So I Want To Call You. Every Cell In My Body Is Screaming At Me To Just Pick Up The Phone. Just Pick

6.05pm > 6.15pm > 6.22pm

How to study for an exam when you really don’t know how to start

Clean your room/space, tidy your desk, make your space feel neat and focused. The space we are in means a lot, don’t confine yourself to a messy space.

Make sure you also feel ready. Freshly showered, has a good meal, did some movement-based activity. You can’t focus as easily if you feel all messy and uncomfy.

Put your work in order, what is most important? If you’re taking an exam over a specific topic i.e Biology, look for the most mentioned topics. Those will be what you study most. When I took AP Psych, I found the outline online that said what percentage of the test would be what topic, and studied those flashcards, notes, and videos.

Likewise, figure out how much you need to do every day to get done in time. If you have 20 chapters left in a book and each one is 15 pages then take 300 pages divided by how many days left (say 40) leaving 7.5 pages a day minimum. 

Block out time to study. Make sure you have no distractions, phone on silent, friends know you’re unavailable. This is its own test, a test of focus!

Go to review days if you have them Your instructor should explain what’s on the exam and what is expected of you, and if you miss out on important details you’ll really notice later. It may seem like skipping gives you more time to study, but you’ll be at a disadvantage in the end.

If you feel yourself getting distracted, reading the passage with no recollection of the content, or about to slam your head into the table, take a break. Go for a short walk, get a snack, stretch, get a glass of water, have a little dance party. Breaks count as being productive, self-care is important.

Feel free to switch up your studying methods. Taking notes every day or reading chapter after chapter of a subject gets boring. Do flashcards, Draw or make a diagram. Studying the brain? Draw and label it. Use funky pens sticky notes. Varying your methods of study will not only help you grasp the material better, but it’ll keep you from getting bored.

Find a friend or join a study group. There are a lot at different universities or even just create your own with like-minded folks. You can even do one online like I do. There are many discords for this. I’m in one and it’s great to hold each other accountable and share goals.

You can also switch up your space. Everyone has a different type of place they work best. Maybe a library, cafe, park, bedroom, couch, restaurant. Don’t stay couped up. 

Use apps like Tide, Forest, Flora, Quizlet and more. I seriously use these every day. Tide is my favorite, it incorporates white noise and nature sounds with a Pomodoro timer, as well as three settings for Focus, Relax, and Sleep.

Make studying aesthetically pleasing. Studyblrs are on to something here! You don’t need to have expensive things or show them off but have pens you like, fun highlighter and sticky notes. Pick out playlists of music that makes you feel focused.

Affirm and trust yourself! When you get that flashcard right? Heck yeah! You did it holy crap! Celebrate! Be proud of yourself. You worked hard, you deserve to feel good. Your best is good enough, and your best may vary day-to-day.

I will never forget those moments in which I lay on your chest and your heartbeat was what calmed me.

R.R.

Kümmere dich um dein Mädchen bevor es ein anderer macht.

Quelle: smokeannndmirrors

Bullet Journaling: A Guide

I’ve decided to make a little guide for anyone who might be thinking about starting a bujo but doesn’t know where to begin. 

What is a bullet journal and why should you have one?

It can work as a mix of a to-do-list, planner, diary, art journal, notebook, tracker etc.

you can use it as a planner for your work/school life, personal life or a mix of both

Tbh it can be anything you want, that’s what so nice about a bujo, some things may work for you and some things might not!

Use it to have some quality time with yourself, relaxing, being creative, getting your shit together. I think everyone has different reasons for having one. I do it because it helps me relax, makes me remember all I have to do and then it’s also a way for me to stay a little creative when I don’t normally have time to paint and draw so much.

What do you need to start a bullet journal?

