#studyplanning

✧ the elle woods study method: mindset makeover & foundation building ✧

hey lovelies! 💗

omg, i'm literally bursting with excitement to start this transformative series with you all! we're going to dive deep into actually studying like elle woods, and all her study methods. it's going to change your academic life. (while keeping you fabulous, obviously!)

let's start with the most crucial element - the elle woods mindset. you know how elle went from being underestimated at harvard to graduating with honors? that transformation began in her mind, and that's exactly where we're starting too!

the core principles of the elle woods mindset (get ready to take notes!):

unwavering self-belief: elle's iconic "what, like it's hard?" attitude wasn't just cute - it was crucial

authenticity as your superpower: your unique perspective is your strength

resilience through positivity: turning every "you can't" into "watch me"

strategic determination: working smarter, not just harder

maintaining your essence: success shouldn't mean losing yourself

let me break down how to actually build this mindset (because theory without practice is like a perfect outfit without accessories - incomplete!):

mindset foundation building: • start a daily confidence journal (pink, obviously!) • write three daily affirmations • document your wins, no matter how small • reflect on challenges and how you overcame them

goal setting the elle way: • dream big (harvard law big!) • break down major goals into mini-milestones • create realistic timelines • identify potential obstacles and plan solutions • celebrate every achievement (even the tiny ones!)

your personal success toolkit: • a dedicated study planner (color-coded, elle would approve) • positive affirmation cards • vision board (mix academic and personal goals) • progress tracking system • reward system for reaching milestones

practical assignments for this week:

yes, i'm giving you all homework, because what's a lesson without doing homework? <3

mindset makeover tasks: • create your confidence corner (a designated study space that makes you feel powerful) • write your personal academic manifesto • identify and challenge three limiting beliefs • create a morning power routine

organization prep: • get your study essentials (cute but functional!) • set up your planning system • create a semester overview • design your ideal weekly schedule

community building: • find your study buddies (your personal warner hunting club, but for academics!) • join study groups • set up accountability partnerships • create a support system

elle's journey wasn't about memorizing legal terms - it was about believing she belonged in those hallowed halls while wearing her signature pink. you deserve to feel that same confidence in your academic journey. <3

advanced tips for the overachievers (because why not be extra?):

record yourself giving pep talks for tough days

create a study aesthetic that energizes you

develop personal success rituals

build a playlist that makes you feel powerful

photograph your progress for motivation

coming up in this series:

time management secrets

memory techniques that actually work

note-taking methods that slay

exam preparation strategies

self-care routines for academic success

group study dynamics

presentation skills

stress management

celebration strategies

and more of course <3

remember: elle woods didn't just survive harvard - she thrived while being unapologetically herself. that's our goal too! you're not just going to study better; you're going to build an academic approach that celebrates who you are.

homework time (but make it fun):

create your academic vision board

write your semester goals

design your ideal study schedule

set up your success tracking system

prepare your study space

xoxo, mindy

p.s. don't forget to reblog and follow for the complete series! we're building our own little academic sorority here! <3

Well guys winter break started almost everywhere I think so it’s time to give you my experience on how I stay productive during such a busy period with so many things to do and so much place to go. 

What does staying productive means?

Productivity comes in so many forms, it can be just planning the week, organising all the school materials or changing the study place and try to go to the library. 

For me staying productive means organising all the study material and start to at least read them and take some superficial notes. I do also listen the lectures and type them down not all of them but the ones I missed during the semester. 

How can I manage to stay productive?

We all know that staying productive means a lot of concentration and dedication because keep studying after the school/uni finish is something that every student dislike. Personally I find myself more motivated to stay productive if I can do something even just reading some slides during those dead moments between festivities. 

I obviously take a break between the last day of the semester and the “study hard” time. For example this Year I will start to study from the 26th to the 30th morning and afternoon, no evening, and then from the 3rd to the 7th I do just afternoons and evening. 

