#thelookingbook

Aaah UNC! I went there, and my little sister just transferred there. #smallworld

I remember looking up to older friends, parents, teachers, professors and thinking they were so certain, so confident in what they were doing.

I was so wrong.

Each year we grow older, the clearer our eyes become at seeing the fears and insecurities that everyone faces. It’s part of life. It’s never going away.

And now that I’m trying to accept that, instead of dreaming about some future where I know exactly where I’m going, I can focus on working through my fears. I think the key is to outweigh your fears with excitement.

Get HYPED! Tell your brain to cut that crap out when it starts imagining the bad things that “could” happen. Prep. Plan. Let the satisfaction you’d feel at finishing each step fill you to your toes. Pretend it’s already happened, and you’re just making it happen again. Get madly happy that you’re actually getting to work on this. How many people get a chance to do what you’re doing?

YESSS LETS DO THIS. FOR YOU. FOR THEM.

So. It’s okay to be a little scared. The goal is to shift from thinking about how scared you are to being excited about this wonderful unknown future of yours. Feel it. This excitement is fueling your motivated rocket-self, jetting you to your goals!

I love tumblr for its strong supportive community, especially with studyblrs.

Then I realized I haven’t contributed much to that. I tend to just hit reblog or like, or focus on creating my own posts.

So, my March challenge is to be more active. I want to give back to those I follow for ideas and those who take the time to look at my posts. We’re all people, not robots, and having someone reach out to say something nice can be really motivating!

Want to join me in fighting the ghost?

Reblog this post to start and spread the word! Then commit to expressing daily or weekly support to fellow studyblrs. Here are some ideas:

-Reblog but add a personal comment -Send a direct message, compliment them on their style. Thank them for a specific post. How did it help you? Tell them! -Like AND comment on a post -Check out your follower list. Send a follower a message or comment on one of their posts that you like!

Comment or repost with ideas of your own. Let’s form a team of studyblr motivators, and use #studyblrghostbusters

Back in February, I designed a habit tracker (and drew a little robin for company). I want to try again this month! Want to join me? 

It's veeery satisfying to color in a square after doing something. But, even when I forgot to complete a habit (which happened a lot!), I reminded myself not to be disappointed. It's a good way to see how I spend my time, and what habits I could focus on and strengthen.

Here's how: 

1. In your existing journal/Passion Planner/sheet of loose leaf graphing paper, write out the month in big font. I use the grid pages at the back of my Passion Planner, with room for the whole year I personally like the idea of having all the habit trackers together. You can see how your prioritized habits change or get stronger over time. Pretty interesting. 

2. Count the number of days in your month. If you're at the middle or end of a month, you can add the last days in the beginning, as I did above. Draw your horizontal line beneath the month, making the length the number of squares needed for each day. Make sure the line starts a bit to the right of the page, so you have room to write your habits. Then on top of the line, number the days. 

3. Draw your vertical line, with one square for each habit you want to track. You can see how my line can easily extend, in case I add additional habits during the month. 

4. Choose a different color for each habit. (Visually it makes it easier to find which square I want to shade in). If you like things simple, you can also stick with one color. 

5. Now for the hard part. Choose your habits carefully. If you have too many, it'll be overwhelming, and you might not use the tracker. My rule is less than 10. A "habit" can be anything you'd like to work on daily: a project due in a month, a new way of doing something, a topic you're learning on the side, drinking water, encouraging someone. Endless opportunities! Write those babies in. 

6. Decide how you're going to track habits. Will you color in a square immediately after completion? At the end of the day? I also like to half color in a square if I sort of did a habit, but not completely. But stay honest. :P 

7. This step is completely optional, but accountability motivates me to actually do something. Reblog this if you decide to join the challenge. Declare yourself! Take it a step further? Post a picture of your own habit tracker, ready for action. Then, at the end of the month, post another picture of your completed tracker, no matter how many filled or empty squares there are. 

Remember, there's a treasure trove to be learned from empty squares, there is NO SHAME. (I'm planning a reflection post on those). 

For the past two weeks, I’ve been prepping for various interviews. So my current desk is simple. It helps me focus, is easy to clean, and I have a mini orchid for company 🙂