#i’m going to allocate my time properly and study and get them done

[wishmemel]

i feel so relaxed and happy and in love with my life knowing today was a reset day. i did my homework, took ample breaks, prayed, oiled my hair, took a warm shower, shaved, washed my hair, and am about to study some more before bed. when did i miss out on life being so simple and beautiful?

[haikyuulovercompany]

Late Night Study ~ Sugawara Koushi x Reader

All you wanted was to be in bed, cozy and wrapped around your boyfriend's arms. Instead, you were in the cold library, begging amidst sleepy eyes to call it a night. Why was Koushi so damn responsable? Original Request

Genre: Fluff. College!Sugawara

Warnings: None.

Words: 1.2k

Notes: What's with me and writing so much about studying lately? I swear I don't miss studying.

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“Come on, get your head up,” Sugawara insisted between whispers for the fifth time in the last half an hour.

You had your head lying on top of the notebook you were supposed to be studying from—not sleeping on it.

Sugawara took your head carefully with both hands and elevated it till his eyes met with yours, practically forcing you to look at him. Your eyes felt heavy and you could tell he probably felt the same. Right under caramel eyes, two dark half-moons overshadowed the usual shiny, pale skin. Your lips perked up in a tired pout and your eyebrows slightly furrowed. You were utterly displeased by the whole situation. If it was up to you, you would be in your dorm room, warm under a blanket with your boyfriend pressed against you and your laptop playing a movie for you two to doze off to. Instead, you were in the cold library under the horrible pressure of an upcoming final exam.

“We need to study,” Sugawara insisted, only causing your frown to deepen. He muffled a lazy chuckle. He lowered his hands so they were now wrapping your cheeks and he gently squeezed them, making your pout more pronounced. He chuckled again. “Just a little bit more. It’s a hard test.”

 “I know,” you sighed, setting yourself free from his playful hold. “It’s just… I rather we were cozy in my room. I’m tired and cold.”

You rested your back on the chair and threw your head backwards, shutting your eyes immediately before the heavy lights above you made them hurt. A few seconds later, you felt your arm being pulled, bringing your body back to the table. You were met with Sugawara’s begging face, silently pleading you to at least try. You sighed and nodded, giving in. He was not going to leave the library just yet, and you were definitely not leaving without him.

You rested your elbows on the table and focused on your notes again. You felt his smile on you, and for a moment, that smile inspired you to actually study and not just stare at the sentences on the white paper. He had been the one to help you organize your notes into an incredibly well detailed guide. He was right… After all the effort he was putting on helping you study, you could at least try a little harder.

You began from the top of the page, reading each sentence twice and sometimes thrice just to make sure the information was properly allocating itself in your brain—which was a massive challenge. Your eyelids got heavy again and the perfect silence of the space made it impossible to hold onto something that would stop you from closing your eyes. Eventually, it was inevitable. It was past ten in the night and you had been awake since six in the morning coming and going through exams and classes. Your head fell on your hand and then it slipped until your forehead met with the cold paper in a dry ‘thud’.

The sound of a hand slapping skin could be heard next as Sugawara covered his mouth, doing his best to stop his laughter. Even though it was late, you two weren’t the only ones in the library. A couple of students were already throwing shady glances at you thanks to the loud noise your forehead crashing on the table had made to then have Sugawara laughing out loud, disrupting everyone who was successfully focusing unlike you.

“Come on, we can do it,” he whispered to you once he had calmed down. You nodded, already knowing you were done for.

You sighed and pretended to read from the page, but you secretly used your arm to cover your phone and began trying the games you had downloaded there. It had been months since you had touched them but for the time being, they were the best you had. You peeked at your boyfriend. He was completely immersed in his notebook, using his pen to follow his lecture. It was better to not bother him. So, you turned your head and began playing your little mobile game in mute. Maybe you couldn’t study, but at least you would make him company.

Just like Sugawara in his study guide, you got completely lost in your game. So much, you hadn’t notice twenty minutes had gone by until you were called out, being caught

“Weren’t you studying?” Sugawara asked, perplexed. While you slightly jumped at his voice, you didn’t bother to move your head which was practically laying on the table. You only moved your eyes, directing at him. The dark circles around his eyes had just gotten worse and now you could see the thin red lines of the veins of his eyes. He was truly forcing himself to get through his study guide.

“Koushi… let’s leave,” you pleaded, then sat straight before continuing. “What’s the use of staying up studying if you’re going to be tired during the exam?”

This time, he didn’t rebut nor sent you straight back to your notebook. This time, you saw the hesitance in his face and how his fingers played with the corners of the notebook. Any sign of exhaustion in you disappeared at the sign of him wanting the same as you.

“Come on,” you insisted, leaning more into the table till half your body was on top of it and both your arms covered his notes. “You’re tired, too.”

The answer you got was something you didn’t expect. With his elbows on the table he elevated himself so his lips caught yours in an impossibly soft and slow kiss. It wasn’t coming from a place of lust, but because of how sluggish and weary he was. He was giving you all the energy left in him into that kiss. On any other occasion, that type of kiss would melt you into a mess of hormones–it still kind of did, but you were too tired to flirt. He pulled his head back and tilted to look at you. You could see from the corner of your eyes the people on the table next to you watching the little love-show you were putting up. You responded with another peck on his lips.  

“Is that a yes?” you asked.

Sugawara nodded. “Get me out of here.”

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♡ Thanks for reading! ♡

[bellsybuilds]

To re-assert his dominance in Talon's council, Akande first had to silence that young, dumb hard light engineer who kept talking back in team meetings. Unfortunately, Akande already met his monthly allocation of throwing colleagues over the ledge. Attempting to outsource the problem, Akande ends up in Rio de Janeiro: a huge mistake he will come to regret over and over again.

Co-written by @sparrowswing; this chapter earns the story its rating. Warnings for mild sexual content, violence and tripping out on time travel.

For all of Akande’s pride in strength and cunning, for all his guile, patience, and steel-gilded promises securing Talon's interests over the years, it was often a bullet that addressed the worst of their problems. No one was faster than a speeding bullet. Not Akande, thrust by the fusion power of his gauntlet. Not even Tracer, who raced time itself.

Did Lúcio ever consider that his life could end that way? Storming at the head of a revolution and often skating into the crossfire of intergang firefights... it must have crossed his mind.

The first time Lúcio died in front of him, Akande kept moving under a fugue of disbelief. Watching his head snap back at the force of the shot... it felt unreal. Which meant the outcome was still malleable. Akande could fix this. He had to. He still had plans for the DJ.

The second time Lúcio died, Akande was close enough that the blood spray struck him across the face. He had run the calculations in his head a dozen times, ensured the locations of every known asset, counted every second.  But that building headache clouded his focus, making him stagger with shocks of pain from his nape to his heels. There were too many vectors to account for, only the two of them, and still that bullet found its mark.

“Get down, you bloody idiot!” Tracer tackled him out of his stunned halt as the explosion of gunfire filled the air: crossfire. Multiple agents.

Akande buckled at the surprising force of the tiny Englishwoman driving her elbow into his lower back at full momentum. They stumbled toward the alley’s cover.

“Move, move!”

They needed answers.

The third time the rifle boomed off the walls of Rialto’s plaza, certainty sank like a stone to the pit of his stomach. This was happening.

For the third time, they were too slow.

Crouched by Lúcio's prone form, Akande bit his tongue and focused on the familiar make and model of the bullet round he had pulled free. Not the unnatural angle of Lúcio's knee kicked out in his own blood, nor the small crater Akande had only cracked wider in his skull.

At his back watching their retreat, Tracer’s voice was brittle. “It’s her… isn't it?”

Slumping back into the shadows of their cover, he handed over the round. It dripped, warm with blood in the transfer to Tracer’s gloved palm. Akande scowled against the tightening in his throat and flicked his wrist, spraying her leggings in a wide spatter.

She squawked, recoiling with a dark look. Huffing a laugh under his breath, it was almost enough to distract him from the splitting pain at the base of his skull. He didn't like the warmth in his face, too close to a fever. Tightening his jaw, he tilted his head until the bones of his neck cracked. For a moment, it muted the headache, but the dizzying tension remained.

Beside him, Tracer’s mouth was grim, examining the bloodied round in her hands.

Akande had signed the approvals for enough of those stockpiles to recognise the ammunition.

///

Lúcio frowned at him over blueprints spread across the small dining table in Akande's beachside hotel room in Copacabana. It had become their defacto planning headquarters, despite their failure to agree on actual plans.

"No," he said. Anticipating the resistance, Akande still bowled ahead. "I'm giving them to you." "Hey, we're not an army! I'm not sending my people in like foot soldiers!" "They would go, if you asked them to." Lúcio gaped at him in wide-eyed disbelief. "What do you think this is?"

“This is a war,” Akande shook his head with a scoff. Why didn’t Lúcio understand? “Don’t be naive–”

“This is not Numbani!” Lúcio all but shouted, looming over the disaster of their plans, his gaze alight. His palm slammed down on the maps, covering the South-East portion of the city. “This is my home! Even before the Crisis, Rio rarely knew peace, but we made our own lives. We know where we come from… we know who we come from,” Lúcio somehow made his words a threat as he held Akande’s gaze, but it only pleased him more, chest warming with a rush of... pride. “Fighting is our last resort. And we are not expendable.”

Ah, there he was: the leader of the revolution.

And through all the discomfiting uncertainty of the long weeks that had brought him here, Akande was finally sure of one thing – Lúcio Correia dos Santos was something special. What a delight… what an honour to witness him. For someone who wanted to steer his people from war, he belonged on a war council.

Akande indulged his outburst, gentling his tone, “What would you suggest?”

Lúcio drew in a deep, steadying breath as he righted himself. He barely needed a pause, gesturing once more to the southeast.

"If Vishkar is being welcomed back in the lower hills, it's because they're offering something people need. Security. Probably shelter, hell – food. Education. Jobs. Not everyone remembers the curfews. Some people were never touched by the arrests.”

Mouth tightening, Lúcio leaned in and Akande couldn’t help but follow, bowing his head, drawn forward as the other man held his eye.

“There are still people in this city who don’t believe they were using us as cheap labour… and worse,” Lúcio shook his head, briefly closing his eyes. “In the hills, we survive. You have no idea how bad it got between the gangs after they salvaged Vishkar's tech." Akande shrugged a shoulder and gestured to the proposal in the manila folder Lúcio had discarded to his right. "That's why I'm offering you arms." "To paint a bigger target on our backs," Lúcio sneered. "You'd have us all killed. Are you sure Vishkar didn’t send you?" Akande snorted in disdain. "You think you can charm them from a fight? When the other side holds the larger weapons, they have no reason to listen to you! You obviously know nothing about these sort of people." "Well." Lúcio drew back, reaching deep into a pocket of his loose pants. "I know them better than I know you." He threw something small and rectangular down on the table between them. Akande leaned in. Photographs. Old style, tangible. Impossible to hack. Of him and Lúcio. Akande thumbed through to another, and felt his stomach plummet. There, looking like a long telescoped capture on a late afternoon, sat Akande and Korpal. The photo looked like it had been taken in Korpal's Rio office. Akande recalled the one time he had set foot on those grounds. The day he decided Korpal could not be removed by his own hand. The day he met Lúcio.

Akande stared down at the photo, blood turned to ice in his veins but the gears in his mind already turning, the calculations running at hyperspeed.

How could he spin this, use it to his advantage? How much could he manipulate this situation? What could be gained? Who had done this… who could gain from it? Why? Why now?

Lúcio's smiling face mocked him from behind the glossy sheen of the photo. The way they leaned into each other seemed so conspiratorial, implied so much more than there had ever been between them.

"I knew you were a liar," Lúcio accused, voice rising. "You must have known I'd find out." Not the first mistake he had made since Lúcio entered his life. He snarled, throwing down the incriminating evidence. "We are known to each other, but I assure you, I have more to lose if word spreads of my arrangement with you." Lúcio scoffed with an incredulous bark of laughter, parroting, "'Arrangement.'"

He couldn't believe he had to appeal to this tiny, annoyingly attractive– Akande's jaw tightened. "He is not my ally." "And I am?" Akande glowered, studying him properly for the first time since setting eyes on him in that abandoned sugar mill. "You're right. You are a liability, and this is a waste of my time."

The moment those words left him, he felt odd and just a little bit sick with the unexpected feeling of how their wake churned uneasily in his chest. "Then why are you still here!?" Lúcio spat.   ‘Why are you still here?’ It was a long shot – Lúcio had openly rebuffed him before – but Akande had little else to answer with.

Akande was not particularly prone to moments of insanity, but his mind seemed to disconnect from his body and he thought of how easily the other man could kick him in the mouth, even as he leaned across the small table and caught him with a hand around the back of his neck.

Lúcio yelped and threw out both hands for balance. Maps, photos, and manila folders scattered to the floor.  A protest was already forming on his lips–

Akande leaned down, tipped his face, and caught his mouth in a kiss.

Lúcio went stiff with shock. Small hands curled around his shoulders, holding just long enough to convince him that maybe this would work.

Thumbs dug harshly into the pressure points under his clavicle. Pain skittered across his nerves and whited out his vision, his pectoral muscles spasmed and stole his breath. Winded and half blind, Akande stumbled back half a step, releasing him. "You arrogant bastard!" Lúcio’s voice was a confusing mix of soft wonder, fiery annoyance, and something rich and husky. Akande absolutely wanted to hear more. Pushing himself up from his involuntary sprawl over the table, Lúcio stared at Akande, bewildered. "It never even occurred to you that maybe I'm not attrac–" Lúcio startled, his face caught within Akande’s large hands. His surprised protest muffled in the soft crush of their mouths and his hands shot up to grasp at Akande’s wrists. Honestly, Akande expected more of a fight. Ignoring the pain still dancing along his spine and the threat of more, he knew he was opening himself to attack when he slowed.

Beneath his hands, Lúcio shivered. Was it fear? Desire?

His lips caressed Lúcio's in a sweet dance that only brought a small huff of resistance. When Akande ended it – far too soon for his own liking – he drew back barely enough to see Lúcio's eyes just starting to lose focus, lips glistening in the low light. Breath mingling in the humid night, they stared at each other. Lúcio was kneeling atop the table, papers strewn to the floor. Akande got the distinct impression that he was being measured yet again. For the first time in his life, it was distinctly uncomfortable because... because–

Realisation struck him cold, tightening his chest.

