullet journal setup for september with my a.p. environmental science notes in the background! for the sidebar i did a gratitude log. dank + emo = gratitude in esperanto lol.

8.22.18

with school starting soon (and if yours already started i wish you a good week!) i decided to make a masterpost of apps to help making the school year easier and more productive. So I picked some of my personal favorites and let’s check them out!

Phone apps:

Forest (iOS/Android/chrome extension) - 1,99$/free  forest used to be my fav focusing app while i used android, it’s pretty simple and super cute! Basically you set up a timer to let a forest grow and you turn your phone down. If you turn it up or close the app to check your tumblr dot com or something else, your forest dies and the counter stops!

Tide (iOS/Android) - free  tide is like a timer made for you to get focused. You set up the timer with the time you want to get focused and it will also provide background sounds like rain, the sounds of a forest, a coffee shop... while the timer’s on to help you focus even more (if you’re into that ofc)! If you prefer silence, the app also lets you turn the background sounds off. When your time’s up, it can send you a notification so you can have your well deserved break time!

Sleep Cycle alarm clock (iOS/Android) - free  not a morning person and you usually wake up grumpy (like me)?? this app is for ya!! sleep cycle alarm clock tracks your sleep and based on that it awakes you at the best time according to the app (thanks sleep cycles). But are you afraid to run late to class because the app didn’t wake you on time? Don’t worry, you can still set your usual alarm clock to wake you up!

Headspace (iOS/Android) - free  bad days, we all have them. but are you one of those people that don’t know what to do on a bad day?? Why don’t you try headspace? This meditation app it’s simple, intuitive and truly relaxing! You have dozens of “packs” so you can meditate for different things! Feeling stressed? Try the stress pack! Felling anxious? Try the anxiety pack! You already got the hint! Before trying all this packs you’ll do the basics where you are taught how to meditate and you also have small exercises to do if you don’t want to do a full session! Personally, this app really helped me passing some bad days and moments and it’s what somehow taught me how to be calm and relaxed on those rough days!

H2Opal (iOS/beta release on android) - free  this is already a current reminder in the studyblr community: stay hydrated, full stop. With H2Opal you can make that super easily! This app will give you reminders during the day to stay hydrated and how much you need to drink to reach your daily goal. When you drink you can either insert the amount of water you drank manually or you can buy their tracker that does that boring job for you and makes tracking water even more easier

My Study Life (iOS/Android/chrome extension) - free   i am a person who hates planning and this app saved my life. My Study Life tracks your schedule (holidays, your classes, the rooms...), exams and tasks and lets you know when they are close so you can have your life organized and don’t forget nothing! 

Curiosity (iOS/Android) - free  curiosity won’t help you study or keeping your life in order but will expand your genereal knowledge. Everyday curiosity provides you some articles (mostly science related) for you to read! You can mark them as favorite so you can read them later, you can access to the other days articles and it has podcasts! How cool huh?

Duolingo (iOS/Android) - free  you love languages but you have no time/money to learn a new one? use duolingo! This app lets you learn english, french, german, spanish, portuguese and italian (i guess you can have more or less languages to learn depending on your native language) and you work on your grammar, vocabulary, speech and writing. If you already learnt any of the languages and you want to relearn it, duolingo will make this 5 minute test to check how are you and what are your weakest points in that moment! That will be useful because when your start the real course you can have some of the classes done (mostly the basics) letting you learn what really matters! This app is super easy to use and it’s my go to learn new languages now!

Post-it Plus (iOS only) - free  the post it app! yes it’s what you’re wondering, a app with post its! This app lets you either create your own post its or take pictures to already existing ones and then you can arrange the same post its in boards like “chores”, “to do list”, “homework”... you create them, you choose! And to make it better you can also share your post its! This is super useful to note quick things like homework or dues when you have nothing at hand to note them!

Quizlet (iOS/Android) - free  we all know what quizlet is, right? This flashcards app saved my ass more than one time when i was feeling too lazy to make my own flashcards and i wanted to study differently for something! It’s easy to use and it’s super interactive! Besides letting you making your own flashcards, you can also search for already made ones, join classes, invite your friends and arrange your flashcards in binders so you can always know where they are!

Photomath (iOS/Android) - free  oh, is that that math homework you’re struggling for hours? And even done you still aren’t sure if it’s done that way? Why don’t you try photomath? This app basically scans maths problems and shows the answer and how to get there step by step! It might help you with homeworks but i still suggest you to ask your teacher how to solve it on the next class!

Computer apps:

Cold Turkey blocker (macOS/windows) - works with subscriptions but it has a free one   it already happened to all of us: we are supposed to be studying or working but instead we spend 1000000 hours watching cat videos on youtube and we get nothing done! Cold Turkey is here to help you with your problems! You set up which sites you want to block, for how long and at what days of the week! Distractions cut, productivity up and work done!

Cold Turkey writer (macOS/windows) - works with subscriptions but it has a free one  imagine the situation above but for one specific occasion: writing an essay. Cold turkey writer blocks all the distractions (like all, no exceptions on this one) until you write the number of words you set up for your essay or for the number of minutes you decide! As the website says “Cold Turkey writer runs full screen and turns your computer into a typewriter until you reach your specified goal”, so you better start writing if you want to check your favorite websites! 

You can check Cold Turkey website to understand more about the blocker and writer and how they work!