You might have seen a lot of extremely beautiful pictures floating around the internet with expensive notebooks and fancy pens, but you don’t need anything like that at all. This is what I think you need:

Some kind of notebook. It doesn’t really matter which one, some people like Lechtturm or Moleskine, but any notebook you have lying around will work just fine. (Maybe just don’t get one with 300 pages as it will seem overwhelming to have to finish it)

Pay attention to if it has blank, lined, gritted or dotted pages tho! For a journal focusing mostly on art, I would recommend blank pages, and for writing a lined. If you want your journal to have perfectly straight lines, a gritted journal will probably work the best. If you want something in between or don’t really know exactly what you want, I think you should choose the dotted one (that’s also what I use).

Some kind of pens and pencils. Just pay attention to if they will bleed through your pages!

Optional: Scraps of paper, colored tape (washi tape), (polaroid) pictures, old tickets, stickers, watercolors, pressed flowers, cute wrapping paper or literally anything you have lying around or anything you think look cute! 

Practical things like glue, a ruler, a scissor

What should/could you put in your bullet journal?

I will give you a lot of ideas to spreads etc but don’t make them just because. Some things will work for you and a lot of things probably won’t. It can be tiring to make a lot of pages with things that don’t help you at all. Your bujo shouldn’t feel like a burden, so if you find a spread not working for you, then simply drop it :) 

*Start off with an intro page, maybe write your name, phone number and email in case it gets lost. Your bujo can quickly become one of your most beloved things so be careful!

*Make a key page with what symbols will you be using for tasks, completed tasks, events, birthdays, appointments etc.

*Maybe make an index. Some people like using it, but I abandoned mine pretty quickly, so again, that’s up to you.

*Yearly overview

*Monthly overview

*Weekly spreads. Most people include these pages and they might be the ones you will use the most with daily to-do-lists and the like.

*You can let your spreads be inspired by lots of different things as colors, seasons, holidays, the movie you just watched, an album, a place, a smell, a feeling, outer space, a person etc. Also don’t be afraid to play with different shapes and textures.

Page over your contacts, and important birthdays

*Habit tracker page (you can track sleep, water, exercise, spendings, medication, yoga etc) This can also easily be incorporated in your weekly spreads.

*Since we are close to the new year, you can do resolutions for the year.

Monthly/weekly/daily goals

*Memory pages. These could include a spread from new years, Christmas or a café trip with a good friend.

*Travel logs. You can write it like a diary or just glue in tickets and draw something.

*Gratitude log. Write 1-3 things every day that you are grateful for.

*Movies/series to watch

Books to read

*Book reviews

Music to listen to

*Favourite songs

Bucket list

*Paint test pages

*Brain dump pages

School assignments overview

*Grade tracker

*Exam planner

Class schedule

Favourite lyrics

*Favourite quotes

Gift ideas

*Christmas gifts planner

Wishlist. Update it whenever something pops into your mind so you will have some wishes when people ask you.

Dream log

Passwords for different websites

Countdown page

*Mood tracker

*Random doodle page

Highlights of 2018

Un-do list (bad habits)

Handwriting practice

*Different writing challenges like 6-word stories or a sentence a day.

Playlists for different moods

List of your favourite things

Savings tracker

Your budget

+ literally a thousand more!

*The ones I’ve tried

General tips

When you start your journal it can be very hard to be satisfied with it right away and you might be tempted to rip out pages. If you think this will happen, I suggest numbering your pages from the start. I would recommend not ripping anything out anyway because when you’re 50 pages in, it’s fun to see how much it has changed over time.

if you want your bujo to be a little artsy, I would recommend always outlining with a pencil before you start using your pens.

If you don’t feel like an index will work but you still want it to be organized, you can color code it with tape on the side of the paper. Ex. you can use your red flower tape every time you start a new month.

Check tags like #bujo #bulletjournal #weeklyspread and #journal on social media to get tons of inspiration. 

Check some of my favourite bujoblrs out like: @bujo-rd @bujo-ie @howlsmovingdesk @peachdanik-journal @studylustre @studygramjess @studyblr @problematicprocrastinator @kaylareads @heyrosiebee @academi @ohghiblies @hannybstudies @therobotstudies @studyquill @vanillastudies  @stillstudies + many many more. You can also check out my blog for inspiration.

I think that’s about it, I hope I covered it okay. Happy bullet journaling!

- Bujowsofie

socks