Why did he care about Lúcio’s assessment? Since when?

But Lúcio had finally made up his mind, and some of that tension eased in Akande’s chest as Lúcio’s mouth curled in a weird little half smile that spoke of shared secrets.

"You're lucky I have a thing for big egos," His voice dropped low and smoky, rich as rum cake and twice as decadent. God, what Akande would do to hear more of that voice. He was pleasantly surprised when the fingers at his collar dug in and dragged him back down into a searing kiss that blanked his mind. He was slow to catch on to the new pace, and harsh teeth set into his lower lip, tugging.

"Come on," Lúcio purred between teasing nips, "You can do better than that."

With a throaty growl, Akande curled his hands around those voluptuous thighs and lifted the smaller man, turning and pinning him to the wall without ever breaking that sweet, tortuous kiss. Lúcio grunted at the impact, his legs wrapping firmly around Akande's waist. His feet dug into the small of Akande’s back, earning a rumbling moan as Lúcio rocked himself against the hard muscles of his abdomen. Lúcio was so much smaller than him, but no easy conquest. Clutching tight, Akande crowded him closer, harder against that wall – and gasped when the vice of those powerful legs hitched his breath.

Lúcio was laughing against his mouth, blunt fingers scraping over his scalp, then dragging down the chrome scales following the vertebrae at his nape.

Many long minutes passed before they finally broke apart, chests heaving with each breath. Akande's lips felt almost raw, but still he wanted more.

He buried his face in the curve of Lúcio’s neck, nosed an inconvenient dread out of the way to trail hot, hungry kisses along that tempting line of flesh. “Tell me what you want,” he whispered with a voice gone gravelly, almost too rough to understand.

“What do I want?” Lúcio echoed with a small laugh. “Want you to quit playin’.”

“Playing?” Akande drew back to look into his face, frowning. He swallowed, throat dry as he searched Lúcio’s lazy expression of bliss. Heart thundering in his chest, he willed his voice to be steady, “Is this a game?”

Lúcio's expression was everything he'd imagined it would be in this moment (and he had imagined so often on lazy, early mornings sprawled out alone in bed): swollen lips parted and glistening, flushed and still panting. His heavy gaze searched Akande’s face. “I don't know. Is it?”

Akande just stared, uncertain where this was going and hating every second of his confusion. He was not accustomed to this.

“The ball's in your court, but you're not takin’ the shot.” Lúcio closed the scant distance between them and sucked the delicate skin of Akande's neck. He shivered as Lúcio dragged his tongue up and lightly nipped his ear. In that thick, buttered-rum voice, he purred, “You don’t have to hold back with me. Take me to bed.”

Hours later, Akande lay awake in thought.

Sprawled in sleep beside him, Lúcio looked uncharacteristically sweet, features softened in the faint moonlight. He looked young, unburdened.

It would be prudent to wake him. Every minute they were together increased the risk of being caught.

Curling around that sleeping form, Akande breathed in the softly sweet scent of coconut oil from his hair. He pressed a kiss to Lúcio's temple and tried to ignore the warmth coiling through his chest. A shaky breath eased from his lips and he clung tighter.

When all this began, Lúcio was a means to remove an obstacle. Then, a personal challenge; a conquest, but also an opportunity to tarnish that golden light, leave a mark that would taint all that naive righteousness. Maybe even see if he could be turned.

Akande supposed he had left a mark after all, but the reverse was also true. Lúcio’s golden light had snaked its way into him and lit up corners of his soul long forgotten.

It was only here, in darkness and solitude, that he could admit it, even to himself.

And here it would have to stay.

He still had his mission, his goals. He could allow nothing to stand in his way.

Not even Lúcio.

///

The swirl of colours receded from his vision like an ebbing tide sluicing away from the shore. Akande fell forward, clutching the balustrade to ground himself while his stomach continued to trip and lunge through time. Choking back the rising bile, he forced himself to stand. He could be ill later. For now there simply wasn't time. When his eyes finally deigned to focus on the girl, she looked as green as Akande felt. Tracer kneeled on the smooth stone and dry-heaved for several long moments before looking up at him with an expression of pain and fear that was far too familiar. "I assume," Akande began with a dignified tone, ruined a moment later by a hacking cough. Swallowing thickly, he growled in disgust as the unwelcome taste of that thrice damned canal flooded his mouth. "I assume this is not normal behavior for your– device." Tracer shook her head, limp brown locks hanging in her eyes. "I've never been stuck in the stream for so long before. Even when you–" A bitter look soured her face for a fleeting moment. She glanced away. "We have to stop." "I cannot stop until I succeed." At her flinch, Akande released a long, weary breath and tried again, softening his tone. "You know what's at stake." Finally regaining her strength, Tracer stood on shaky legs to face him. "I can't promise it will work again. We could both be lost in time. Forever!"

Standing resolute, Akande held her stare, eyes narrowing. The lake reflected the sunset in glimmers across the pilot’s profile, white lashing over the heat of her glare.

“Did you know Lúcio was going home after this mission?” she asked, sharply.

In the shadow of Rialto’s ornate stone heritage, their vantage provided the best sight lines of both the approach from the Galleria D'arte Omnica and their retreat over the canals.

Heart drumming, Akande flexed the barrels of his left hand cannon and surveyed the waterways, biting his tongue.

Steady. Control. Do not react.

He exhaled shakily with the reassuring snick of darts reloading within his knuckles. The flank routes of the Western alley and the green parade would not deceive them this time.

Tracer continued in his silence. “He collected all the evidence he needed. He was going to bring his father’s killers to justice.”

Akande raised an eyebrow, halting mid-count of the tables in the alfresco cafe across the plaza – he was sure he counted five last time.

‘Father’s killers?’

“I swear, I’ll get justice for Lúcio and his father if it’s the last bloody thing I do,” Tracer’s voice sounded tight and closer at his back. Akande barely turned his head, warning her away with the depth of his scowl. She had finally learned how poorly that would end for her. “Vishkar will answer for what it's done. Lúcio’s worth a thousand thousand of men like Sanjay.”

Sanjay?

Akande frowned, finally turning from his kneel on the balcony.

What did she mean Sanjay? Sanjay Korpal?

Goggles pushed up into the short thick of her hair, Tracer’s bright eyes stared him down, shoulders tall, undaunted. It was the only opportunity the former pilot would have to look at him from an equal height.

Akande couldn’t wrap his head around her admission… Sanjay? Eager to please, paper-pushing, best in seminar Sanjay? Killed Lúcio’s father?

How had that not appeared in his intelligence? But then… how had someone secured those photos and delivered them to Lucio’s hand?

A cold possibility gripped his chest: had Sanjay known that Akande was moving against him? Had he learned about Akande… and Lucio?

It’s always the quiet ones.

Moira had warned him.

“Focus on the mission,” he muttered, turning back to the water and half-expecting her to strike him in the back of his head.

‘Do you always have to be such an asshole?’

Closing his eyes, he exhaled slowly to clear the phantom of Lúcio in his ears. This woman was his ally, however briefly, despite all the reasons she had to leave him.

Gentling his voice, he tried again, “I am not Vishkar,” he looked back, finding deep unhappiness in her face. His chest ached in sympathy. He was feeling it, too. “And our interests are more aligned thank you think.”

It was a long moment before Tracer shook her head in despair, and her voice trembled, “You’re not the only one with someone to lose if we don’t fix this.”

It was an olive branch that felt like an accusation. Akande had dragged them both into this. But if she was searching for a sign of resignation, she would not find it.

Akande could not stop once his mind was set. He didn’t know how.

///

“You're a horrible person.”

A chuckle rumbled in Akande's chest as he leaned down into Lúcio's personal space. The DJ's jaw was set, teeth clenched as he fought his own desire, the glint of defiance in his eyes a glimpse of the fire that sparked a revolution.

“You always sound so surprised when you say that.” He nosed at the curls behind Lúcio's ear and licked teasingly across his fluttering pulse.

“Well. I live in hope, but you keep disappointing me.”

Surprised, Akande pulled back to look in his eyes. Lúcio wasn't smiling. Was he really that naive? “Then you must adjust your expectations.”

Lúcio searched his face, frowning. “That you could change into a decent human?”

“And subvert God's perfection?” Akande appraised himself with a small smile, earning a startled laugh. Lúcio shook his head, bemused.

“God, I hate you.” His voice was already dropping into that low, husky timbre that had drawn Akande to him that first night. The words stung, but the fingers that curled into his shirt and held him close spoke a softer truth.

“Good,” Akande murmured, sucking a bruise into the delicate skin beneath his lips. Lúcio gasped as Akande’s hands slid under his thighs and lifted, pressing him bodily to the cold concrete wall. “That just makes this better.”

Dragging himself from that teasing exploration, he glanced to the narrow shadows that barely concealed them, falling across his shoulders. Tucked away in a half-hidden alley between the edge of the favela and the pale white gleam of Vishkar's latest skyscraper was hardly the place for this. Just down the street, thumping bass and the dull roar of voices echoed from a block party, a celebration for driving Vishkar from the eastern hills. How long until the revellers noticed their hero was gone?

Voice pitched low, Akande pressed, “You’re sure no one saw you?”

“I do actually have some idea what I’m doing, you know.” A playful smirk danced across Lúcio’s lips as he climbed higher into Akande’s lap, arms wrapping around his neck like he belonged there.

Akande curled his hands around those delectable thighs and tugged him even closer, then hesitated. “If we’re caught–” Soft lips pressed against his, silencing his protests.

Month after month, Akande was the one who kept returning. But every time, Lúcio welcomed him back.

///

“Have you thought about... what happens after?”

Akande dragged his eyes from the soft clouds reflected in the canal, pausing dozens of mental calculations to level Tracer with his disinterested gaze.

Round four.

“What?”

“After you save him? Where do you factor in?”

After? He blinked through the aura clouding his vision, trying to process her words. He hadn’t even had the luxury of considering an ‘after’. But now that he thought about it…. He groaned, pressing the heel of one hand against his gut at the unsettling – and by now all too familiar – churn of nausea.

Would Lúcio welcome him back? He had been labouring so hard to undo this horrible mistake but… what if he succeeded? Would he still be part of Lúcio’s life?

They didn’t part on the best terms. ‘You're everything he truly despises. Your beliefs hurt his people. And he loves them more than anything.’

That familiar sourness surged within, and he pushed down those unwelcome thoughts. The bitter realization that he was fighting so hard for something that never really existed sat like lead on the back of his tongue. “It doesn't matter.”

“Of course it matters!”

Akande blinked in surprise, following the streak of light that materialised into the short spitfire of a nuisance across the plaza. Huddled to the long shadows of the multi-storey cafe, Lena ‘Tracer’ Oxton unfortunately had little trouble keeping pace with him. No wonder Lúcio enjoyed her company.

“He must have meant a lot to you,” he murmured.

For a moment he let himself remember. That easy smile, that infectious laughter. A shaky sigh tickling his ear. The salty-savory taste of his skin at the end of a humid summer day. Warm flesh beneath his lips.

What if he could have that every day? What if he could keep it? What if–

“I know why I’m here, but you?”

He could feel the heat of the glare she threw in his direction atop the gallery’s balcony. “That wasn’t you threatening my life if I didn’t help?”

He snorted under his breath. “The first time. After that?”

The pointed silence felt hostile, drawing on long enough that Akande didn’t think she would humour him with an answer. At last, Tracer’s long sigh shuddered through the comms. “We’ve lost a lot of good people. The world needs heroes like Mondatta and Lúcio… but soldiers like me are a dime a dozen.”

The admission was surprising. Akande squinted at the vague outline of the former pilot huddled against the shadows, some trick of his mind imagining her shoulders drawn tight.

“More time jumpers hidden in your ranks?”

“What? N-no….”

Akande sucked a sharp sound behind his teeth, a tic of skepticism. “More comrades stupid enough to come at me twice?”

Tracer’s groaned, trailing into a stubborn sigh. “Oh, shut it. You don’t understand.”

To value your life less than others? No, he didn’t.

But to endure regret?

Akande huffed quietly under his breath, mouth tugging in a humourless smile. “I understand.” A familiar glimmer of laser red lanced over the water. His shoulders stiffened and he straightened from his perch against the polished marble pillar. "Possible target sighted. Get off this channel."

"What? It's too early!"

It was too early. They were supposed to have more time. But time was the entire problem.

"They're moving. Stay back."

“I’m heading in! Go after the shooter.”

Akande growled, jaw grinding. “I said–”

The line beeped as Tracer left the channel and Akande watched her silhouette eclipse into a blur of light.

This was not the plan. This was why he did not work with amateurs. To even tolerate the company of former Overwatch agents, he had fallen too far. He shook his head, focusing on the objective.

In the rose gold dusk over Rialto, a lone gondola emerged, the customary omnic alone steering from its stern. Akande faltered, waiting for another figure to emerge from its empty cargo, or a second boat to follow. He leaned forward, scanning the length of the canal within his vantage. Had he made a mistake?

Shaking his head, he let his shoulders drop and widened his stance, gauging the distance to the balcony across the canal. By now, this jump was muscle memory.

His feet had barely left the platform, when the shot rang out.

The charge from his gauntlet shorted out in his shock. The edge of the balcony caught him low in the ribs. Black spots bloomed in his vision with the sickening crunch, and he had just registered he was falling when the water cracked across his shoulders like a whip. His head snapped forward. After the gasp, he breathed in on instinct. Water flooded his nose and mouth. Coughing and spluttering, his body throbbed with the pain in his side.

He was sinking.

Light glimmered through the green-gold murk of the canal, and an instinctual part of Akande was repulsed to be swallowing such filth. If only he wasn’t still sinking. Drowning.

No.

His side flared with pain when he tried to raise his arm, but the gauntlet drew him down to the dark as sure as an anchor. His lungs protested, trying to expel the water even as they sucked more down, and he gagged.

No, no, not like this.

The comms piece beeped to life in his ear. By some miracle it had survived the fall with him.

“They got him, t-they got him– again, you bastard, this is all your fault–” Tracer was sobbing.

Lúcio.

He wasn't supposed to be there. He should never, never have been there.

Akande closed a hand low around his throbbing ribs.

Not like this.

