I Love You Phonetics I Love You Descriptivism I Love You Minority Languages I Love You Dialects I Love

STUDY MASTER-POST

• Making a schedule

• Every schedule is different. You shouldn't feel the need to make every second productive just as long as you find enough time to finish what you need to for the day.

• Make sure to sort your to-do list first. Start from the things that are the most urgent and important. After you do this, you can choose to either start with the hardest task so that its out of the way. Or you can start with the easiest so it gets your momentum going.

• When you make your schedule, give extra time for yourself to finish a task. Suppose, if you say you will take 40 minutes to finish a summary, schedule it down to 60 minutes so even if you end up procrastinating in between or if you take an extra break, your entire schedule is not throw into a mess.

• Account for breaks. Always. Take regular breaks between every task. Don't make it too long, 2-5 minutes for a small task and 15-20 minutes for a big task.

• Once you're done with your to-do list, make a schedule with a set amount of time for each task. Try to start exactly when you planned you would.

• Make sure to do tasks in chunks of 20-60 minutes, whatever works for you. Because humans suck at focusing for more than 50 minutes in general.

• Take a small 5 minutes break after one chunk of 20-60 minutes. After you finish 4-6 chunks of 20-60 minutes, reward yourself with a long break, like 20-60 minutes depending on how much work you have left and what time you can spare.

• Getting stuff done

• Break bigger tests into small chunks so it's easier to get into. So rather than saying "I will completely this chapter today," you can do "I will finish 5 pages of this chapter now and then 7 in an hour. I will finish the remaining 9 pages, 4 hours from now." That makes the work smaller and you also feel more productive.

• Most people have a problem with starting. So just start the task and say you will do it for 5 minutes without getting distracted. Once you get through the first 5 minutes, you should have no problem getting through the rest of the task.

• If you still can't get yourself to work after 5 minutes, the problem is not you, its the task. See what's bothering you about the task. Do you not understand a concept? Or do you not have all the required resources for it? Look into it. If you can't find the problem with the task, move on and get to the next task. You can deal with this later.

• Your work space

• Work space can make or break your momentum. You can be the person who works best with all your materials sprawled on the bed. Or you can be the person who gets work done best in a library. Don't try to make things fits for you when they clearly don't.

• You could be the person who gets more work done at the evenings or in the mornings so don't feel pressured to get work done at the set time everyone says you should do at.

• Remove things that distract you. If you get distracted by the internet, I'll link some things that can help you out in the resources section down.

• Don't over crowd your working space, keep it to a minimum so you don't get too distracted.

• Self care

• The most important thing, no skipping this. Sleep well, everyday. For a minimum of 6 hours no matter what. You can break it up if you can't sleep for long hours in a strecth but make surr you get that sleep.

• Get fresh air and move around. For a minimum of 30 minutes everyday.

• Make sure to eat at least two full meals a day. Try to eat as healthy as possible and snack in between meals.

• Make time for the hobbies/interests you love. Let yourself explore and have fun. You deserve it, you're beautiful.

• How to avoid burnouts

• Break works into small chunks as I mentioned earlier. So rather than saying "I will completely this chapter today," you can do "I will finish 5 pages of this chapter now and then 7 in an hour. I will finish the remaining 9 pages, 4 hours from now."

• Make sure to reward yourself. Doesn't have to be anything big. Give yourself a nice cup of tea or bake a cake from time to time. Reward yourself.

• Do shower and change into a new set of clothes every single day. It really helps. Seriously.

• Make sure to at least work for 30 minutes a day on days you don't feel motivated enough to work so that you don't slip into leisure mode.

• Make sure to maintain a school-life balance. It's a very thin line so make sure to finish your important tasks before going out and doing something fun.

• Resources

• This chrome extension blocks websites.

• This blocks websites for the Mac book users. (This is free but there's also paid verified alternatives here.)

• This website gives alternatives to any software or website, paid or free. Mac or PC or LinusX compatible versions.

• This lets you print any website without all the clutter in it.

• This lets you highlights parts of a web page and lets you share it.

• This checks your writing for grammatical and spelling errors.

• This is also for checking your spellings and voicing in anything you write.

• This lets you convert URLs into QR codes/ shorten URLs.

I'll add more but I gotta dash to class so just these for now.

Have a nice day. ^^

fascinating that as soon as i start really digging into the whole law school thing all my targeted ads start being for whiskey

me: [delusional] I will learn 4 languages simultaneously

Right now, I’m sifting through 50+ applications for a new entry-level position. Here’s some advice from the person who will actually be looking at your CV/resume and cover letter:

‘You must include a cover letter’ does not mean ‘write a single line about why you want this position’. If you can’t be bothered to write at least one actual paragraphs about why you want this job, I can’t be bothered to read your CV.

Don’t bother including a list of your interests if all you can think of is ‘socialising with friends’ and ‘listening to music’. Everyone likes those things. Unless you can explain why the stuff you do enriches you as a person and a candidate (e.g. playing an instrument or a sport shows dedication and discipline) then I honestly don’t care how you spend your time. I won’t be looking at your CV thinking ‘huh, they haven’t included their interests, they must have none’, I’m just looking for what you have included.

Even if you apply online, I can see the filename you used for your CV. Filenames that don’t include YOUR name are annoying. Filenames like ‘CV - media’ tell me that you’ve got several CVs you send off depending on the kind of job advertised and that you probably didn’t tailor it for this position. ‘[Full name] CV’ is best.

USE. A. PDF. All the meta information, including how long you worked on it, when you created it, times, etc, is right there in a Word doc. PDFs are far more professional looking and clean and mean that I can’t make any (unconscious or not) decisions about you based on information about the file.