How I organise?

Print a calendar or use a digital calendar on your phone! I can’t stress enough how this is so important. This gives you a visual timeline and how many days are left for real studying and where your deadlines are. 

What I use: 

@emmastudies​ monthly calendar printable and time work log/ pomodoro printable

Filofax / Tempo personal daily

Count Only 

Iphone/Mac Digital Calender/ Outlook / google they work all fine

Temup

Gather all your material. Another important thing is to group all the material in one place. I like using binder because I can hold textbooks, slides and my notes all together, if they are digital I still print them out and place them in the binder. 

Take a calculator and a sheet of paper. You might think why these materials.. Well I tend to divide the work evenly between the days so let’s say I have 3 Groups of Slides (30 pg each) 2 textbook chapters (around 70 pg)  and 35 exercises/mock questions and four days. I know that I can do around 15 pg per hour including summarising each paragraph in a small sentence on the margin and Highlighting. I have totally 160 pg so I divide that number for 15, 10h 15min of study excluding the exercise. Once I calculated that I write it down on the piece of paper and start to see when I can do those 10H session between those four days. 

Take again the calendar. Once you repeat the step above with all your material start to plan achievable goals for each day in your calendar. That means that if I know that I have to go out with some friends in the afternoon I won’t cram 5h of study that morning, I would probably do three hours in the morning and when I would come back if I feel I would see the plan and check if I was behind on something and manage it. 

Tips and Tricks I learned during the way. 

I always have been one of those content procrastinator, I would come home and watch Netflix, Youtube videos and tried to stayed out all day to not study. I started to change when I started University this year after changing my major, I was so motivated to start with a good step and I brought home some really good results. Here few tips and tricks.

The smaller the task the better. This seems something really strange for a productivity tips but it’s so true. If you set mini goals it’s easier to get through.

instead of writing 

Chemistry chapter 3 pages 74-113 

write 

Chemistry: 

3.1- 3.4 pg 74-82

3.5 - 3.8 pg 83-100

3.9 -3.11 pg 101 - 112

excercises pg 116-120

Don’t cram your days. Planning unachievable study goals or too much task for a day is a common thing when you start planning. I start to break down my big task and saw that most of the time I wasn’t completing them just because I was setting too big goals both with study and in general. 

Use a productivity app or make two accounts on the laptop.. Most of the students tend to get distracted when studying both with the phone and the laptop. 

Productivity app: This is really good for two aspects: It blocks you from using certain sites or apps and it tracks the time you really study. Sometimes we really think that we study 4/5 hours but the time we spend really on the books is maybe 1-1 and 1/2 hours. 

Forest, Momentum and 

Two accounts on the laptop: I have in my laptop two accounts one with games/apps and social sites unblocked and the other where I have all the study/university related things with most of the social not logged in and with those sites blocked.

Boost your energy with breaks and food. Another things students tend to avoid because you “loose time” but the brain need to pause and get back on track as our focus decrease after 50 minutes. Don’t cram study sessions try to do like 50 min, 10 min, 50 min, 10 min and after three times a 20 min break instead of 10. Don’t absolutely skip meals, it’s something that is not good first for you health and second for the brain, you’ll deconcentrate easily as the brain doesn't have enough sugar to work. 

Keep track of exams, mock and don’t stay too much time without reading a subject. This might sound strange but a way to stay productive is keep pushing ourselves to do better, but how can we do it? well keeping track of everything we can so scores, percentage of an essay, errors we do in mocks and exams is a great way to boost yourself because if you see you are going better is the way to go, if not it’s time to change something. Another way to boost your productivity is to make an habit out of it, so don’t abandon a subject more than 4 days in a row!

10/11/2017

It is actually 2:00 am, 11/11, and yesterday/today wasn’t really productive, but tomorrow will be better (hopefully).

Wrote one summary of the eight papers I have to deliver for my Comparative Literature class (only two to go!)