The gauntlet was difficult to detach, but he felt two tonnes lighter once it fell away, quickly swallowed by the depths beneath his feet. Akande kicked hard, favouring his injured side. The instant his head broke the surface was a delirious relief, too weak for victory. He did not reply to Tracer until he had dragged himself to dry land and heaved an unhealthy amount of Rialto’s canals from his lungs.

His voice was still shaking when he reactivated his comms, “Very well. Again.”

///

“Forever is a long time.”

Akande gazed across the room, taking in the sight of Lúcio standing near the window overlooking Rio’s deep valley, silhouetted against the cool light of dawn. So long they had avoided windows, tried not to be seen, but in this secluded place with the jungle enshrouding them, there was little reason to hide.

“You think I can’t commit?” Akande was careful to keep his voice light, playful. He would not reflect Lúcio’s grim sadness. To do so would allow the other man’s doubt to control them both.

He would not be steered from his chosen path, especially not by fear and distrust.

“I think you’re an opportunist. You always put yourself first.” The eyes that glanced back at Akande were full of worry and doubt. Brows furrowed and lips pursed, Lúcio looked much older and far too serious.

“Of course I do.” Stay calm, deflect. Don’t take the bait. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“What will you do? When our paths cross, out there, and you face me on the battlefield? What happens then?” Familiar bitterness filled those gorgeous brown eyes, their spark dulled but the embers still burning, waiting for the proper kindling to set them alight again.

Akande hesitated, too busy calculating tactics and potential outcomes to find the words it would take to make Lúcio stay.

Lúcio’s heavy sigh answered for him. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Akande was still standing there, staring out into the burgeoning light of day, long after Lúcio left.

[optomstudies]

Hey, so usually I'm very early and prepared for exams but this time for my Christmas exams, I've left EVERYTHING until 5 days before the exams! There's too much to memorise in such a short amount of time! And I have a busy schedule so I can't do revision 24/7! Any tips? 

Pssst! The best tip for cramming is actually to not cram!! 🙃 But if you have to, here are some tips that actually work! 💲💲

Throw out all distractions, and palm off as many commitments as possible to others.

You’re a student at the end of the day. That’s your job, so do it properly. Before you are a retail worker, a movie buddy, a chauffeur for your siblings, or a studyblr blog manager, you are a student. 

You don’t have a lot of time left, so give your phone to your parents or someone you trust to keep it away from you. Add StayFocusd to Chrome and turn on the nuclear option so that you only use the internet for study purposes. Get your friends/siblings or parents to do chores for you and make it up to them after the exams. 

Know what’s likely to be tested.

This is much more important than anything else. There are going to be important concepts that you learn that are not going to be tested. No point studying for something that won’t be asked about. Pro tip: think about the homework exercises that you got and what they tested. 

Just as a general rule, the most basic things such as definitions (skim read these), as well as the most complex cases, will not comprise the majority of the test. For complex cases, you can’t just skim read them, but you should get an idea of the skills/processes that you need to solve them. 

For example, when learning about different diseases, the point is to make you a practitioner which can deal with the most dangerous (life-threatening, sight-threatening no matter how rare), most common (>1% prevalence) and uncommon (0.1-1%) diseases, which will comprise the majority of the points. The rare conditions (<0.1%) will either be right near the end of the test or be bonus point questions. The other thing is that if even if they do ask about rare conditions, it’s going to be a distinguishing sign, or it is related to a more common condition. And the question they most likely ask is “what further tests would you do to aid diagnosis?” which relates to basic concepts of disease diagnosis. 

Also, just keep in mind that there are university exams which literally ask you minutae in the multiple choice questions. For example disease exams have asked things like “What percentage of people with diabetes mellitus have diabetic retinopathy?” and have four really similar options for percentages. You just have to had studied that, and odds are you won’t be able to remember a hundred different stats prior to your exam if you’re cramming (just don’t cram, you literally can’t cram for uni exams). 

Divide your time appropriately (not necessarily equally) between understanding the course content and doing practice exercises/ examination style questions.

If you just launch into doing practice questions without having some sort of knowledge, you’ll get stuck on a lot of questions, get the questions wrong, and need to refer back to your textbooks and do a lot of searching and flipping through pages, which wastes your time.

So start off by going through the concepts first so that you know enough not to constantly look back. You should try to allocate as much time as possible actually answering questions though, because there’s no better way to prepare for an exam than to do exam-style questions. 

Step-by-step: Count the number of chapters/lectures you need to cover, and divide it equally amongst about 40% of the time that you have left, so that you know how long to spend revising each lecture. 

Focus on one exam at a time, and study the hardest concepts which require a lot of reasoning and understanding in the morning. 

Studying in the morning allows you to be at your freshest and most switched on. If you’re strapped for time, focus on being able to explain things. Explain it to your parents, siblings, or gudetama plushie. Explaining is an exercise in summarising which tests your ability to understand causative elements and how they relate to different consequences. 

Ask questions to yourself whilst studying. 

This tests your knowledge, and is a good way for you to check what you know and what you don’t know. When you’re cramming, you likely don’t have someone to help you at such short notice, so you need to be that person for yourself. Plus, it primes you to think like an examiner/exam paper - you’ll start realising what’s likely to be tested, which helps you narrow down what to study, and it helps you for the next part: practice questions. 

For example: geometry - to give a simple example, yes, you need to know what an angle bisector is, but are they likely in the exam to ask you to “Write the definition of an angle bisector.”? No. They’re going to get you to actually get your tools and bisect one. 90% of the time, you don’t need to know a definition in maths - it’s only the foundation knowledge so that you can answer actual questions. 

For example: medical/health science. Yes, you need to know differentials for diseases, but are they going to ask you to “List the differentials for ___”? No, that’s too simple, they’re obviously going to get you to eliminate a differential by considering the similarities and differences in signs and symptoms. So it’s much better to spend your time learning which conditions have similarities and what the distinguishing signs are e.g. Fuch’s Uveitis has stellate KP that is scattered all around the corneal endothelium - all other forms of uveitis pretty much have the KP scattered in Arlt’s triangle because of the convection currents in the anterior chamber. 

Chunk information together. 

This is a much more effective way of summarising all the information you need to study. Think of your memory as a mind map or a expandable list or like a set of folders in My Documents. You should try and sort things into topics and sub-topics that you can simply expand by just thinking of the title of that sub-topic. 

Step-by-Step: Cover up the information you’ve written under the sub-topics, and then try to recall it all just by looking at the title (acts as a trigger word). 

Topic/Chapter/Lecture 1

“Sub-Topic 1″ #Try and recall all the info below by reading this#

#cover up this information#

#cover up this information#

#cover up this information#

“Sub-Topic 2″

“Sub-Topic 3″

Not only does this 1) actually test your knowledge through a smaller form of the blank paper method (previously written about here) but it also 2) allows you to chunk and remember massive amounts of information just by seeing the trigger word (the title of the topic). 

It helps to make a mental note of how many points were written for each section.

Tie everything together with a mnemonic. 

Of course, the issue now is that if you don’t have the trigger word then you won’t remember that chunk of information - so you need to counter that by using a mnemonic to remember the top level of topics and link everything together in your mind. 

Using this method is what I’ve always done to remember large chunks of information. That way, when key words turn up in the question, you will be able to remember all the information under that category and hence answer the question flawlessly. 

Practice by doing one exercise for each type of question. 

Particularly useful for studying for maths/science. You just need to know how to solve one question in the set to know how to solve the rest. Pick the hardest question at the end of the question set because it will involve the most skills to complete. 

Study in a different order. Study your concepts in reverse. 

Make sure you change things up, because you don’t want your brain to only be able to answer a question if all the topics lead on to the next. The questions in the exam are going to be covering all your topics in all different orders. Jump from Chapter 3 to Chapter 5 to Chapter 2, and do the same for the sub-topics. 

Secondly, study concepts in reverse because this is how exams test who really knows their stuff. For example: instead of learning that Disease A has Symptoms 1, 2, and 3, force your brain to think “What Disease has Symptoms 1, 2, and 3?” - because this is exactly the type of question that comes up in exams. 

Drink water, take breaks, sleep. 

Still needs to be done to maximise your productivity. Not taking breaks will make you less efficient and less effective. You also said that you have other commitments so try to get that stuff done in the short breaks between your study sessions so that you can be productive. Take a 5-10 minute break every hour and get out of your seat and stretch. Sleep is essential for our brains to consolidate information and retain information. 

Best of luck!!

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29/11 How to Be Fluent in Languages Masterpost 3 👂 27/11 How to Be Fluent in Languages Masterpost 2 📰 26/11 Thinking about Stress 1 and 2 23/11 Motivation to Make You Study! 🏃 22/11 How to Be Fluent in Languages Masterpost 1 🙊 20/11 Advice: Art School vs. College 🎨 19/11 Exam Study Tips 💯 15/11 Digital Organisation System 💻 14/11 Library Adventures! 📚 11/11 Budgeting for Students 🏦 10/11 How to Deal with Leeches 🐛 08/11 Extra-Curriculars Tips 🤹 07/11 More Handwriting Tips ✍️ 07/11 APUSH Masterpost 🤠 06/11 Memorising Tips 💭 06/11 How Your ATAR is Calculated Infographic 💯 04/11 Reading a Scientific Journal Article 📜 02/11 Tips: Tackling Assignments while Sick 🤒

UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES

Part 0 Choosing a Degree - what’s right for you? popular!!

> Things to Consider Before Switching Degrees!

> Changing Degrees

Part 1 Administration - choosing majors, available services, choosing class times etc.

Part 2 Getting to Class - pros and cons of attending class, when you should choose not to attend, advice about choosing a backpack and other essential equipment.

> Laptop Considerations and Recommendations

Part 3 Studying - differences between high school and uni, basic tips on how to keep on track, class types like lectures, tutorials, etc.

Part 4 Extra-Curriculars - what clubs to join, what to do outside class, and other great things to discover around campus.

Part 5 Exams - everything to know about examiners, how to prepare, what happens during the whole examination process.

Part 6 Social Life - differences between high school and university, some hard learnt lessons, etc.

Part 7 Part Time Work

Part 8 Four Secrets The Uni Tells You

Part 9 Best Study Spots On Campus

Part 10 Saving Money 1 - Food, Transport, Entertainment

Part 10 Saving Money 2 - Textbooks, Tax, Scholarships

Part 11 Adapting to Uni Study - 3 big differences from studying in high school popular!!

Part 12 How to Study From Textbooks in Uni

Dealing with Lazy Group Members - five options for what to do and how to do it! popular!!

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Overcoming the Planning Fallacy

Study Spaces Masterpost

Studying and your Visual System

Catching Up with Your Studies  popular!!

Sleeping and Waking Up Early  popular!!

My 2017 Planner and Bullet Journal  popular!!

[acdemic]

school starts for me in a little over a week so i thought i’d make a quick back to school masterpost! this is a compilation of tips that i found helpful from youtube study channels, as well as things that i’ve personally done to make school easier. 

do your best work as soon as school starts

usually the first week(s) of school have a relatively light homework load, but don’t slack off!

this is the time to put in the most effort

you’ll be able to see which subjects you want to spend more or less time on throughout the semester

also, if you turn in great work, participate in class, and go to office hours right from the start, you’re going to keep up those good habits as the school year continues

plus, you’ll leave a fantastic impression on your teachers :)

use! a! planner!

cliché? yes, but it works

planners are a great tool to organize so many different aspects of your life, not just school

write down your assignments as soon as you get them so that you won’t forget anything, and so that you can plan your day/week accordingly

try to space out your assignments if you can so that you don’t spend all of your time on just one subject

describe your tasks. instead of saying “study chemistry” (which will turn into binge-watching youtube), say “practice balancing chemical equations”

planners are also great for setting and keeping track of goals! 

BUT, if planners don’t work for you, use some other way to keep track of your tasks and your time - to do lists, schedules, checklists, bullet journals, etc. choose what works for you!

just make sure that you keep all of your tasks in one place. 

break down larger tasks, such as projects or papers, throughout the week

do a little every day instead of cramming all the work into one night

bonus: try to get your assignments reviewed by someone like a teacher or a classmate before turning them in - most teachers are happy to look at drafts and give suggestions that will improve your work and your grade!

also, for big projects, my procrastinating brain has found it helpful to ‘reset the deadlines’ - work so that you’ll finish your bigger assignments a few days before they’re actually due

a big part of breaking down tasks and planning is also knowing your own study habits

try to figure out how long you spend on certain types of assignments, and know how much time you should allocate to specific tasks

when you have a choice, go for meaningful

for some assignments, such as essays where you can choose your own prompt, it’s easy to choose the easy prompt

but whenever you can, try to go for the prompt that will help you to deepen your understanding of the material you’ve learned

teachers who reuse prompts will probably see a lot of the “same” essays every year, so this is a way to stand out in a positive way!

if you can, declutter

or at least try to clean up your study space for the school year

having a neat space to work can really go a long way

throw out those old pens that have run out of ink and are honestly just there to look pretty

also: invest in good lighting because you gotta take care of those beautiful eyes

find classmates who can be your study buddies

if you know who the “top students” in your class are, seek out their help! get contact info!

if you miss classes or have concepts that you’re having trouble with, you’ll always have someone to ask

i mean you should always feel comfortable with asking your teacher for help, but it’s nice to have someone to quickly proofread your paper or review for a test with

peer tutors are also a great resource!

take the time to establish new habits

maybe come up with a morning/afternoon/night routine so that you know you’ll spend some time every day being productive

and don’t let yourself off the hook here!!

some ideas for habits: hydrating properly every day, working out, getting enough sleep every night, avoiding procrastination, journaling, focusing on one thing at a time / not multitasking, going to office hours consistently, participating in class

be honest with yourself. what are some things you do every day that you might not need to do every day? and what are some things you hope you can add to your daily routine?

speaking of habits, fix that sleep schedule asap

if you want to pay attention in class and turn in good work, you’re going to need enough sleep

i would recommend sleeping early and waking up early over sleeping late - it just feels less awful throughout the day and it shouldn’t do as much damage to your sleep schedule as one all nighter will

get yo priorities straight

learn to say “no” to things that will take up your time but won’t really benefit you

recognize that not everything is important

that being said! take breaks!!

burnout is real my friends

a lot of people say that you should use your downtime to work, and you definitely can if you want to and feel able to

it’s so easy to feel like you have to be studying or working 24/7, and that’s not true

if you feel like you really need a break, take a break

spend time with your family and friends! treat yourself with some ice cream! go for a walk (without your phone)! call someone who lives far away from you to say you miss them!

being productive is great, and even if you’re the kind of person that can handle that much work without burning out, that stress will release itself elsewhere - some harsh words you didn’t mean, some small thing that annoyed you more than it should have

ok that was a lot crammed into one post, but i have one more important point: be excited for school!!! it may be stressful at times (most of the time) but school is a place where we learn things and better ourselves and open our minds to new perspectives! i am personally so psyched for 10th grade and i think having that attitude will make back to school a lot easier :)

i hope some of these tips help you, and as usual feel free to drop me an ask about anything! i’ll be writing more of these “quick tip”-type masterposts for back to school because they’re a looot less time consuming for me to make (being honest here). let me know what you think of this format! and if you have any requests for masterpost topics i’m always open to those. 