I don’t care what the duties in your previous unrelated jobs were unless you can tell me why they’re useful to this job. If you worked in a shop, and you’re applying for an office job which involves talking to lots of people, don’t give me a list of stuff you did, write a sentence about how much you enjoyed working in a team to help everyone you interacted with and did your best to make them leave the shop with a smile. I want to know what makes you happy in a job, because I want you to be happy within the job I’m advertising.

Does the application pack say who you’ll be reporting to? Can you find their name on the company website? Address your application to them. It’s super easy and shows that you give enough of a shit to google something. 95% of people don’t do this.

Tell me who you are. Tell me what makes you want to get up in the morning and go to work and feel fulfilled. Tell me what you’re looking for, not just what you think I’m looking for.

I will skim your CV. If you have a bunch of bullet points, make every one of them count. Make the first one the best one. If it’s not interesting to you, it’s probably not interesting to me. I’m overworked and tired. Make my job easy.

“I work well in a team or individually” okay cool, you and everyone else. If the job means you’ll be part of a big team, talk about how much you love teamwork and how collaborating with people is the best way to solve problems. If the job requires lots of independence, talk about how you are great at taking direction and running with it, and how you have the confidence to follow your own ideas and seek out the insight of others when necessary. I am profoundly uninterested in cookie-cutter statements. I want to know how you actually work, not how a teacher once told you you should work.

For an entry-level role, tell me how you’re looking forward to growing and developing and learning as much as you can. I will hire genuine enthusiasm and drive over cherry-picked skills any day. You can teach someone to use Excel, but you can’t teach someone to give a shit. It makes a real difference.

This is my advice for small, independent orgs like charities, etc. We usually don’t go through agencies, and the person reading through the applications is usually the person who will manage you, so it helps if you can give them a real sense of who you are and how you’ll grab hold of that entry level position and give it all you’ve got. This stuff might not apply to big companies with actual HR departments - it’s up to you to figure out the culture and what they’re looking for and mirror it. Do they use buzzwords? Use the same buzzwords! Do they write in a friendly, informal way? Do the same! And remember, 95% of job hunting (beyond who you know and flat-out nepotism, ugh) is luck. If you keep getting rejected, it’s not because you suck. You might just need a different approach, or it might just take the right pair of eyes landing on your CV.

And if you get rejected, it’s worthwhile asking why. You’ve already been rejected, the worst has already happened, there’s really nothing bad that can come out of you asking them for some constructive feedback (politely, informally, “if it isn’t too much trouble”). Pretty much all of us have been hopeless jobseekers at one point or another. We know it’s shitty and hard and soul-crushing. Friendliness goes a long way. Even if it’s just one line like “your cover letter wasn’t inspiring" at least you know where to start.

And seriously, if you have any friends that do any kind of hiring or have any involvement with that side of things, ask them to look at your CV with a big red pen and brutal honesty. I do this all the time, and the most important thing I do is making it so their CV doesn’t read exactly like that of every other person who took the same ‘how-to-get-a-job’ class in school. If your CV has a paragraph that starts with something like ‘I am a highly motivated and punctual individual who–’ then oh my god I AM ALREADY ASLEEP.

Know what's great? Books. Know what's even better? Free books. I meant to put together this list ages ago and was just reminded of it yesterday, so here's just about every method I know of to (legally) obtain free ebooks and audiobooks. I'll add to this list if I come across any more.

Free Ebooks:

*Librivox - Provides access to audiobooks in the public domain, run by volunteers. Mostly classics.

*Project Gutenberg - Provides access to ebooks in the public domain. Mostly classics.

Digital Public Library of America - Provides access to books in the public domain.

hoopla - Free app that lets you access ebooks and audiobooks available through your library. Requires your library card info.

*Libby - Same concept as hoopla. Run by Overdrive.

Sora - Similar concept as hoopla and Libby but instead it's for schools (requires your school info). Also by Overdrive.

The Palace Project - Another app like Libby and hoopla that provides access to library books. This one also allows you to download books from DPLA right from the app if you don't have a library card/your library is not yet signed up with them. The downside is they don't seem to yet have access to as many libraries as Libby or hoopla.

*Riveted by Simon Teen - Provides access to full ebooks and extended excerpts of popular YA books. The books available switch out monthly so you'll have to read in the given time frame.

*Tor.com Newsletter - Weekly emails highlighting their blog, scifi/fantasy news, and short fiction. Occasionally they pop in a freebie that you can download from book depository (I got Gideon the Ninth this way). Just make sure you download the book before the deadline.

*Bookbub - Newsletter that emails you daily ebook deals curated to your tastes, often includes 1-2 free ebooks in most of its daily recs. Also a great way to discover lesser known books.

______

*Chirp - Newsletter that emails daily audiobook deals. I've never seen a free audiobook here but I figured they'd still be worthwhile to mention. Prices usually range from .99c to ~$4.99. Must download the Chirp app to listen, but it's a great alternative to Audible.

*currently using these ones myself

people who are like “please stop using incomprehensible words like ‘ontological’ and ‘epistemology’ and ‘teleological’ in the social sciences”..... okay but.... counterpoint..... you could consider, god forbid, learning something

i love you space i love you moons i love you solar/lunar eclipses i love you gas giants i love you pluto i love you asteroid belts i love you planet that rains molten glass i love you supernovas i love you comets and meteor showers i love you nebulas i love you constellations i love you infinity

#duolingo is my biggest hobby... and my greatest fear.

It took me embarrassingly long to figure this out, but it turns out trying to blow off all your hobbies to study more does not in fact result in studying more. It results in pretending to study more. Now instead of drawing or writing when I get tired I get on my phone instead, because I can’t stop studying, but I can “take a quick break” in the middle of studying. Trying to fix that now.