Alittleanxiousbadger - A Little Anxious Badger

Just rewatched the 1990 movie, now I'll spend the rest of the week looking at 1990 Eddie, guys he is legit so sweet also this clown still interrupting the gay love story I need

How to study smarter:

So my (very cool) teacher was talking about this in class the other day, made me want to make a post about it.

The image above is adapted from the National Training Lab in Bethel, Maine. It basically shows how much information the average student retains when using certain methods.

Attending a lecture is only 5% and reading the material is only 10%.

Which could be a potential answer imo to why many people spend hours reading stuff and not retain most of it or not do well on tests.

Anything audiovisual increases the percentage of information you’ll likely retain up to 20%, having it demonstrated in front of you gives you 30%. Discussion (which can be done very easily) can make you retain up to 50%, practicing with your own hands means you’ll retain 75% and finally when you teach others you’ll retain a massive 90%.

So how can you implement this into your study routine to retain the most information?

Audiovisual: I think this is very easy, YouTube channels like Khan Academy cover almost everything, so go online, find some videos relevant to whatever you’re studying and watch them.

Demonstration: This is pretty much your teacher’s job, an example here would be anything related to social or hand skills, in my case interviewing and examining patients. At my school before we interview any patient or examine them my teacher does it first and we carefully observe. So whenever someone is demonstrating something pay full attention. And then if possible practice it (possibly with your friends as a role play) because that’ll increase the percentage of information you retained to 75%

Discussion: This is very basic and can be done simply by just reading the material before, preparing questions and engaging in brief discussions with your teacher throughout the lecture. Or if pre reading isn’t your thing just join a study group and discuss everything you’re learning over there.

I’ve already talked about practice briefly with demonstration, it’s pretty self explanatory (especially for OSCEs, for all you medstudents)

Teaching others: You can volunteer to tutor anyone or just take the lead in your study group. All of my teachers swear by this method. Some even suggest explaining to yourself if you can’t find anyone else but I have never tried it. (or force your family/boyfriend or SO to listen, that’s what I do)

Get creative and make the most of your study sessions, if anyone tries any of these please let me know!!

things I wish i would have known my first year of University

1) Make an outline for your papers. it doesn’t have to be detailed but having one will help you keep on track when writing. it will only take you a few minutes to brainstorm one. 

2) always carry a spare charger and a backup battery for your phone. honestly, our phones are an extension of us now, so nothing is scarier than when it dies halfway through your class. a backup battery and a charger are always handy.

3) set smaller deadlines and stick to them. you might flounder if you decide to have your 2000 word essay all done and edited for March 14. but you might have an easier time deciding to have 500 words written by March 8, 1000 words by March 10, 1500 words by March 11, 2000 words by March 13, and to edit it on the 14th. these smaller deadlines have really helped me to get my work done and to not to stress about deadlines. splitting up my assignments into smaller chunks makes it more manageable. 

4) email your professors if you have questions. or go to their office when they’re in. don’t sit there in confused silence, it won’t help. 

5) Do practise Self-care and take breaks. these don’t always have to be full days off with a spa day. it can be having a bubble bath after studying for hours, or watching a movie that makes you laugh after finishing an essay. or just making sure you're eating healthy and drinking water. 

6) do put important dates in your calendar. weather its a psychical calendar, or one on your phone/ computer. I have all my major dates on my computer laptop, it helps when I am studying and wondering when I have an exam or need to remember when to hand in a paper. 

7) always have a highlighter, a pencil, a pen, and spare paper. you never know when you’re going to have a pop quiz or an activity in class. 

8) reach out to friends and spend time with them/ your family. people tend to isolate themselves during exam/paper/midterm season. while you definitely need to study, you also need to have social connections. make a study date at your library or even get a coffee with a friend. 

Tasseography

•Tea leaf reading•

You might be wondering where this unusual form of divination came from, so here’s a short history on tasseography. Shortly after tea was introduced to Europe, tea leaf reading, as it’s now recognized, was born. Similar divination tools had been used with an assortment of other materials. The art of tea leaf reading spread through Europe, and is now practiced throughout the world.

Doing a tea leaf reading involves you indulging in a delicious cup of tea and putting your sharp intuitive skills to work. After you enjoy your warm cup of loose leaf tea, you’ll leave the loose tea leaves at the bottom, where some of these leaves will form symbols, each having their own meaning. That’s where your keen intuitive abilities come in! Anyone can see a triangle at the bottom of a teacup, but your job is to intuit what it means for you or the person you’re reading for.

WHAT YOU NEED FOR A TEA LEAF READING

Tea cup with a wide brim that’s light enough to easily see your tea leaves.

Saucer

Loose leaf green or black tea, preferably organic.

Napkins

Pen and paper

Water

HOW TO PERFORM A TEA LEAF READING

1. BREW YOUR TEA

Gather all of your materials. Boil your water. Place about a teaspoon of loose tea in your cup. Pour your water in and steep tea to your preference.

For the next 3 steps, if you’re doing a reading for someone else, have them do the following steps.

2. SIP & SWIRL

Before you take your first sip, gently swirl tea counter clockwise three times. Sip and enjoy your tea, but don’t drink it all! When there’s about 1 tablespoon of tea left in your cup, swirl it again 3 times counter clockwise and think about or speak your query aloud.

3. CREATE YOUR TEA READING CANVAS

Turn your cup upside down onto your saucer to remove the remaining water, allow it a minute or so to drain, then turn it back up right.