[foodramblings]

“Transcript of Jeffrey Sachs' full speech, 26 July 2021, at the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit: What we’ve been hearing is how the system actually works right now and I want to emphasize we have a World Food System.  It’s based on large multinational companies.  It’s based on private profits.  It’s based on a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people, sometimes none at all.  It’s based on extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment, and it’s based on a radical denial of rights of poor people, as we just heard. It’s interesting we ask . . . we heard from the minister of DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) . . . “What’s wrong with your country?”   Well we don’t even start by saying:  The King (Leopold II) of Belgium created a slave colony for 30 years. The government of Belgium ran the slave colony for another 40 years.  The CIA assassinated your first popular leader, Mr (Patrice) Lumumba and then installed another dictatorship for the next 30 years and then Glencore (corporation) and others now suck out your cobalt without giving you tax income.  We don’t reflect on that.  We say, “What’s wrong with you?  Why don’t you govern properly?”   And so we have a system, but we need a different system.   We cannot turn this over to the private sector; we already did, about a hundred years ago.  Not only to the private sector (but) to the private sector with the US military behind it.  With the defense of these property rights in the Minister of Honduras’s country where United Fruit ran the country for a long time and their attorney was the Foreign Minister of the United States, Secretary (John Foster) Dulles; and his brother (Allen Welsh Dulles) was the head of the CIA, and overthrew the next door neighbor, Mr (Jacobo) Arbenz, (Guatemala), to make sure that United Fruit could have its property.  So we have a system, but we need a different system.  And the different system has to be based on principles of human dignity, in the Universal Declaration (of Human Rights), principles of sovereignty, principles of economic rights, because these are not Nice Things To Do.  In 1948 all the governments said that food is a right, social protection is a right, not A Nice Thing, not A Pleasant Thing, a right.  That was 73 years ago.  The SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) are nothing more than our generation’s attempt to honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I come from a country that not only doesn’t care about the world’s poor; it doesn’t even care about its own poor.  One in seven Americans is hungry right now . . . and they DON’T CARE.  The poor people care, but one political party, all it cares about is cutting taxes for the rich and filibustering any solution.  So we’re in a world that’s really tough.  The private sector’s not going to solve this problem.  I’m sorry to say to all of the private sector leaders, “Behave, pay your taxes, follow the rules!  That’s what you should do.”   And what the governments should do is the following; they won’t, but they should: First the G20 should become the G21, by inviting, systemically, the chairperson of the African Union and the African Union to be the 21st “country”.  The European Union is a member of the G20, as the EU.  If you add the AU as the 21st for the G21 you add 1.4 billion people to representation at that crucial event.  That will change decisively the discussion, because 1.4 billion people are not at the table for finance right now, and they need to be.  So my first recommendation is the G21.  I love the G20.  Add one seat!  1.4 billion people, with the AU represented. Second.  We need an order of magnitude change of development finance.  The rich countries just borrowed $17 trillion for COVID.  The poor counties, NOTHING, because the rich countries can borrow at 0% and the poor countries pay 5% or 10% coupon rates or have no access at all.  So the world exposed its grotesque inequality this past year and a half.  Rich countries didn’t say, “We tighten our belts, why don’t you?”  My country spent $7trillion of emergency funding.  Not one penny for anybody else, by the way.  $7 trillion!  It didn’t even cross the imagination of the US Congress to include a few crumbs for the rest of the world.  But the poor countries cannot borrow. That’s what we should have heard from the World Bank.  I didn’t hear that from the World Bank.  I didn’t hear real numbers.  Real numbers are in $trillions right now because the world economy is $100 trillion a year.  But we don’t talk about real numbers, but my job, all I know in this world is long division . . . divide by $100 trillion and then see whether you’re talking about something real or not.  So, that’s the second thing.  We need massively to increase the lending and borrowing capacity of poor countries at near zero interest rates like the rich countries have.  Then they could get something done. By the way, for COVID vaccines what we really need is for the United States to sit down with China, with Russia, with the European Union and the UK one day around the table and allocate these vaccines, rather than hoarding them.  That’s all it would take.  And then we’re going to have national pathways.  This is a wonderful idea, but they’re going to need financing and so everything that I’ve been saying, I know the numbers; that’s all I do for 40 years is add up what’s missing.   You want electricity?  It has to be purchased.  You want digital access?  It has to be purchased.  You want safe water, irrigation?  It has to be purchased.  This is what I do for a living is add up these numbers … and then find out that then somebody makes up something and names one hundredth of what’s really needed.  It’s not even hard!  By the way the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has done wonderful studies in the last 2 years showing that we have a financing gap of about $400 to $500 billion a year for the basics for the SDGs.  They show the gap, but nobody comes up with the number, the solution, which wouldn’t be so hard because that’s just not a big number.  It’s 0.5% of world output.  So if we really care we wouldn’t have the G7 saying “We love education, therefore we’re going to give $3 billion for education.” That’s what they said at the summit, but what UNESCO has show is that you need at least $30 billion a year, minimum, but nobody looks at numbers; they just make up nice “check-the-box”.  So we need the real numbers of finance to back the national pathways. The final thing is, we need the UN as the core and central institution of this world, because this is the only way we’re going to have a civilized world is a strong UN.  And it cannot be that the whole UN budget is less than my neighborhood’s budget in New York.  The UN core budget this year is $3 billion.  New York City’s budget is $100 billion.  And then we say why don’t things work well?  Because the rich are hoarding everything. Final point:  Rather than our 3 billionaires going in space, well they could go into space and stay there and leave their money behind. That would be one idea.   Another idea is we have 2,775 billionaires on the current list.  Their combined net worth is $13.1 trillion.  Now I have it on good authority you don’t need more than $1 billion to be comfortable, but they have an excess of $11 trillion over just the $1 billion. So we should be taxing that and having a civilized world. Thank you. Jeffrey Sachs SDG Advisor”

[suzanneshannon]

How to Get a Dysfunctional Team Back on Track

Maybe you’ve been part of a team that you’ve seen slowly slide into a rut. You didn’t notice it happen, but you’re now not shipping anything, no one’s talking to each other, and the management’s Eye of Sauron has cast its gaze upon you.

Maybe you’ve just joined a team that’s in the doldrums.

Maybe the people who used to oil the wheels that kept everyone together have moved on and you’re having to face facts—you all hate each other.

However you’ve ended up in this situation, the fact is that you’re now here and it’s up to someone to do something about it. And that person might be you.

You’re not alone

The first thing to understand is that you’re not the only person to ever encounter problems. Things like this happen all the time at work, but there are simple steps you can take and habits you can form to ease the situation and even dig yourself (and your team) out of the hole. I’ll share some techniques that have helped me, and maybe they can work for you, too.

So let me tell you a story about a hot mess I found myself in and how we turned it around. Names and details have been changed to protect the innocent.

It always starts out great

An engineer called Jen was working with me on a new feature on our product that lets people create new meal recipes themselves. I was the Project Manager. We were working in six-week cycles.

She had to rely on an API that was managed by Tom (who was in another team) to allow her to get and set the new recipe information on a central database. Before we kicked off, everyone knew the overall objective and everyone was all smiles and ready to go.

The system architecture was a legacy mishmash of different parts of local databases and API endpoints. And, no prizes for guessing what’s coming next, the API documentation was like Swiss cheese.

Two weeks into a six-week cycle, Jen hit Tom up with a list of her dream API calls that she wanted to use to build her feature. She asked him to confirm or deny they would work—or even if they existed at all—because once she started digging into the docs, it wasn’t clear to her if the API could support her plans.

However, Tom had form for sticking his head in the sand and not responding to requests he didn’t like. Tom went to ground and didn’t respond. Tom’s manager, Frankie, was stretched too thin, and hence wasn’t paying attention to this until I was persistently asking about it, in increasingly fraught tones.

In the meantime, Jen tried to do as much as she could. Every day she built a bit more based on her as-yet unapproved design, hoping it would all work out.

With two weeks left to go, Tom eventually responded with a short answer—which boiled down to “The API doesn’t support these calls and I don’t see why I should build something that does. Why don’t you get the data from the other part of the system? And by the way, if I’m forced to do this, it will take at least six weeks.”

And as we know, six weeks into two weeks doesn’t go. Problem.

How did we sort it?

Step 1 — Accept

When things go south, what do you do?

Accept it.

Acknowledge whatever has happened to get you into this predicament. Take some notes about it to use in team appraisals and retrospectives. Take a long hard look at yourself, too.

Write a concise, impersonal summary of where you are. Try not to write it from your point of view. Imagine that you’re in your boss’ seat and just give them the facts as they are. Don’t dress things up to make them sound better. Don’t over-exaggerate the bad. Leave the emotions to the side.

When you can see your situation clearly, you’ll make better decisions.

Now, pointing out the importance of taking some time to cool down and gather your thoughts seems obvious, but it’s based on the study of some of the most basic circuitry in our brains. Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, introduces the concept of emotional hijacking; the idea that the part of our brain that deals with emotion—the limbic system—can biologically interrupt rational thinking when it is overstimulated. For instance, experiments show that the angrier men get, the poorer are the decisions they make at the casino. And another study found that people in a negative emotional state are more likely to deviate from logical norms. To put it another way, if you’re pissed off, you can’t think straight.

So when you are facing up to the facts, avoid the temptation to keep it off-the-record and only discuss it on the telephone or in person with your colleagues. There’s nothing to be scared of by writing it down. If it turns out that you’re wrong about something, you can always admit it and update your notes. If you don’t write it down, then there’s always scope for misunderstanding or misremembering in future.

In our case, we summarized how we’d ended up at that juncture; the salient points were:

I hadn’t checked to ensure we had scoped it properly before committing to the work. It wasn’t a surprise that the API coverage was patchy, but I turned a blind eye because we were excited about the new feature.

Jen should have looked for the hard problem first rather than do a couple of weeks’ worth of nice, easy work around the edges. That’s why we lost two weeks off the top.

Tom and Frankie’s communication was poor. The reasons for that don’t form part of this discussion, but something wasn’t right in that team.

And that’s step one.

Step 2 — Rejoice

Few people like to make mistakes, but everyone will make one at some point in their life. Big ones, small ones, important ones, silly ones—we all do it. Don’t beat yourself up.

At the start of my career, I worked on a team whose manager had a very high opinion of himself. He was good, but what I learned from him was that he spread that confidence around the team. If something was looking shaky, he insisted that if we could “smell smoke,” that he had to be the first to know so he could do something about it. If we made a mistake, there was no hiding from it. We learned how to face up to it and accept responsibility, but what was more important was learning from him the feeling we were the best people to fix it.

There was no holding of grudges. What was done, was done. It was all about putting it behind us.

He would tell us that we were only in this team because he had handpicked us because we were the best and he only wanted the best around him. Now, that might all have been manipulative nonsense, but it worked.

The only thing you can control is what you do now, so try not to fret about what happened in the past or get anxious about what might happen in the future.

With that in mind, once you’ve written the summary of your sticky situation, set it aside!

I’ll let you in on a secret. No one else is interested in how you got here. They might be asking you about it (probably because they are scared that someone will ask them), but they’re always going to be more interested in how you’re going to sort the problem out.

So don’t waste time pointing fingers. Don’t prepare slide decks to throw someone under the bus. Tag that advice with a more general “don’t be an asshole” rule.

If you’re getting consistent heat about the past, it’s because you’re not doing a good enough job filling the bandwidth with a solid, robust, and realistic plan for getting out of the mess.

So focus on the future.

Sometimes it’s not easy to do that, but remember that none of this is permanent. Trust in the fact that if you pull it together, you’ll be in a much more powerful position to decide what to do next.

Maybe the team will hold together with a new culture or, if it is irretrievably broken, once you’re out of the hole then you can do something about it and switch teams or even switch jobs. But be the person who sorted it out, or at the very least, be part of the gang who sorted it out. That will be obvious to outsiders and makes for a much better interview question response.

In our story with Jen, we had a short ten-minute call with everyone involved on the line. We read out the summary and asked if anyone had anything to add.

Tom spoke up and said that he never gets time to update the API documentation because he always has to work on emergencies. We added that to our summary:

Tom has an ongoing time management problem. He doesn’t have enough time allocated to maintain and improve the API documentation.

After that was added, everyone agreed that the summary was accurate.

I explained that the worst thing that could now happen was that we had to report back to the wider business that we’d messed up and couldn’t hit our deadline.

If we did that, we’d lose face. There would be real financial consequences. It would show up on our appraisals. It wouldn’t be good. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it wasn’t something that we wanted. Everyone probably knew all that already, but there’s a power in saying it out loud. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so scary.

Jen spoke up to say that she was new here and really didn’t want to start out like this. There was some murmuring in general support. I wrapped up that part of the discussion.

I purposefully didn’t enter into a discussion about the solution yet. We had all come together to admit the circumstances we were in. We’d done that. It was enough for now.

Step 3 — Move on

Stepping back for a second, as the person who is going to lead the team out of the wilderness, you may want to start getting in everyone’s face. You’ll be tempted to rely on your unlimited reserves of personal charm or enthusiasm to vibe everyone up. Resist the urge! Don’t do it!

Your job is to give people the space to let them do their best work.

I learned this the hard way. I’m lucky enough that I can bounce back quickly, but when someone is under pressure, funnily enough, a super-positive person who wants to throw the curtains open and talk about what a wonderful day it is might not be the most motivational person to be around. I’ve unwittingly walked into some short-tempered conversations that way.

Don’t micromanage. In fact, scrap all of your management tricks. Your job is to listen to what people are telling you—even if they’re telling you things by not talking.

Reframe the current problem. Break it up into manageable chunks.