Tried to work on my English Narrative presentation on “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde. I love the cover illustration, it’s so beautiful and soothing. I also especially like that my copy of it is page-to-page comparative translation into german. Is always good to aquire some vocabulary (and maybe train my awful pronunciation). It is a group project, so I can’t really do much without the rest of the group, which is frustrating since it messes with my planning.

Went to my pilates class, which was quite heavy. My arms and legs hurt, but I feel good for exercising. 

I love your page and I usually look to it for inspiration and motivation or just good vibes! Recently I've been struggling and feeling daunted by my study workload :(( (´～｀) and I just wanted to ask if you have any advice or tips for feeling overwhelmed?

✧ whispers for when studies feel too heavy ✧

hey lovely!! ♡ (⋆ˊ•͈⑅•͈ˋ)⋆

omg first of all thank you so much for your sweet message!! it literally makes my heart so happy that you find inspiration here~~ ✧ 

feeling overwhelmed with studies is something i know allll too well (currently drowning in my own last assignments as we speak lol) so please know you're not alone in this at all!! academic burnout is literally the worst but i promise we can work through this together!!

so here's the thing about feeling overwhelmed with studies that nobody really talks about... it's usually not just about the workload itself but how we're approaching it mentally!! our brains can make mountains out of molehills when we're stressed and suddenly everything feels impossible??

here are some tips that have genuinely saved me from academic meltdowns:

• get a separate notebook where you literally just scribble out every single thought, worry, assignment, deadline that's floating in your head. our brains get so cluttered with all these floating tasks that we can't even think straight!! once it's on paper, your mind can actually relax because it doesn't need to keep remembering everything. i do this every morning and it's changed my life.

• when you're super overwhelmed, identify the ONE task that's making you feel the most dread (we all have that one assignment that makes us want to crawl under the covers). break it down into ridiculously tiny steps. like... not "write essay" but "open document," "write one sentence," "find one source." the smaller the better!! trick your brain into starting.

• most study advice says to block out huge chunks of focused time but that's literally setting yourself up for failure?? instead, try 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 15 minute break (not the standard 5!). the longer break actually helps your brain process information better. and be honest about how long things take you!! if readings always take longer than you think, schedule accordingly.

• at the end of each day, write down EVERYTHING you accomplished, even tiny things like "responded to one email" or "read 3 pages." we're so focused on what's left to do that we never acknowledge how much we've already done!! this creates a feeling of progress rather than endless tasks.

• create different audio environments for different types of work. i have specific playlists for writing (instrumental only), reading (ambient coffee shop sounds), memorization (baroque classical), and planning (soft piano). your brain starts to associate each soundscape with a specific type of focus!!

• find a study buddy who doesn't even need to be studying the same thing. just knowing someone else is working alongside you (even virtually!) reduces procrastination by like 80%?? there are literally websites now where you can work with strangers and it's so helpful for accountability without the distraction of chatting. just make sure to be safe! and if you choose to find an irl study buddy, just make sure you feel safe/comfortable with them.

• instead of starting with today and planning forward, start with your deadlines and work backwards. this gives you a much clearer picture of what needs to happen when!! most people plan from today forward and that's why we end up in deadline crunches.

remember that overwhelm happens when we try to hold everything in our heads at once!! your brain literally cannot process all those tasks simultaneously. the goal isn't to do everything at once but to create systems that let you focus on one thing at a time while trusting that the rest is accounted for.

also!! please remember to be gentle with yourself?? academic pressure can be so intense but at the end of the day your worth isn't tied to your productivity or grades. take little breaks to just exist and breathe. make yourself a cute drink. light a candle. put on lotion. tiny moments of care make such a difference when you're in the thick of stress.

sending you so much love and strength!! you've got this and i believe in you completely. feel free to send more asks if you need specific help with anything!! we're all just figuring it out together one day at a time <3

xoxo mindy <3