elenaandherexponents

[elenaandherexponents]

A friend once asked me how I manage to do my tasks so efficiently. I wrote a 500-word essay in 20 minutes. I finished my math homework and studied for a quiz in the half hour before morning assembly. I sleep at 9 pm on most nights. But how can I possibly achieve that?

I’ve seen people, even good students, check their phone every minute or two as they’re studying. I’ve seen students “study” for six hours straight, meaning taking down some notes then watching a YouTube video then reading their textbook then opening Instagram… you know what I mean.

My advice is to commit to whatever you’re doing. Not too long ago, another friend asked me, “Jo, do you ever get distracted at home?” to which I replied, “Distracted by what?” They told me about how they always have the urge to check their phones, talk to their friends, or get some food.  I can’t say I never get distracted, but it very rarely happens to me because I focus on what I’m doing–and only what I’m doing. Here’s how:

1. During the time I allocate for working, I turn my phone to airplane mode (with WiFi switched off, of course). No messages or notifications will distract me from what I’m currently doing. Recently, though, I’ve left my phone on in case there’s anything important. There might an RMUN photoshoot tomorrow, or a Physics quiz, or a music showcase. I know myself well enough to know that I have the discipline to do nothing more than glance at the notification. However, if this isn’t true for you, then I suggest you keep your phone on airplane mode.

2. When I allocate time for relaxing, that’s all I do. No homework. No textbooks. No opening emails as they come. Just me and a good book or Photoshop or the piano or something. That way, I can satiate my thirst to relax within the half hour or so and not crave more when I start working

As for music, it’s been proven that music makes you less productive when trying to recall and absorb information (studying, in other words). Music only makes you happier when you’re doing things but not more productive.

By this, I don’t only mean which ones are most urgent, but which ones you can’t accomplish anywhere other than at home. For example, let’s say you have these three tasks: a) research about structural unemployment; b) write a poem with the theme of death; c) answer some questions about quantum physics; d) do a problem set about implicit functions; and e) memorize a set of chemical reactions. This is how I would do them:

Write the poem on the way to school. Maybe this is just because I like poetry. And because I can’t write when other people are around. I’d probably get a first draft done by the time I get home.

Do the research about structural unemployment. My school’s WiFi is terrible.

Answer the quantum physics questions. The new information is still fresh in my brain and doing the homework will help me revise, easing the process of spaced repetition.

Memorize the chemical reactions before I go to bed. Studying before you sleep is supposed to improve your memory, and since my memory is terrible, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Do the implicit functions problem set as soon as I get to school the next morning. Math is undoubtedly my best subject, and it’s very refreshing to do math at 6:45 AM in the morning.

If you saw the pattern, I assigned each task a time slot when I would be most productive. I also did them from easiest to most difficult to the easiest again. Because everyone works differently, I suggest you find out which types of tasks are the most difficult (memorizing, in my case) and which types of tasks require a certain environment (e.g. requiring WiFi for doing research).

I guess that’s pretty much self-explanatory. I like to nap right after I get home from school if I’m feeling especially tired. As for breaks, I prefer to take them between tasks instead of every 25 minutes because of my high study inertia.

Commit to what you’re doing

Delegate and prioritize

Give yourself shorter deadlines

Take breaks!

And that’s it! Hope this guide to efficiency was helpful in some way. I do believe that by following these four steps, you can accomplish all your tasks in a much shorter amount of time. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to drop me an ask!

[elenaandherexponents]

push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.

[elenaandherexponents]

When studying, most people try to find motivation thinking that this will get them through their study session, or they will see their failure as a result of a lack of motivation. While motivation might be useful in the short term, discipline is what you need in the long term to succeed. 

Lets take a look at the difference:

motivation- a goal or reward that you look forward to that will encourage you to study - while this is useful, what happens on a day when you just don’t feel like studying?

discipline- being trained to routinely study regardless of how unmotivated you are - this is what will get you out of bed on a day you don’t feel like studying.

How to become self-disciplined:

1. Just do it. Whatever the task is, whether its due in a month or due tomorrow, just get on with it. No point procrastinating because you’re wasting time. Instead you can do the task and then reward yourself! Be harsh on yourself (but not too harsh!). Set short term goals, make a to-do list, delete all social media, do whatever it takes to just get that damn task done!

2. No zero days!. whether its studying for 30 mins or 3 hours, study for some time everyday. This will help help develop a routine and make it easier for you to cope. Also, by studying everyday you’re brain will know that the content you are learning should be stored as long-term information so this will benefit you during exam season!

3. Avoid long breaks. Unless you are 100% confident that taking an hour break means ONY an hour break then you can ignore this step. But like the majority, we can get extremely distracted and our hour break can end up being a 4 hour break and then we realise it’s time to go to bed?! To avoid this, only take small breaks when you know you are losing energy/ concentration. The last thing you want is studying for 30 mins and your brain is in the mood to be productive, then you take a 15 min break and come back but realise you want a longer break and not in the mood to study anymore. 

4. Be patient. It’s going to be a rough journey, it’s going to be hard but you’ve got this! Take it one step at a time. Start off by completing one task a day, then move to two, then three, and the next thing you know, you’ll have a regular routine where you will constantly be ticking off your to-do list everyday! Also, please be kind to yourself, know when your body is not in the right state of health to study and don’t force it. Only force yourself to a limit, you’ll know when to stop and that’s ok. Just try again when you feel better!

thank you for reading this and I hope this has helped, please feel free to message me!