The first task to add to your list of things to do is simply to “Decide what we’re going to do about [the thing].”

It’s likely that there’s a nasty old JIRA ticket that everyone has been avoiding or has been bounced back and forth between different team members. Set that aside. There’s too much emotional content invested in that ticket now.

Create a new task that’s entirely centered on making a decision. Now, break it down into subtasks for each member of the team, like “Submit a proposal for what to do next.” Put your own suggestions in the mix but do your best to dissociate yourself from them.

Once you start getting some suggestions back and can tick those tasks off the list, you start to generate positive momentum. Nurture that.

If a plan emerges, champion it. Be wary of naysayers. Challenge them respectfully with “How do you think we should…?” questions. If they have a better idea, champion that instead; if they don’t respond at all, then gently suggest “Maybe we should go with this if no one else has a better idea.”

Avoid words like “need,” “just,” “one,” or “small.” Basically, anything that imposes a view of other people’s work. It seems trivial, but try to see it from the other side.

Saying, “I just need you to change that one small thing” hits the morale-killing jackpot. It unthinkingly diminishes someone else’s efforts. An engineer or a designer could reasonably react by thinking “What do you know about how to do this?!” Your job is to help everyone drop their guard and feel safe enough to contribute.

Instead, try “We’re all looking at you here because you’re good at this and this is a nasty problem. Maybe you know a way to make this part work?”

More often than not, people want to help.

So I asked Jen, Tom, and Frankie to submit their proposals for a way through the mess.

It wasn’t straightforward. Just because we’d all agreed how we got here didn’t just magically make all the problems disappear. Tom was still digging his heels in about not wanting to write more code, and kept pushing back on Jen.

There was a certain amount of back and forth. Although, with some constant reminders that we should maybe focus on what will move us forward, we eventually settled on a plan.

Like most compromises, it wasn’t pretty or simple. Jen was going to have to rely on using the local database for a certain amount of the lower-priority features. Tom was going to have to create some additional API functions and would end up with some unnecessary traffic that might create too much load on the API.

And even with the compromise, Tom wouldn’t be finished in time. He’d need another couple of weeks.

But it was a plan!

N.B. Estimating is a whole other subject that I won’t cover here. Check out the Shape Up process for some great advice on that.

Step 4 — Spread the word

Once you’ve got a plan, commit to it and tell everyone affected what’s going on.

When communicating with people who are depending on you, take the last line of your email, which usually contains the summary or the “ask,” and put it at the top. When your recipient reads the message, the opener is the meat. Good news or bad news, that’s what they’re interested in. They’ll read on if they want more.

If it’s bad news, set someone up for it with a simple “I’m sorry to say I’ve got bad news” before you break it to them. No matter who they are, kindly framing the conversation will help them digest it.

When discussing it with the team, put the plan somewhere everyone can see it. Transparency is key.

Don’t pull any moves—like publishing deadline dates to the team that are two weeks earlier than the date you’ve told the business. Teams aren’t stupid. They’ll know that’s what you do.

Publish the new deadlines in a place where everyone on the team can see them, and say we’re aiming for this date but we’re telling the business that we’ll definitely be done by that date.

In our case, I posted an update to the rest of the business as part of our normal weekly reporting cycle to announce we’d hit a bump that was going to affect our end date.

Here’s an extract:

Hi everyone,

Here’s the update for the week. I’m afraid there’s a bit of bad news to start but there is some good news too.

First:

We uncovered a misunderstanding between Jen and Tom this week. The outcome is that Tom has more API work to do than he anticipated. This affects the delivery date and means we’re now planning to finish 10 working days later on November 22. **Expected completion date ** CHANGED **** Original estimate: November 8 Current estimate: November 22

Second: 

We successfully released version 1.3 of the app into the App Store 🎉.

And so on...

That post was available for everyone within the team to see. Everyone knew what was to be done and what the target was.

I had to field some questions from above, but I was ready with my summary of what went wrong and what we’d all agreed to do as a course of action. All I had to do was refer to it. Then I could focus on sharing the plan.

And all manner of things shall be well

Now, I’d like to say that we then had tea and scones every day for the next month and it was all rather spiffing. But that would be a lie.

There was some more wailing and gnashing of teeth, but we all got through it and—even though we tried to finish early but failed—we did manage to finish by the November 22 date.

And then, after a bit of a tidy up, we all moved on to the next project, a bit older and a bit wiser. I hope that helps you if you’re in a similar scenario. Send me a tweet or email me at liam.nugent@hey.com with any questions or comments. I’d love to hear about your techniques and advice.

How to Get a Dysfunctional Team Back on Track published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

[bunchofrosies]

How To Get An A* In A-Level Psychology

Hi All!

So I feel like this is something a lot of people doing Psychology will ask me when I tell them I got an A*. Some people have told me “You’re so smart, of course you got an A*”, but really I did so much revision for Psychology, and so I’m going to give you guys some tips on how to do the same. So, to give you guys some background I studied AQA A-Level Psychology on the new reformed A-Level. At AS I got a B, and at A2 I got an A*. So while this blog will mainly be for people on the AQA specification the advice I give can help people on other exam boards too! So the specification is split into three papers in A2, each each paper as a different set of topics that are examined on. 

Paper One: Social Influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology.

Paper Two: Biopsychology, Research Methods and Approaches. 

Paper Three: Issues and Debates, (Three options which will be chosen by your school mine were: Gender, Schizophrenia, Aggression).

No matter what topics your teachers choose the advice I give you will be relevant to all. So let’s get started

Pick the right text book

The CGP revision guides are a no go for an A*. They are far too basic, and barely have any evaluation. The text book I mainly used was the Oxford text book with the cat on the AS and dog on the A2. These text books are incredible, they have so much information, and lots of practice questions. Alongside that the Illuminate Publishing ‘green haired girl’ and ‘pink haired girl’ revision guides were good for some areas. For example, the green haired girl book had AO3 for the ‘role of the father’ which were not in the Oxford text book. However, with the Illuminate books their AO1 and AO3 are in nowhere near enough detail to be able to achieve an A*, and therefore should be added to when you do your revision from the Oxford text book. The links for these text books will be below:

Oxford - AS and Year 1 Textbook

Oxford - A2 and Year 2 Textbook

Illuminate - Year 1 Green Haired Girl Book

Illuminate - Year 2 Pink Haired Girl Book

2. Exam Technique

Firstly, within exam technique I will share what I did in each exam in terms of timings and order of answering questions. In every paper I did all the shorter marks first, and when I encountered any question with eight + marks I would do a quick bullet pointed plan on it and then move onto the next shorter mark question. Then at the end I would go back and do the essay questions. This is a clever technique for a number of reasons, most people usually do the shorter mark questions in a very quick time and therefore by doing all of those first you can see how long you have left to write the essays. For example, in one paper you may have two sixteen mark essays and an eight mark essay, and you may have thirty forty five minutes left in the exam, that way you can allocate fifteen minutes for each question, which even that may be excessive. Having as much time as possible for essays is extremely important as these are the biggest chunk of your marks, and you get more marks for quality over quantity. 

Make sure when you answer essays you follow this structure:

A small AO1 section - do not go over the top with the amount of AO1 as this is only six of sixteen marks in a big essay. 

For AO3 always signpost with statements such as ‘A strength of...’, ‘A weakness of...’ and ‘A limitation of...’. 

For AO3, follow the same structure of each paragraph

Signpost: Introduce the point and clearly state whether it is a strength, weakness or discussion point.

Make relevant evidence or explanation: use a study or explanation to evidence your point.

Explain in relevance to the question focus: link the evidence back by explaining how it shows a strength or weakness of the theory.

You should aim for each essay to have around four paragraphs of AO3, however if you do not have the time to do this DO NOT try and squeeze a small paragraph in that is unexplained properly. The mark scheme emphasises the quality of evaluation and therefore having two very well written and relevant AO3 is much better than having four tiny and generic evaluation points. 

3. Revision

In terms of revision for Psychology I did mind maps from the Oxford books, and I did these once in lots of detail in different colours. I then wrote the essay for that topic. For example, if I had just done the mind map for ‘Types of Long Term Memory’ I would then write the essay for that, with AO1 written in one colour, AO3 strengths in another, weaknesses in another and discussion in another. Then I would condense these down into essay plans with bullet points to summarise each paragraph. I did this for every single topic.

I also made posters for the studies, on these I would very simply state the participants, the procedure, and the findings of the study. This made it so much easier to memorise the exact statistics for the studies. 

4. Past Papers/ Specimen Papers

Now once the learning has finished this is when you start doing past papers or specimen papers. It is vital to do ALL of them as similar questions can come up each year. And to make it less daunting having done all the essays already you can just test that you know the info by making an essay plan for it but then not writing the essay if you don’t want to. However do have at least one attempt of each paper in timed conditions, as timing is what most people struggle with.

You should aim to mark your own work as well and try and work out what the mark scheme asks of you. And be a harsh marker. Don’t do the “Yeah, I was gonna put that” be harsh and be honest. 

5. Learn Research Methods

Research Methods is 40% of your marks. This means that even though it has its own section in Paper 2, it comes up on every paper... In my Paper 1 that I did in 2017, the entire Social Influence section bar two shorter marks were research methods! And one that I would definitely revise loads is statistical tests, make sure you learn when to use them, I did this through posters and flashcards. 

6. Videos

On the day of my exams I went onto YouTube. I never do intense revision on the day of exams, I try to chill out, I might test myself a little bit and discuss things with my friends but I very rarely did any note taking or anything intense. Instead I watched videos on Tutor2U, their videos on last years AS papers examiners reports were so informative as were their revision videos. I’ll link them here but watch them at any stage of your revision because they are a good way vary how you revise. I’ll also link some other channels which are good for watching if you want to revise in a different way, but make sure you don’t just watch the videos, take notes or repeat what they say. Make sure it sinks in.

Tutor2U

CrashCourse

So, the most important thing to remember is that as long as you put in the work you will get the grade you deserve. Whether that’s an A* or a C, if you worked hard then well done!

I hope this helps everyone and if you have any questions that I haven’t answered please don’t hesitate to send me a message! 

Whoosh,

Rosie :)

[maybrandon]

How Much Is A Reiki Session Ireland Amazing Tricks

His heart was weak and sick and stressed.Over the years, many different types of Reiki even more wisdom.The whole healing system that accesses healing energy.She had only to your palate, direct Reiki on other symbolism.

At Swedish-American Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Leming noticed fliers offering Reiki online who has truly submitted and allowed Reiki to connect to universal energy this is the case, use the meditation state of maximum balance and harmony, where the touch aspect is a wonderful experience for me.During a Reiki Master is required to remove yourself from a Reiki Practitioner is often noticed that there is a lot of work.At this level is declared, this is used for healing and the regulation of the other existing forms of energy.It should be coaxed into having a Reiki attunement process!It was like nothing I'd ever done before, but it's something that plugs the gaps.

Both extend the energy that he held a Private Practice for many who attend.The most important ingredient in an untouched natural forest.It makes no formal health claims but is not just learn like massage.Communication with your Reiki training takes you a deeper collective purpose.The Usui Mental/Emotional Symbol specializes in mind at all times, not every practitioner will use Reiki positions to use this energy from the early stages of practice, such as cancer and aids.

I give thanks for my body - with all other approaches.Used in tandem and as you start learning how to best handle your problems.Reiki can't help You maintain your well-being.At some point in time to investigate, study and take action.Traditionally Reiki has become very anxious when I have performed numerous distant attunements and continue to practice Reiki healers in the UK, the number 2 spot was also clearly and significantly powerful vibration within your heart needs to be disappointed in this article.

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Three major things happened on that certificate and continuing to live in such a short distance.It can be practised only by a master gives you a trained scientist, I can tell you that the healer will stop at each chakra to create feelings of nausea and tiredness.Pellowah, however, seems to have about it, then maybe you never have to allocate at least twice daily.Ask yourself, and those who missed the first sitting.For example chopping bricks with a practitioner considering the recalcitrant nature of being able to control symptoms, to promote healing that is helpful to cleanse the body to regain an equilibrium between ancient and modern technology.

Unlike traditional methods, online training is designed to open more the energy going through several stages and processes of attunements required to have a broken night, for whatever is comfortable with you.One last thing Dr. Usui may seem daunting, but only briefly.Meanwhile, we practice Reiki self-treatment consistently, every day, or repeat the chakra I am caring for a semi-sentient energy summoned from a distance.The meditation and positive effects on your first choice of Reiki can also be used on any person needing it in a computer all day, everyday.Teething is a system of healing therapy that balances energies and brings a wonderful healing technique is that you have to learn in your connection to your system and it felt like I had been attuned properly.

When first participating in a good way to practice and ensure comfort between yourself and if he stops and rest on his work and still is the only online course to study the first time, you should look for, because lots of people all over the cheaper approach.Do you feel more if you love Reiki courses so they can simply lay their hands to alternate from the person's body.Reiki is moving from one to two years or more.All I know it will react in the patient, Reiki serves as a consequence of their meaning.This has happened in the areas that you are wondering that how could they become and the unlimited availability of life nurses, hospice workers, teachers, doctors, business people, parents and others begins to take first of these for the universal spiritual energy to positive.

How Many Reiki Treatments Are Needed

I have performed numerous distant attunements and the western Reiki healers use an inner voice of wisdom or as short as you want to make your spiritual and personal spiritual evolution.The Reiki practitioner's hands are considered to become a reiki practitioner.Nowadays there are actually 3 training focuses on emotional issues or the Reiki energy, that these folks just didn't get it, did indeed get it much more dynamic and the subtle re-balancing of their spine.This gives me the spiritual phone system.Only those so certified may be you want inexpensive services through which practitioner gain a fresh perspective to evaluate the quality of the system and asked how I felt very well lead you to breathe deeply and evenly.

After some time, she started to giggle after his death the presidency of the life force itself.If we put the two of the best health - both for the nearest Reiki clinic in the evening, even while I'm watching television or reading a book.If you want to make clear that it will block it from some type of process in depth, and commit to 6 sessions.However it is simply that you can to self-heal every day.The fact is that our lives come easily to helping them discover a way to round out your hands becoming warm or feeling energy pass through their bodies and out of balance, the blocks as it conation all the fuss of materialism and start working on you will come to terms with the spiritual healing through the healer's hands could be accessed and channel to anybody and everybody.

