Study Tips That I Learned Through Failures!

focus is a skill. self-awareness is a skill. being non-reactive is a skill. conscious breathing is a skill. consistency is a skill. controlling your impulses is a skill. observance is a skill.

a skill is not mastered through willpower alone, by simply deciding that, from now on, you have it. skills are acquired through effort, through trial and error, through policing of one's actions. you're going to fumble, trip and fall on your face often while learning these skills; it does not mean they are unachievable, or that you're failing at them: it means you're learning.

when you falter, pick yourself up, assess your mistake, and stay tuned for the next opportunity to try again, as many times as it takes until you feel that rush of "wow. I got it!". absolutely nothing fruitful comes from sitting around moping about how you're not there yet.

book review: Stolen focus by Johann Hari

Major learnings from this book. It basically talks about focus, why and how we’re losing it. Why can’t we pay attention anymore? Are we individuals to blame or our systems? 

There will be a time when the upper class will be extremely aware of the risks to their attention (caused by tech, social media, our current generation) and the masses, with fewer resources to resist the temptation of technology, will be manipulated more and more by their computers. 

Multitasking is a myth. What actually happens when we multitask is that we “juggle” between tasks. This results in incomplete tasks, higher error rates, less focus, less creativity and memory decreases. 

Sleep is extremely important, especially sleeping according to nature - when the sun sets and sun rises. If the whole world slept the way we are naturally programmed, we would have an economic earthquake. Our economic systems run on sleep deprived people. 

Reading online and reading print has a huge difference. Reading online creates tendencies of skimming and scanning text. This prevents our brain from focusing intently on one story at a time, which print allows you to do. You also remember and understand things from printed texts better. 

Empathy. Certain research suggests that reading fiction and novels improves empathy, because you are immersing yourself in another character’s life for a while. Empathy has played a huge role in human advancements. If a group of white people did not realise that colonisation was wrong, if men did not realise that women deserve equal rights, we would not have independent nations nor be close to gender equality today. 

There are multiple types of paying attention. Focused attention is one thing. But day dreaming and letting your mind wander with no distraction (that is, being alone with your thoughts) is equally important. Some of the most important breakthroughs in human history were because the inventors were not actively focusing on solving the problem. 

Being on social media = giving a free pass to be manipulated. No thoughts, opinions, desires that you have are original. They have all been fed into you by social media and the online world. It is by their design that we cannot focus. 

Leaked internal records of Facebook show that they are aware that their algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness. 64% of people, for instance, who join extremist groups join because FB’s algorithm directly recommends too. “Our recommendation systems grow the problem.” Zuckerberg eventually terminated the unit that was studying this. 

Diet and attention. The diet we consumed today is a diet that causes regular energy spikes and energy crashes. Our food does not have the nutrients we need for our brains to function well. Our current diets actively contain chemicals that seem to act on our brains almost like drugs.  

Be careful about reading research, especially when it’s funded by the industry itself. For 40 years, the lead industry funded all the scientific research into whether it was safe, and assured the world that it was. Lead later turned out to severely stunt your ability to focus and pay attention and that you are more likely to get ADHD. 

We define success broadly as economic growth. Economies should het bigger, companies should get bigger. Growth can happen in two ways - either the companies find new markets or they persuade the existing consumers to consume more. If you can get people to eat more or to sleep less, you’ve found the source of economic growth. It results in people working overtime, not having enough time with family, friends and themselves, stress and anxiety prone, lack of sleep and bad health, etc. 

Conclusion: use precommitment to stop switching tasks, try to focus more on intrinsic motivation than extrinsic, go off social media periodically (say 1 month at a time) and then extend those breaks; everyday spend 1 hour in walking in silence (no music, conversations or people- and if this is in nature, even better) to connect with yourself, 8 hours of sleep every night, build on slow practices like yoga, cut out processed food, take your PTO!!

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Hi! Any advice on how to bring up iron levels?

Iron deficiency is quite common among women; it’s best to seek your doctor’s guidance to create a tailored plan that suits your needs.

For best results, consume your iron supplements with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice or citrus varieties, and consider taking vitamin C supplements to enhance absorption.

Consistency is key - To ensure effectiveness, it’s crucial to take your iron supplements regularly and on an empty stomach. (provided you have no gastric concerns)

Start using cast iron cookware for all your meals; it naturally leaches trace amounts of iron into your food, which offers a beneficial boost for those with iron deficiency, and can help boost iron levels.

Evaluate the factors that inhibit iron absorption to maximize the impact of your diet; steer clear of calcium (such as dairy), phytates in grains and beans, and beverages like coffee and tea, as they can obstruct absorption.

Our bodies are most efficient at absorbing heme iron, with red meat, chicken, beef liver, and certain fish serving as prime sources. We can absorb non-heme iron, albeit with lower efficiency, found in foods such as spinach, tofu, beans, and leafy greens.

Vitamin C enhances the absorption of non-heme iron; consider incorporating more tomatoes, citrus fruits, and red, yellow, and orange peppers into your diet.

Begin incorporating iron-rich juices into your diet, with beet juice being the optimal choice; and aim for daily consumption over a two-week period to boost your iron levels.

Begin your day by drinking blackstrap molasses on an empty stomach every morning. Molasses is an excellent source of iron, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B6; I personally enjoy taking two tablespoons straight, but it can also be diluted in water.

Go where you’re wanted and cherished, not just tolerated. This applies to every area of your life: relationships, jobs, environments. Our energy is like currency. If we keep investing it in things that give nothing back, we end up drained. But when we pour into what pours back, we grow. You can only try to force alignment for so long before it starts costing you more than it’s worth.

You might not be valuable in everyone’s eyes, but to the right people, you’re exactly the blessing they’ve been praying for. That doesn’t mean settling or forcing yourself into spaces you don’t like; it means opening yourself up to new ones you didn’t know you’d love, and that love you right back.

“I want to look back and say that I was alive. That I didn’t turn my back. That I tried. That I was happy.”

— Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

YOU DO NOT HEAL BY UNDERSTANDING YOUR TRAUMA

You heal by feeling safe enough to stop repeating it

Not reverting to your old coping mechanisms anymore is how you break the cycle

You want to understand because understanding gives the illusion of control

When we go through pain our mind kicks into overdrive trying to make sense of it. It’s the mind’s way of saying If I can figure this out, I can prevent it from happening again

Sometimes there isn’t a logical answer that will make the pain go away because it had nothing to do with you. And trying to intellectualize everything can become a way to avoid feeling the things that actually needs to move through the body

We try understanding because it’s less scary than sitting in the unknown. Stop trying to solve everything like a puzzle and instead start soothing the part of us that feels afraid, abandoned, unworthy etc

You don’t need another explanation

You need a hug

A deep breath

A new boundary

Or someone who looks at you and tells you that it wasn’t your fault

Because it wasn’t 🤍