[elenaandherexponents]

4.19.19 - 12/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday I did fairly well as far as studying is concerned, until people drew me into binge watching and then I read an entire book unrelated to my course work :P However, I did manage to do a regular section of geometry and then get 2/3 of the way through a project that is worth 10% of my grade (scary!)

🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩

Pictured: More Algebra 2 notes in which I am very happy with how they came out!

🎧 Song of the Day: Not What I Meant by Dodie 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

I definitely need this :D

how come some people can just be …. so focused all the time. where do u get ur motivation from. can i have some

[elenaandherexponents]

4.18.19- 11/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday was better than Monday, but I basically spent the entire day studying for this one Spanish test that turned out to be much easier than I thought it would be. This is an example of the challenges that come along with independent studying, and having to regulate your own schedule and how much time you spend per subject. On the other hand, I do seem to have a much better estimate of how long an assignment will take me now.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Pictured: Some of the notes that I have recently taken for social studies :D I’m really proud of how aesthetic each of the papers look and I’m grateful that I have the means to pursue this interest of mine (taking fancy notes, that is)!

🎧 Song of the Day: Blue by Troye Sivan 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

i wrote half an essay in 20mins today when it’s not even due for another 4 weeks, reblog this to have a productivity lightning bolt strike you like it did me today

[elenaandherexponents]

4.17.19- 10/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday i did a much better job of getting work done than I did on Monday; I actually finished a relatively large social studies project early two days early for once, took some science notes, did some membean, and began to study for a spanish test. I just remembered that I haven’t actually shouted my instagram out on here yet so if you want to follow that, it’s @elenaandherexponents :)

🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏🍏

Pictured: Some Algebra 2 notes and all of my stationery! I’m thinking about doing a color of the day “series” where I gather all my stationery of that color in an artsy way and share what that color reminds me of, any thoughts?

🎧 Song of the Day: Gravel to Tempo by Hayley Kiyoko 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

4.16.19- 9/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday was essentially an entire day of procrastination, but I promise to be better today and actually get work done! None of the subjects that are actually monitored on a daily basis for me had things due technically today, so that enabled my brain to shut off and refuse to be productive :P

🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭

Pictured: Some Algebra 2 notes and a lil checklist for what I have to do for the course overall (it has two more sides not visible in the photo lol)

🎧 Song of the Day: Birthday Party by AJR 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

Omg I love tropical smoothie cafe smoothies so much 😂😂

calculus + kale smoothies all afternoon 🌱

[elenaandherexponents]

4.15.19- 8/100 Days of Productivity

Just like Saturday, I didn’t really do much academics today. However, I did clean out my entire wardrobe and realize just how much of it does not dirt me anymore, and how much warm stuff I forgot to wear during the winter and I will now not have another opportunity to wear 😅 Such is life when you are an erratically growing teenager I guess!

🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

Pictured: The first time I ever tried to take fancy notes in science as compared to my style now. As you can tell, my neatness has improved a lot and what sort of stationery I use has changed a lot as well!

🎧 Song of the Day: Modern Day Cain by I Don’t Know How But They Found Me 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

4.14.19- 7/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday I didn’t get much of any work done, but I did do a bit of Algebra 2. I honestly don’t end up doing much work on the weekends usually, so I’m contemplating treating this challenge as 100 weekdays of Productivity, but I’m not entirely sure yet.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Pictured: The supplies I use to take my notes 💙💙

🎧 Song of the Day: Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

looking for studyblrs to follow!!

hello commynity! since i’d moved to new account, i haven’t  followed many blogs here, so if you:

are active studyblr

are kind

post your own stuff sometimes: notes, tips, bujo, whatever you like; i just find it cool to know what’s going on in your life or how you’re doing with studying!!

please reblog this post!! and i’ll follow you ♡ (it’s be nice to become mutuals but i don’t find it necessary)

ღ´͈ ᵕ `͈ )♡⃛(´͈ ᵕ `͈ ღ

[elenaandherexponents]

4.13.19- 6/100 Days of Productivity

So today I really didn’t get much done... I just worked on my GMO science presentation for a little while and did about 10 minutes of Algebra 2. However, I really don’t blame myself. What I’m about to explain is also why I missed a post yesterday, and posted twice today. So funny story... I actually came out to my parents yesterday which doesn’t feel real and it does not seem like I actually said all those things. It went really positively and I couldnt have asked for a better experience. However, I am emotionally and physically exhausted 😅 but also incredibly proud of myself :)

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Pictured: The vast majority of what will become my content; Algebra 2 is really the only class where I consistently have opportunities to take pretty notes haha

🎧 Song of the Day: Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met) by Panic! at the Disco 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

4/12/19- 5/100 days of productivity

Yesterday was a really amazing day as far as productivity goes, and I got a lot of things done that I wasn’t really interested or that I was putting off. I did a current events write up, a paragraph from the point of view of a soldier, almost an entire research presentation, research for a historical figure, and some geometry. If you can’t tell, I’m definitely oriented more towards science and math than English and history ha....

Pictured: In what class do you tend to do the most artsy projects?? For me this would probably be social studies and science :D

🎧 Song of the Day: Girls by Girl in Red 🎧

[elenaandherexponents]

if you are a studyblr, reblog this 🤗🌻

i’m technically new, and i would like new accounts to follow☺️

[elenaandherexponents]

4.11.19- 4/100 Days of Productivity

Yesterday was great as far as productivity goes until about 6:00 when I frankly just gave up :P. Before that, however, I did a good chunk of geometry, a bunch of science research, some Spanish, and more social studies!

PS: Can you tell I like blue? 💙💙

🎧 Song of the day: If I’m Being Honest by dodie 🎧