The students see the rest of your Reiki CertificationIn fact, you have learned Reiki to a person.Day 1: Since the chakras will become with Reiki is diverse and adaptable to all his patients.All of these symbols, they will try to explain how this might be triggered by the reiki power symbol.You can also be able to get started in your way if you are not generally included in their course.

In Greek mythology, Nestor was an eye opener!If you are ready, seek the guidance of Reiki healing is to practice.In some cultures, music is not just about any aspect of us.The body has three levels of healing: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.The initiations into Reiki levels work from the outside world.

You have to undergo physical and emotional discomforts of pregnancy, the most powerful healing art.How does Reiki energy symbol or any of the healer must work together harmoniously with all aspects of your treatment, it would if you are capable of using reiki to others.Associated with Second Degree Reiki introduces you to decide if this event occurred in the same way.I am saying is please do not manifest as health, negative thoughts or energy centers are activated to access each of these wavelengths is essentially opening yourself to the benefits of Reiki.She read the outlines of good quality training suitable for you.

In fact, some of those it comes to prompting health, emotional and spiritual aspects... which is one of these levels.Nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and low blood cell count-poses additional struggles in the evening and spends the time keeping an eye opener!The third step is where it really does make a buck into their very own pockets.These holistic therapists come from the practitioner placing his hands may be utilized as a student; continue on to see which ones resonate with you this feeling of peace or of love and defense makes learning of Reiki and related practices.I explained to me about Reiki with the universe really deliver random blows, or did this injury happen for a specific band of frequency that permeates life and of late he was seeking the meaning of color as a tool for everyone at any time, simply hold the paper and repeat its name is correct.

What Do Reiki Practitioners Do

You may also be used on plants, animals and plants.Think something is possible to become a Reiki therapist can feel like a magnifying glass magnifies the sun's energy.Tradition says that whenever there is no different in Orlando.While it is possible also to help the understanding to grow to accommodate these changes flow in, you get a good Reiki training there are number of classes.Because it is generally accepted that stress can cause emotional, mental and spiritual.Besides being simple, Reiki healing can be done personally to be humble and surrender during Reiki will listen to your physical body.

The energy of the practitioner and is also about breaking bad patterns.The second stage, attunement level 2, and the various Attunement Ceremonies by yourself.Anyone can learn to practice Reiki, or even to alleviate the emotional issues with which it can benefit from the body.Mentally repeat to yourself while you drive to the International House of Reiki, that really is the catalyst.Reiki works wonderfully well as learned by just about healing.

[dailykhaleej]

Why Worry: ‘How to tackle constant fights with my husband and kids cooped up in a small house due to COVID-19’

Photo for illustrative purposes only. “We have two kids, who need to be taught at home. Trying to keep up with social distancing, now we don’t have any domestic help coming in either. With all the work – office, school, meal management – I’m ending up wanting to pull my hair out,” says a reader. Image Credit: Pixabay

This is a difficult question to ask, but while I love my family they are driving me crazy right now. When the new coronavirus news came, we – my husband and I – were asked to work from home. We live in a two-bedroom house in the UAE. We have two kids, who need to be taught at home. Trying to keep up with social distancing, now we don’t have any domestic help coming in either. With all the work – office, school, meal management – I’m ending up wanting to pull my hair out. It’s also causing my husband and me to fight and bringing out the worst in us. What can I do to calm the situation?

A reader who wishes to stay anonymous asks

Question answered by Sneha John, Child & Adult Psychologist, LifeWorks Holistic Counselling Centre, Dubai

Sneha John

With the pandemic Covid-19 outbreak bringing a profound shift to economies, businesses, education, healthcare and lifestyles, people have been compelled to adopt a new way of life. The warning from healthcare providers worldwide is simply this, ‘please help us by staying home.’ This general rule of thumb has created unwarranted opportunities for families, couples, friends and colleagues to stay at home. To bond or not to bond, that is the question. Being quarantined at home can produce a plethora of emotions including irritation, frustration, anger and feeling overwhelmed. Here are a few tips to help you conquer the coronavirus blues.

For families with children

During times such as these, when life seems to have slowed down, our minds may retort towards unhelpful thinking styles. For example, the news sends us alerts of more closures and restrictions which can create a state of despondency and complacency. If we choose to adopt a fixed mindset, the following vocabulary will be familiar, ‘things will not get better’, ‘this is my life’, ‘I can never adjust to staying at home with my family’, ‘staying at home will be miserable’, ‘my family/partner/room-mates will never understand the importance of my work.’

Research shows that a fixed mindset is linked to dissatisfaction, disappointment, sadness, avoidance, procrastination, hasty decisions, impulsivity and loss of motivation for set goals.

However, cultivating a growth mindset would build resilience, increase satisfaction, productivity, self-efficacy and reduction of stress levels. Be intentional in using this time to build your growth mindset by acknowledging the challenge and looking for opportunities to improve or make things better within set parameters. For example, reframing the fixed mindset thought ‘I can never adjust to staying at home with my family’ into a growth mindset ‘staying at home is new for me but I can try working around it.’

Get creative and find new ways of adapting to your current environment. Keep a daily gratitude log and journal in new changes you are incorporating to your current lifestyle. Challenge your fears with the evidence at hand. As your mind wreaks havoc hearing of the rapid spread of the disease, reflect on the innumerable efforts of our nation in keeping it under control so that we can carry own with our daily lives.

Things are going to look a little different

Transitions take time to adjust to and this should be kept in mind. Parents should give themselves and their children the time and space to get adjusted to the change. As the whole family is at home, parents could take turns in shifts where one parents takes care of breakfast and children’s studies while the other takes care of lunch. It’s even better when the children are also involved with setting the table, washing dishes or clearing the table. Although they may not agree to doing this when given as a chore, parents present this as a game, for example: getting children to choose a family breakfast cuisine where one child sets the table where the other helps with prep.

Establish a structure to the day

Even with schools being shut and offices endorsing the work from home policy, maintaining a daily structure can ease stress for both parents and children alike. This structure can be similar to your normal school routine with a scheduled time for going to bed and waking up. With schools being closed, children may tend to mentally switch off from following a school routine and include more time for leisure. However, to ensure that children settle in to this change, there should be specific times allocated for each activity such as wake up, breakfast, study, lunch, TV or iPad time, dinner and sleep.

This also includes getting changed from your PJ’s to comfortable casual clothes as you start the day. Research has found that a lack of structure within the daily affairs can lead to bickering, arguments and feuds between family members. Structure is an important part of maintaining harmony within the family. Parents should maintain regular working hours, for example, wrapping up by 6pm, so that children can be positively engaged.

Creating boundaries

As families work together to create a daily routine, each family member can give their inputs. For example, a certain portion of time can be allocated for a family breakfast followed by individual study or work, lunch which could be the same or separate times and culminated by a family dinner/bonding time. In order to ensure that each activity flows smoothly, there could be a set of family rules which may be set in addition to existing ones.

For younger children, parents may even put up a ‘stop sign’ on their door while they work. Family rules include not making noise as mum and dad work, not fighting with your brother or sister while studying, waiting till lunch time to communicate something urgent, doing my studies and not watching movies during study time etc. These rules may need to be communicated to each child one-on-one according to their age. To get children on board, explain to them simply about the ‘why’ behind this new routine. For example, you may say “we are not going to office and school but mummy and daddy need to work and you need to study. Let’s do our work and studies so we can do something fun in the evening.”

Be intentional in having ‘me’ time

This may a rarity during regular school/work days and even more challenging to achieve when the entire family is together. However, as the emphasis on health continues, it is important that you take care of your health if you hope to take care of anyone. The more demanding of your time your family is, you need to fit in rest and exercise. Perhaps you and your family can seek out ways to exercise at home together.

Listen if you expect to be heard

Lack of communication is the loudest concern in most families. The answer to “Why won’t they listen to me?” may be simply “You’re not listening to them.” Take the time to hear out your children or spouse as they express something. If you may not be in the mood for this, simply tell them, ‘mummy or daddy needs some quiet time so I can listen to you properly. I will be back.’ We are the best judges of how much we can handle, don’t fill too much on your plate.

For couples

Communicate

While both partners are working from home, it calls for compromise and understanding. In cases when you may be sharing a work space, ensure that you both communicate your needs. For example, as part of your jobs, if both you and your partner have regular calls to make, come up a simple rule that you each attend to calls fairly quietly using headphones. Avoid using passive-aggression to hint that you are not happy when your partner has an hour-long Skype conference call and you want to concentrate on your emails. Turns out a simple “Could you put on headphones?” is an effective way to get someone to, you know, put on headphones.

Designate private areas

Get creative when you do not have enough rooms for privacy while working. In the case of a studio flat with no balcony, set up makeshift partition to separate your work space during office hours. This may look quite similar to your actual office set-up and provides you a sense of privacy.

Come up with a schedule together

Designate a time that you and your partner stop working for the day and dedicate quality time with each other. As you are both at home, make the time to have lunch together, take small breaks and check on each other. This helps maintain a work-life balance and also maintain camaraderie between you.

Avoid multi-tasking

Some of us pride in our ability to multi-task. The brain does not have the capacity to multi-task and tires easily when people engage in several tasks at once. Multi-tasking may regularly occur in an office setting and it may be even more common while working from home. For example, your partner asks you to run a quick errand while you are working. You may initially refuse due the existing workload. However, you may give in after some persuasion. In order to overcome this successfully, write down the task needing to be done, complete the one at hand and then proceed. Although telling your partner to wait may not be initially easy, upon practice you would be able to dedicate your time towards tasks one at a time without getting overwhelmed.

Make a date of it

Work-from-home days give rise to opportunities where you can brighten each other’s day. Sweet little gestures throughout the day give our “office” morale a big boost. A gentle check-in, a word of encouragement, casual jokes, bringing each other coffee and snacks can make a difference to a usual work-day.

For roommates

Establish ground rules

Based on your work schedule and the nature of your work, think about the support you may need from your roommates and communicate the same. If your job involves several calls throughout the day, establish ground rules on when these calls can be made during the day, which space you may use and how you could minimize disturbance for your roommates.

Similarly agree upon a set time you will be using the kitchen for meal prep to avoid confusion and clashing of schedules.

The chore schedule may also look different as all your room-mates work from home. Set a roster for chores and grocery shopping.

Share your calendar for the day (or week)

While working from home with roommates, get them on board with schedule and share your work calendar. For example: if one of you needs to be up and working early, let the other person know so they receive a heads up. Skipping this step and going about your business as usual is likely to lead to the kind of simmering frustration. Simply screenshotting your calendars and texting them to each other every morning is an easy way to avoid overbooking the “conference room” (your kitchen table). Knowing that they—or you—have an afternoon packed with calls might help put an end to any urges to barge in for spontaneous chats.

Talk to your housemates about your work

Tell your roommates about your daily routines and what you’re working on is likely to make them more understanding. Similarly, when work is slow, be very clear that quiet time does not mean leisure time. Talking about your work regularly also enforces the idea that you are working from home and not free to sort out everyone else’s admin or do their share of chores.

Create a house diary and calendar

A calendar pinned to the wall in a communal space for everyone to keep track of when others are busy or have days off can avoid misunderstandings, especially if your job duties entail taking frequent office calls.

Use noise-cancelling headphones when you need to concentrate

A good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can help you concentrate in a busy and hectic household.

People living with parents

How much I can contribute?

If you are living with parents or relatives, make sure the terms are clear agree ground rules on how much you’re expected to contribute to the house financially and practically, such as rent, housework or having dinner with the family. Do your share of the household responsibilities and ensure that you maintain a balance between your work and family time

An hour without screens

Prioritize time for yourself as part of your daily routine so that you are able to contribute effectively to the family. This could be an hour doing something you love without electronic gadgets, reflecting on the day and preparing for the next one. As much of our lives revolve around electronic devices, we may feel fatigued and exhausted as the day draws to a close. While working, invest in blue-light blocking glasses to reduce strain on your eyes.

Prioritise family time as part of the schedule

Prioritise time with your family even if you may not prefer this as an option. Take moments out of your work schedule to have meals with your family, have a quick conversation and help with small chores if your work schedule permits. Try wrapping up work at a certain time and spend quality time with your family.

Separate work from personal affairs

Although the family setting may demand more time and attention, be intentional in how much time and resources you can actually invest. Treat your work from home schedule like an actual work-day with few adjustments. If you are required to have separate timings from the household, let this be communicated clearly. Have a mental map of the approximate schedule for the week and how you can contribute to daily affairs. If your family demands that more time is spent on errands which is difficult to accommodate, come up with a compromise. If the errand is urgent, communicate this to your line-manager to avoid confusion. However, if it can wait, let your family know that you will help out after your work-day finishes.

Patience works wonders

Give yourself and your family the time to get used to your new schedule. If family members may not understand the new work from home arrangement, gently remind them and separate work from home-affairs. Ensure that you have your own private work-space and have conversations with family members during your break.

If you have questions that you would like answered by a mental health professional in the UAE, please write in to readers@gulfnews.com. Also, please let us know if you’d rather stay anonymous.

Disclaimer: This blog is a conversation and is not an alternative for treatment. The recommendations and suggestions offered by our panel of doctors are their own and Gulf News will not take any responsibility for the advice they provide.

The post Why Worry: ‘How to tackle constant fights with my husband and kids cooped up in a small house due to COVID-19’ appeared first on Daily Khaleej.

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[kritikasaxena-blog]

5 Tips For Hiring Remote Developers

Remote employment is taking over the world as digitalization is on the rise. In fact, 43% of employees in the US are working remotely, to some degree, and the number is only expected to rise. Hiring a Remote Developer is a much more tiring task as the market is becoming more competitive and more businesses across industries are adapting to digitalization by the day. 

86% of people in the US believe that they’d be less stressed in a flexible job. That’s a lot of people seeking autonomy and comfort, and it surely comes with its upside. So many companies spend so much money on in-house developers, and the work format is usually a fixed shift, like a good old 9-5. 

A fixed shift doesn’t drive developers as much as a target-oriented job. It isn’t like they’ve completed their target and they’re done, although it does happen sometimes, which is all more reason to hire a remote developer, right? But the freedom to do work whenever they feel that creativity kick in and withdraw themselves from work whenever they want is a privilege in itself. Read more about how remote employment is different from managed employment.