4. LOOK FOR SYMBOLS

Look over your loose leaf tea pieces and see if any symbols or shapes jump out to you immediately. Don’t fret if you don’t see anything immediately, similar to scrying with a crystal ball, it can take some time for imagery to form for you. Try looking at the inside of the cup from different directions to see shapes. Keep in mind the images formed are formed from tea leaves, so you will really need to use your imagination.

5. RECORD & DECIPHER YOUR FINDINGS

If you do start to see some shapes, begin writing them down on your piece of paper so you can decipher them later, note where in the cup they are too. Now you’re ready to decipher your findings! Here’s a guide for the most common symbols found during tea leaf readings:

6. UNDERSTAND THE TIMELINE

Where your tea leaves are situated in your cup relate to when they will happen. This is why some of the tea leaf reading cups you find have circles inside of them. Timing is broken into thirds as follows:

Bottom third: farthest away from happening, think 3-5 years out.

Top third: will be happening in the near future, think within the next few weeks.

Middle third: will happen in about a year from now.

7. FORM YOUR READING

Like most divination tools, a honed intuition is key for success, so be sure to lean on any gut instincts as you form the story for your reading. Once you understand the meaning behind the symbols it’s time to put all of the information into a story that makes sense for you or the person you’re doing a reading for.

🌙

The Elder and Young tom

IT poster in Stranger things style

https://youtu.be/EKgKienyg5Y

that one dinner scene in shrek two but its richie meeting eddies mom

Getting Stuff Done: How to Deal With Lack of Motivation

“How can I stay disciplined?”

“How can I get things done if I don’t feel like doing them?”

“How can I overcome my lack of motivation?”

As a college student who has had their fair share of being absolutely unmotivated to do anything, I know it can be hard to get things done if you don’t feel like doing them. Luckily, there are some things you can do to become more motivated to finish your homework, write your paper, study for your exam, or whatever tasks you have on your plate.

Part 1: Increasing motivation

Break up your tasks

Just thinking about one huge task is going to intimidate you so much that you’d rather leave it till later, when the urgency of time pushes you to complete it, than start now.

Breaking up your big tasks into smaller ones will make your tasks seem less daunting. Since you won’t be as intimidated by the amount of effort it might take to complete these tasks, you’ll be more likely to start doing them.

For studying, this can be something like ‘make flashcards for units 1-3’ or ‘practice past exam papers: 2015 + 2016’. For writing papers, this could be writing an outline, doing research for each point of your outline, writing the first 3 paragraphs, etc.

Working on small tasks at a time will also make you less prone to distractions since you only need to focus for a short length of time.

Make small goals and reward yourself

These goals could be accomplishing one of the smaller subtasks above, or achieving a certain grade on a practice test, or finishing a section of your study plan - as long as you’re working towards something.

The rewards? Maybe going out to eat, watching something, or even just time off. Hopefully these rewards will motivate you to complete your task.

I know some people are more inclined to do their work if they’re punished for not doing it, rather than rewarded for doing it, so if you wanna take the ‘punishment’ approach, you could do something like not allowing yourself to use social media until you finish a set of tasks - this is essentially the same thing, just thought about in a different manner. However, you should always be careful with these punishments/restrictions, because sometimes they can end up harming your health and productivity (e.g. ‘I can’t take a break until I finish all of my homework’).

Part 2: Not relying on motivation

Of course, you can’t always expect yourself to be motivated all the time. In fact, it’s very ineffective to rely on motivation to get things done; motivation is fleeting. Here’s an alternative: self-discipline. But how does it work?

Establish a study routine

Humans are creatures of habit. Even if you’re a P-type (like me), habits are hard to break. So making a habit of accomplishing your tasks/studying at a set time every day will help you, well, accomplish them. For example, it’s a lot easier to get your homework done every day if you do it at the same time - e.g. once you come home from school - rather than doing it ‘whenever you have time’.

Having a study routine will also make you less likely to be distracted since you know that that period of time had a purpose. If you’re trying this out for the first time, you might wanna completely get rid of distractions so that you can focus (e.g. putting your phone in your bag, on silent). However, with practice, I found that my phone or any other sources of distraction don’t really bother me anymore since I’ve had tons of practice resisting the urge to pick up my phone whenever there’s a notification, for example.

Schedule in time for breaks

This ties in well with the point about rewards: the break might be the reward for your studying. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You shouldn’t always think of relaxing as merely a reward for studying or accomplishing your tasks, but rather a necessity for the well-being of your mind. This sort of approach to breaks ensures that you actually let your brain rest once in a while.

After taking a break, your mind will be refreshed and revitalized, and you should have more than enough energy to continue with your other tasks.

Some of you asked - with regards to my previous post on The Mandatory Midday Break - how I can limit myself to exactly an hour, and to be honest, the answer is habit. It’s like having a habit of showering at the same time every day and not extend the length of time you spend in the bathroom (except in certain circumstances, like during a day off, I guess).

This is why it’s important to schedule your breaks and establish a study routine or habit - not only does it ensure you get enough rest, but it also prevents you from extending your break so that you don’t become unproductive and leave a ton of tasks unfinished.

It can be hard to motivate yourself to accomplish all your tasks, but there are things you can do to increase your motivation. However, you can’t expect to be motivated all the time, and you shouldn’t rely on motivation to get things done. Discipline and habit are the most important tools you can use to be efficient and productive without having to be motivated.

Hope this post has been helpful, and, as always, feel free to drop me an ask if you have an ask. Have an awesome week :)

But knowing what I don't want to do doesn't help me figure out what I do want to do. I could do just about anything if somebody made me. But I don't have an image of the one thing I really want to do. That's my problem now. I can't find the image.

— Haruki Murakami