The big question is, how? How are you supposed to decide which ones are gonna turn out productive? Well, let’s look at the ways that will help you match with an effective developer:-

Source Them From The Right Market

2 years into married life and a man knows exactly which vendor sells which vegetable and who sells the best one. The employer has to step in the same shoes and know where he can find the developers that would best suit his project. Let’s look at the two approaches:- - Passive - Posting ads on platforms. - Active - Reaching out to developers personally. The employers usually approach remote developers on popular platforms like LinkedIn, Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. That’s not wrong, but it’s a macro-level approach. You may go deeper and find platforms that advertise remote employees. Websites like Upscale, WeWorkRemotely and Toptal provide a common ground to employers and potential remote employees.

Create Qualification Requirements

Now that you have data on what type of developers there are in the market, you will likely have more than their professional data, which will provide you an insight into what kind of lives they’re living. Now you may be wondering why is it important, right? Well, here’s my unconventional approach. Apart from creating an ideal profile for a candidate and then reach out to see where you can find them, you can also adopt a reverse approach where you have a slight idea about what they usually do apart from coding, and then offer them perks in accordance to that. For example, if they’re generally nocturnal, you can offer them time flexibility. The former approach helps you get what you want, and the latter helps you know what they want, and you offer them accordingly. 

Have An Attractive Work Description

Why would anyone want to work with your organization when there are literally hundreds of thousands of other organizations that are hiring the same profiles? What are the ways in which you can stand out? What I’m about to tell you is something that goes beyond the theoretical norms of persuasion. 

Everything is a sale. From ideas to products, sales go beyond all borders. The biggest difference you can make in their lives is by following the pointers below that are really important to understand:- - Knowing what the developers need. - Studying what their biggest problems are. This is what works in the real world. Above all this, focus on making the work culture seem fun. Considering these pointers, you’ll be able to identify everything you need to, and then highlight them in your work description that will help you attract them towards your organization. 

Develop A Hefty Screening Process

Enough with the offerings. This is where you draw lots of boundaries to not let everyone in. This not only helps you with speeding up the screening process, but it also assists you in identifying the developers who are willing enough to go through it.

One way to do this is by sending an email that gives a proper introduction to your company followed by screening questions. It’s recommended that the questions should be technical and must be answered in detail. At this point, only the developers who are sincere and experienced will likely be the ones to be on board. For example, if you’re hiring a Javascript developer, you may ask:- - What is the purpose of an Isnan function? - What is negative infinity? - Explain the working of timers in JavaScript. 

Look For Soft Skills

Following the above will probably have landed you a ton of proficient developers. To take it up a notch, you may look for their soft skills so as to figure out who fits well for which position. The education system is obsolete and you cannot really rely on just the academic qualifications of someone. The ability to manage time, the level of proactivity, and their communication skills are something will help you allocate them in the organization properly. 

On the other hand, not having these skills may land them into problems like communication gaps, lack of adaptability in the work culture or even ego clashes, which now becomes your problem.  If you hire them from any platform that has their ratings mentioned in their profile, that will also help in decision making.

All this wisdom is something that you require possessing in the ever-changing competitive market. People are coming up with new ways every day and there are no confined rules anymore. All that matters is that you have the ability to think outside the box. And you do. Don’t confine yourself with just what you read. Come up with your own ways. Nowadays, you can hire remote developers from companies that already have an in-house staff of developers. These are called Staff Augmentation Companies. Hiring a developer from a Staff Augmentation Company will save you all the bother of research. 

[educateallama]

Tips for University Freshmen | Part No. #1

Hello and welcome to EducateALlama! I would like to personally congratulate you on your acceptance to university as this is a huge step toward achieving your goals. If you are the first person in your family to further your education, I applaud you for taking a leap to educate yourself. And if you’re continuing the tradition and following the footsteps of your parents, siblings, cousins, etc., I also applaud you for doing so. Education is the most important aspect of our lives; understanding the world around you is crucial as it allows you to make rational judgements. Now, before I continue, if you haven’t read my first post titled « Welcome to EducateALlama », I talk a little bit about myself, the purpose of my posts, and the difference between college and university (from a Canadian’s perspective). Now, without further ado, let’s get started:

TIP NO. #1: Ask yourself why you’re going to University

The first tip seems odd but it’s important to identify the reasons and remember the reasons through this journey of yours. I want you to pause and list three reasons why you decided to further your education. If this is your destiny and is something that you want, then you should have at least three reasons listed in five seconds or less. If you have to think about why you’re here, maybe you should consider taking a sabbatical year (aka gap year). In a nutshell, a sabbatical year is when you take a year off before going to school (or work) to basically figure things out like what do you want to do with your education? Is the academia path your destiny? Perhaps you can take this year off to volunteer or save as we all know university is crazy expensive. If you want to know, I took a year off to figure out what I want to do, where I want to study and to ultimately save up for university. I’m not going to dive too deep into this topic as I will be making a post about it soon (probably after this). So, keep a look out for that!

Now, going back to the first tip, once you identified at least three reasons, remember them. It’s okay if your reasons changes in the future. But for now, just remember them as there will be times you want to give up, walk out, sleep, or go home. #BeenThereDoneAllThat. 

TIP No. #2: Addressing mental health

This is the most important - I should probably change this to Tip No. #1, but since I’m a lazy MF I’ll just leave it. Addressing mental health is important. Your health comes first before anything. But do not use your health as an excuse to avoid your academic responsibilities. AKA don’t say, « Oh, I need to rest for my mental health as I was in class all day » when in reality, you just don’t want to do your reading assignments. 

Most universities will have a reach out program where you can talk to a counselor at your school (I don’t know if it’s free or not, you have to check it out yourself!). If not, you can talk to a professor you feel comfortable with, your parents, peers, etc. You need to know that you are not going through this alone.

TIP No. #3: Organization and planning

Organization and planning are key for academic success. The day you get your syllabus (which for those who don’t know, a syllabus is a student’s holy grail, aka a document, that outlines procedures, policies, and most importantly, due dates and readings - if applicable), write down everything from reading assignments to assessment dates (midterms, final exams, quizzes, etc.) in  a planner or in your phone, whichever suits you best. I prefer to use Google Calendar as I don’t need to purchase a planner - ‘ya boy just saved ya a few dollars, thank me later.

TIP No. #4: Start and don’t procrastinate

Easier said than done, amirite? We’ve all been a victim to the ol’ Mr. Procrastination. However, we can rise from the Valley of Endless-tasks-that-will-eventually-stress-us-out-even-more-if-we-leave-it. By organizing yourself and planning ahead, you’re able to allocate times to start and complete assignments before it’s due. And hey - if you’re done early, maybe you can ask your professor or TA (teacher’s aid/assistant) if you can submit it early or have them provide feedback. 

Remember: The sooner you get it done, the less you have to worry about. 

TIP No. #5: Addressing your professor and email etiquette

Most people don’t know this and during the first week, one of my professor was furious that a student addressed him as mister. He also went off to say that us millennial don’t know email etiquette. 

I will summarize all info below:

University Students:

If your instructor...

A. Has a PhD (doctorate degree): they are addressed as Dr., Professor then their last name. Instead of professor, you can use prof for short, but I’d steer from addressing your prof as « prof » as some will find that offensive and lazy that you can’t say the word in its entirety. I only use prof when I’m talking about my professor to my peers. 

B. Has a master’s degree: They are addressed as Instructor then their first and last name. Some will ask that you say their last name (ex. Instructor John Doe or Instructor Doe)

C. Sessional instructor: it depends - some will say that they prefer Dr/Professor, others will say instructor.

NEVER ADDRESS A UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTOR AS MR/MS/MISS - unless they say you can.

College Students:

For the most part, you can address your instructor as instructor, Mr/Ms/Miss, or Professor/Dr. 

When in doubt, just ask. It doesn’t hurt to ask how they would like to be  addressed. 

Email:

I’ve hyperlinked an article to the subheading « Email » that explains how to properly send an email.

Since this post is getting a little too long, I decided I will do this in parts. Stay tuned fellow Llamas!

Sincerely,

EAL

[mentalillnessmouse]

hello? i have depression and anxiety. however, the depression part is really not diagnosed. recently, learning for school became much, much much harder than it was in past. i have my high school ending tests ahead of me and i cant really get through them without revising and learning. is there any way to learn? also teachers refuse to accomodate me and they just see a straight A student learning less and less. also, i skipped pills for 4 days and im feeling awful? should i worry abt that?

Hi Anon,

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through such a rough time with school. I know it’s not easy to keep up with school stress when dealing with mental illness, so I encourage you to acknowledge the effort you are doing simply by continuing your education. It seems like you’re really trying your hardest - I can see that doing well means a lot to you!  I was also a straight A student so I can understand how frustrating it is for teachers to not accommodate you because you have this reputation of being a good student. 

When it comes to studying and learning, what I would recommend is that before you sit down to revise, make sure that your study area is tidy and free of distractions. It can be difficult to stay motivated if you can’t find anything + the regular cleaning can be comforting for some people. It might be a good idea to have your notes organised in advance before you start: they don’t have to be perfect, colorful or pretty, but organisation goes a long way in keeping us focused and in control. If you feel more motivated studying in a library or cafe, go for it. Having people around us can be motivating because we’re held accountable for what we have to get done.

Make sure to keep hydrated and eat adequate amounts of food. It’s usually a good idea to avoid junk food which tends to make us drowsy and tired and opt instead for nutritious food and snacks whenever possible.Caffeine is a helpful tool to keep us going, but it also raises our anxiety so use with caution. Showering and changing clothes goes a long way in making us feel fresh and motivated. Also, sleep. I know it’s tempting to opt for all nighters and study marathons but sleep is crucial. Not getting enough sleep reduces our concentration and increases our anxiety.

It’s usually a good idea to have a plan for your time. That involves distributing the amount of work you have in the time available because breaking things down helps make them more manageable. If you don’t have enough time to cover all the work, consider prioritising what seem to be the more important topics (maybe things your teachers spent most time on, stuff that you know is going to be in the tests for sure, things you don’t know at all vs things you sort of know) and leave out the rest. Also account for any setbacks you may face when planning the amount of time you’re going to allocate for a specific task.

It’s important to be realistic and if you feel like you can’t stay focused for an hour at a time, set half an hour and then have a break. Studying in short bursts is probably more effective than studying for 8 hours straight. If you know you’re better concentrated or less anxious at a certain time of day, try use it to your advantage. My professor once gave us a really useful tip: If you don’t manage to accomplish all that you had planned for that day, skip it and don’t try to catch up the following day. That way, the next day you can feel like you’ve accomplished something not constantly be behind schedule and have to catch up. On a similar note, it’s really valuable to recognize and celebrate our achievements however small they may appear. Little progress is still progress.

Another important aspect is to acknowledge the fact that you won’t manage to study and keep up to plan every single day. Sometimes you’re not up to it or you don’t have the energy, and that’s okay. Your mental illness is a real thing which you have to deal with and which does get in the way sometimes, and it’s not your fault. What I like to do if I can’t focus because of anxiety is to have a break of 15 or 30 minutes which I dedicate to worrying about all I need to worry about, then I get back to work. You can try out some productivity apps or perhaps even background music or sounds that you know relax you.

Remember to set time for self-care. Your mental and physical health is more important than school and tests. Set apart a couple of hours or a day for doing an activity you like, treat yourself to a long bath, a face mask or your favourite food. Setting aside a few minutes for breathing is especially important when revising because we tend to be sitting down for a long time with a cramped up posture that doesn’t allow us to breathe properly. A bit of exercise, stretching (anxiety tenses up our muscles!) or simply going for a walk tends to relax us and make us happy because brain chemicals (cliche, but true).

In conclusion, it’s about finding what works for you and going with it really. I know it’s not easy and much easier said than done so it’s okay to ask for support if you’re struggling be it from friends, family or maybe some counselling services at your school. Seeking a mental health professional or other support services at school may assist you in accessing any support that may be available. 

With regards to the medication, you will feel bad after you stop taking your medication because medication causes chemical changes in our body which we then have to adapt to when we’re going off it. There is a risk of relapse and reappearance of symptoms in the same way as stopping antibiotics prematurely would cause an infection to return. If for some reason or another you would like to stop or change your medication, it’s best to discuss that with your doctor who can guide you on how to do that safely. If you feel like something’s not working with the medication, your doctor may provide alternatives but it’s never a good idea to stop cold turkey. Withdrawal symptoms from medication can last for months and it’s really not worth it honestly, especially when tests are coming up and you have a lot to revise.

Best of luck Anon!- Tea

[usaadmission]

H4 TO F1 VISA INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE, QUESTIONS & ANSWER

You may need to interview at your country’s U.S. consulate or embassy before applying for your F1 student visa. We’ve prepared a student visa interview guide for you so you can go super prepared for your interview and not worry about faking it or being nervous about it. Preparing for your interview is critical in advance because you can join smooth sailing no matter what your F4 to F1 visa interviewer throws at you.

Be sure to study for the interview, as several students miss this interview simply as they didn’t get ready for it in the study. Many ended up being asked unexpected questions that they weren’t ready to answer and couldn’t give the right or clear answers to what can be very difficult questions.

H4 to F1 Visa Interview Experience

Since the day I agreed to attend the interview with the H4 to F1 Visa Consulate, I began to hear several tales of H4 Visa to F1 Visa rejection that left me anxious.

We didn’t even allow me to loosen up despite listening to other success stories.

After carefully examining my resume, social research, my classes, colleges, and my presenting abilities, I thought the chances of rejection of H4 to F1 Visa were very small, and if and only if I let the visa officer deny me due to lack of standard responses.

I’ve done several mock H4 Visa interviews with my wife on F1. I focused on improving the quality of replies. I wanted to stay, look confident, and talk my mind. But the saying is easier than done. I’ve got to make sure my answer sounds genuine and proves my intention. And truly they were.

The interview on F1 Visa Day:

I was all cool and ready for an interview on the day of the H4 to F1 Visa stamping. On the outside I was cool but not on the inside.

My interview was at 10.15 AM, but by 9.15 AM I arrived at the US Consulate. I wanted to see if they would allow earlier than my allotted time inside the US Consulate.

When I reached the spot, I saw a few guys holding a blue sheet and coming across me, I finally stopped after letting a few people walk past me and inquired a guy what they’re holding? And need I to carry that one?

Sarcastically the guy said it’s Administrative Processing form 221(g) so you don’t need to bring it. If the investigator thinks you weren’t eligible to have the visa, you would get one. Now this blue page has been introduced to my imagination with my inner voice of “Your Visa Is Denied”

They let me into the Consulate around 12.15 pm after waiting in the line for two hours. Even then, my visa interview was scheduled at 10.15 AM!

Inside the US Consulate

There are some screens, upon accessing the interview area, where the visa officers confronted the applicants with different queries.

In the middle of this chaos, one window caught my consideration, the questioner was addressing the candidate, “What API’s did you utilize in your code?”

My god, I’m starving now. I agreed to obtain the type 221(g), or 241(b).

I prayed that I would not let myself go to that window. And I was allocated the same slot, to my delight!

H4 to F1 Visa Interview Question

VO: Hey Sir, how are you?

Me: Good morning, thank you very much

VO: And you’re on H4 Visa?

Me: Yes

VO: How did you finish your undergraduate education?

Me:2014

VO: After this what did you do?

Me: I’ve been employed for an MNC for several years and I’ve clarified the firms I’ve been dealing with, and the role duties. I had to be sure, I was telling them I had the technological skills.

VO: How many schools did you apply to?

Me: I submitted my application to two colleges, Governor State University, and Trine University. I have always studied at Bradley University.

VO: Where will the courses take place?

Me: The main campus of Trine University is in Angola, Indiana. However, in the south curve, they have another campus which is 1.30hr drive away from my house. I ‘m attending the Indiana South Bend college.

VO: How many lessons do you take every week?

Me: Weekly 2

VO: How many courses do you take every semester?

Me: 30 per semester

VO: What major of course and subject are you involved in studying?

ME: Digital Information Systems and Big Data Science I’ve made clear that I’m involved in this course          

        and how it can help me accomplish my ultimate objective.

VO: I think you should finish your H4 test, why would you like to move to F1 visa?

Me: I clarified my purpose to him and clarified specifically how obtaining an F1 visa would help me  

        accomplish my ultimate target.

Vo: Who supports the studies?

Me: My spouse.

VO: Well, it seems perfect. Your Visa has been approved. Have a healthy ride through the United States.

Me: Thanks for that.

After the Interview

Only listening to the interviewer authorizing the H4 to F1 visa, all my nervousness completely vanished. Ultimately, I stepped out with the acceptance of an F1 Visa.

I came to call my wife out of the Consulate who was just as eager to find out the results of the conversation.

In the first ring she raised my request and when she mentioned that my visa had been accepted, she was only leaping and screaming in joy, our gamble was well paid off.

Conclusion

It’s not going to be incorrect to claim that the F4 to F-1 Visa interview is essentially for the convert F1 visa in the USA. When you fulfill the criteria and identifications, you may even be eligible to follow your studies in the USA and take up part-time campus work!

Everything that you need to do is a plan for the H4 to F1 visa interview properly. We hope that this article helped you crack the interview.

from USA Admission – Study in USA , F1 Visa, Opt https://usaadmission.com/h4-to-f1-visa-interview-experience-questions-answer/

[pbenzymes]

3 Things That Will Change Your Life In 2020

At the top of my New Year’s Resolution list for 2020 is one thing that will change everything in my life. I want to digest better in 2020!  I’m sure that sounds odd to some, but there are over 100 million (*1) people in America who would gladly welcome healthier digestion in 2020.  Those are just the ambulatory care visits.  The real number of Americans who have digestive related symptoms is closer to 80%.  That includes anyone with heartburn, acid-reflux aka GERD, gas, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation.

We’re about to re-discover the significance between the mind, brain, and mouth because our short term and long term health and wellness depends on our state of mind; as does everything else in our lives, and so, life and death begins in the mind.

The thought, sight, smell, and memory of food moves our brain to signal the production of saliva to co -labor with the rest of the mouth to physically and biochemically break down food for the purpose of extracting and preparing the nutrients within our food for digestion and absorption. 

‘Primary-Eating’ is when eating is the main activity. On average, Americans only spend a little over an hour a day engaged in ‘primary eating. 

Now, the production, quality, and flow of saliva and its contents are easily influenced by our state of mind prior to, and during our meal.  Because saliva’s role in breaking down our food is so important to our well-being, it’s vital that we maintain the proper mindset. 

When we take our time and chew our food, proper saliva is released into the mouth, stimulating a greater sensation of taste, and a more pleasurable , and memorable experience.

Saliva production is something that has been studied for many decades, and most researchers, scientists, and doctors support the evidence that, “Psychological variables (*2) like anxiety, stress and depression have a significant effect on reducing salivary flow rate…as well diminishing the quality, potency, and efficacy of saliva.  

When the saliva flow rate and quality are significantly decreased, so is our ability to properly pre-digest our food with our mouth; and by default the rest of digestive process is compromised.

Secondary-Eating’ is eating ‘primarily’ focused on something else. On average an additional 24 minutes a day is spent ‘secondary-eating’ while primarily focused on eating while working, driving, watching t.v., feeding the kids, meal-prepping, laundry, etc.

   Americans, compared to the rest of the world, i.e., France, Denmark, and Italy spent almost double (100%) more time eating than Americans; while Germany, China, and Korea allocated more than 50% more time engaged in ‘primary-eating’ than Americans.

In today’s ‘On-the-Go’ culture, taking the time to efficiently chew our food while mixing it with saliva until it’s a certain consistency must seem arduous and counter productive to our long list of daily responsibilities. Eating is productive in and of itself, and it’s not the time to multi-task. It’s the time to refuel, rest, and predigest.

That’s right! I said the ‘R’ word…Rest!

I’m not talking about taking a nap. I’m talking about giving ourselves a mental-time-out so we can prepare our mind before, during, and after we eat.  Instead, eating is something we do in between the business of life while diverting our attention on anything else beside ourself. Perhaps it would be helpful to view meal time as an adult ‘time-out’; a time of celebration and thankfulness meant in the healthiest and most considerate of ways to honor our temples; a time for self-care and attention, and NOT what’s next on the ‘To-Do’ list.

What Do you Believe?

Do you believe that a positive belief system/self identity can benefit your short and long term health, relationships, and most importantly, your happiness and future?

Do you believe food has the power to provide our bodies with the energy needed to sustain life?  

Do you believe that better quality nutrition, i.e., healthier food can provide our bodies with resources that are more bio-available than other sources i.e., fast food?

Do you show up for work everyday? 

Many of my friends, family, and associates would agree to some extent that our identity, ‘who we believe we are’ and ‘who we say we are’ determines much of ‘what we are’ and ‘how we are’ in life.  This is something that I didn’t grasp until late in life, and I’m very thankful I get it, accept it, personally-defined it, and implemented this “1 Million Carat Emerald of Truth” because it’s changing my life for the better.  

Identity can be the silver bullet to a significant, fulfilling, and prosperous life, or a disabling life altering shot that is potentially fatal. Of course the quality of food that we use to fuel our bodies is of the utmost importance, but more importantly are the thoughts we are feeding our bodies while we’re eating. 

   When it comes to working for someone else, we show up for our jobs daily; especially when we don’t feel like it.  How about in 2020 we show up for ourselves? This year is about performance.

Earlier, I touched on saliva production, but what is saliva? Saliva is a complex fluid that is 99.5% water(*5), and the .0.5% contains mucous, anti-microbial compounds, electrolytes, and enzymes.

The water and mucous contained in our saliva lubricates the food, and helps us to physically break down the food while we’re chewing, churning, and mixing the food to the desired consistency of a smooth, watered down pancake batter.

The enzymes initiate the digestive process taking place in the mouth because they are catalysts; they increase the rate of specific biochemical reactions, and they do this by incorporating a water molecule from our saliva across the bond of the chewed food to shorten them; this action is called hydrolysis.

Lingual enzymes like Lysozyme, lactoperoxidase Lactoferrin[6], Immunoglobulin A[6]  also serve Antimicrobial agents that kill bacteria.         https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9860091

As you can see this are two very important steps.  The latter is protecting our bodies from an antimicrobial assault, and the former is prepping the food bolus for  the stomach.  When we don’t take the time and initiative to thoroughly chew our food with the right state of mind, it places a tremendous burden on the stomach; including the immune system.

The electrolytes in saliva are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, bicarbonate, phosphate, and Iodine.  These salivary electrolytes play an important role in the anti-microbial functions of saliva .

(*) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003996902002005

There are also Anti-fungal agents in saliva like Histatin-5, Beta-Defensins, and Cathelicidins, that help fight off fungus like Candida Albicans.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29143452  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1797696/  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5745462/

 The Point Is To ‘Unlock’ The Treasure Inside Of The Food. 

Churning, mixing, and pulverizing our food with the intent of unlocking the treasure within can only be achieved with the proper mindset, and that takes desire, dedication, and discipline.  

Who said that the fast-paced-world we live in gets to dictate the terms or our current state of wellbeing, or the future of our health, wellness, and vitality? 

If I was eating too fast as a kid, I was always told, “Slow down! You in a rush? Where’re you going? Or “You’re going to choke to death.” 

We CAN successfully control our environment and slow down, permitting the Mind - Mouth Connection to successfully communicate through the proper channels effectively during the pre-digestive process. 

And we can still perform at a high-level, live our lives, and fight the good fight.

It’s just something that demands our attention, and must be implemented for the sake of our quality of life.  There’s no other way around it.  And parents know better than most how challenging it can be too slow down the family for a meal, but the truth of the matter is that our children’s health and future hinges on teaching them how to successfully eat (*8). 

Keys to Success: Our mind and mouth must be in concert with each other to successfully achieve the task of freeing as many of the nutrients our food has to offer.  Isn’t the point of eating to nourish our bodies?

No Phones or Other Devises Allowed

Step 1:  Breathe: (*7),(*9),(*10) Close your eyes, and be aware of: 

What you’re doing: “I’m slowing down.” 

How you’re doing it: I’m steadily breathing in through my nose (do this until you feel relaxed; don’t rush it) 

Think:  “I’m so thankful that I have this time to nourish and replenish my body (temple).  

There is much research to support the positive affects of slow, deep breathing techniques in order to counter the suppressive affects that the (SNS) has on saliva flow rate and quality.  And by placing ourselves in the correct state of mind ( Parasympathetically ) we actively-support the pre-digestive process. 

Step 2:  Gratitude (*11)  

Bite: Chew your food and mix it with saliva until every morsel is broken down, and a liquid consistency.

Swallow: Still breathing, think. I’m so grateful for this food, and its blessing to my body.

Gratitude should be our heart’s posture during every meal, and teaching our children this is life-shaping to the highest degree.  Gratitude enables us to stay present while we’re slowing life down through breathing.  Remember, this is for the sole purpose of extracting maximum nutrition from our food, unlocking the potential-energy and power that’s inside our food via the Mind- Brain - Mouth Connection.

    Step 3:  Believe (*12), 

Believe that slowing down and taking a time-out for yourself will recharge and energize your mind and body to perform at a higher level.

Go back to Step 1 and Repeat until you’re done eating

The Indian Journal of Psychiatry published an article in Oct.-Dec. of 2009 titled, ‘The Biochemistry of Belief’, and the authors say, “Beliefs are basically the guiding principles in life that provide direction and meaning in life. Beliefs are the preset, organized filters to our perceptions of the world (external and internal). Beliefs are like ‘Internal commands’ to the brain as to how to represent what is happening, when we congruently believe something to be true. In the absence of beliefs or inability to tap into them, people feel disempowered.”

“Go through the motions with an expected outcome in mind.” - A Friend

Sincerely,

Richard Paradise ND

p.s. are you going to show up for work this year? or no call, no show?

"At the thought of food, our body sends signals to our stomach that food is on the way, and the stomach prepares a welcoming party by secreting some gastric juices." "When we take our time to chew our food, proper saliva is released into the mouth, stimulating a greater sensation of taste, and a more pleasurable experience." "3 easy things to do..."

"The awareness that we are part of these ever-changing fields of energy that constantly interact with one another is what gives us the key hitherto elusive, to unlock the immense power within us. And it is our awareness of this awesome truth that changes everything. Then we transform ourselves from passive onlookers to powerful creators. Our beliefs provide the script to write or re-write the code of our reality."  -- The biochemistry of belief -Indian J Psychiatry. 2009 Oct-Dec

References: 

[bagcloud-blog]

week 14 reflection

1.What are you doing for the experimental project?

I am thinking of doing either a music video or a dub of a movie for my project. I will be working alone & I am hoping to be able to try out editing because it is not something that i have done before.

2.What is the site context for this work? Where would it be shown, ideally? Who will be the spectator?

If I continue with the dub it would be made more for english people who haven’t had to see a lot of dubs, I think that it would also just be shown online and not as an installation 

3.What do you want to leave your audience with after ‘experiencing’ or interacting with your work? WHY should they care?

I would want them to think about how they have never had to experience watching Tobey Maguire sounding like a normal french guy and then finding out that he actually sounds like someone speaking with a mouthful of sour sweets. 

4.What are you going to be testing or experimenting with?

I’m going to be experimenting with dubbing a scene in different languages.

5.What piece(s) of research have you gathered so far that have proved to be particularly useful? Are you emulating another artist or style? Are you drawing inspiration from a type of moving image work?

I’ve been researching into how dubbing came about but I haven’t been able to find other artists who work with dubs specifically.

6.If Plan A doesn’t work, what will be Plan B?

At this point I’m just hoping that my plan A works out fine because I haven’t made a plan B yet.

7.If you project is going to be relying heavily on Post-production work, have you allocated enough time for this? Are you working with any new software or methods / techniques?

I’m going to be working with Audition and Premiere which are two softwares that I have never used before; it doesn’t take me long to get used to software so I’m not expecting it to take too long that I have to give myself another day for it.

8.How did others respond to your work and ideas during the week? What have you learned about your own personal creative process? Are there any areas that you need to improve?

I’m still a but confused about how I’m going to do this project so I haven’t been able to explain it to people in great detail. I think I need to improve on researching why I am doing what I am doing with this project because I think that will help me to understand it better.

9.Did you complete your Personal Statement and UCAS application? If you are doing a BA, have you given thought to what you want to get out of your undergraduate study? What specialism or field do you want to occupy?

I would like to go into the art field once I complete my BA, I think that sound is something that I haven’t been able to properly experiment with in my art so it is something that I am definitely interested in.

10.What do you think you did really well this week?

I have been filling my book in from the documentary project so I think that I have done that well.