Study Break - Blog Posts

This! This is actually so important and we often overlook it and puss ourselves over our limits, which isn't bad overall, but dumb if we aren't careful

Self-care isn't selfish; it's necessary. Take the time to prioritize your well-being.

Study Break!

painted nails and added stickers

experimented (largely unsuccessfully) with DIY beauty products

rewatched What's New Scooby Doo for the nostalgia

finally finished my hmc crochet blanket

played a lot of Hello Kitty Island Adventure

Study break!

My favourite non-study things this month:

sewing a dress

nature walks

craft night with a friend

reading non-fiction for fun

baked brownies

preparing for the easter egg hunt battle royale

Why is there always one photo that doesn't match the colour pallet lol

Floor To Ceiling Method

This is something i found out recently. When you're trying to build a habit or if you want to achieve a specific goal or anything. You just have to put in a really simple chart like this.

Basically, let's say, i want to lose some weight. That's the habit that i want to build. So, that's your first step.

Step 1: Set your goal

Set your goal, whether it is losing weight or getting good grades or straight As. The trick is to be extremely specific. Write your Goal down. And write a single activity that you can do everyday to achieve your goal.

Step 2: Set your bare minimum as your floor.

Your bare minimum, let's say, a 15 min walk or 10 push ups or some jumping jacks. It could be anything. Literally no matter how small. Set a floor. Your bare minimum action that you do when you don't even feel like doing anything.

Step 3: Assign small goals for each level.

At level 1, set another action that is just a bit more challenging than the bare minimum. Then, at level 2, raise the action a bit more. And level 3 must be harder than that.

Step 4: Then set your ceiling which is a full on focus activity.

Set a ceiling which is the hardest action, let's say 1 hour of exercise. That's your highest peak action.

So, your aim must be to do your "Ceiling" activity everyday but on days which you feel that you are burnt out or are tired? This is the method that might help.

The trick is to actually never miss a day. Not a single one. You can do level 1, 2 or 3 depending on the day or even the bare minimum would be enough.

This method helps you to actually realize that you don't have to achieve your ceilings every single day. Sometimes, the floor is also enough and the trick is to not let a day go by without doing some actionable step towards your goals

This Helps In:

Maintaining Consistency

Improves Motivation

Isn't Toxic

Gives you a level that you can adapt to your day

It's easy to build habits

Hope it helps! :)

Goals For This Year

I know I'm like 3 months late but I was waiting for the academic year to end so right now I'm fresh out of high school and obviously my priorities look different now so let's get down to it. Last year's goal post is here

It's almost the same for a few things. Some of my goals are standard so let's go

Personal:

Finish Quran at least 2 times

Memorize Juz 30 and half of Juz 29

Sleep and wake up at the same time everyday (5 am and 11 pm)

Exercise everyday

Maintain good mental health

Pray Tahajjud everyday

Get experience in data entry (I got myself a small gig every week so I guess it's good)

Figure out college

Academic:

(I'm not really taking a content heavy course so this is going to be a short list)

Maintain good grades in college semesters

Search for courses and internships

Extra curriculars:

Brush up my Arabic, especially speaking skills

Maintain this blog

Get into some frontend development

Open up a business

Improvements to be made/Fields to explore:

Confidence in speaking

Finance management

Frontend development

Arabic speaking fluency

So, if you noticed, compared to last year's goals. This year is pretty low . One main reason? I'm done with high school so obviously I don't have any long list for academics, i just want to build something stable so i guess this is something i'm working with. I don't want to pressurize myself into getting perfect grades in college because let's be honest, the degree doesn't count. It's the things that you do outside of it.

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” - Zig Ziglar

Relentless hardwork beats talent/intelligence. Every. Single. Time.

So the next time you feel like you're not talented/intelligent/good enough. Remember this. You're working hard for it. That's what matters.

There will be people better than you but there is absolutely no rule for you to not work harder than them.

When people say they feel tired all the time, my only question is "What time do you sleep?" Like, If you sleep at 2 in the morning, of course you'll feel tired.

Don't set alarms in the morning. Set alarms to go to sleep. The max time you can stay awake is 12.

You sleep at the right time and you will automatically change for the better.

Don't push your body to do work beyond it's limit.

End Of School Life

I'm curious because i just completed my whole school life and i literally feel relieved but most of my classmates were hugging each other with teary eyes so...

I'm being indecisive so let's see 0-0

109 days left

Well... I had been sick the past few days but right now I'm better. Atleast well enough to study. Tomorrow we have school till 1, I'll be back by 3 so after that I'll start my studies... I have my term exams from next week, I just feel exhausted and tired now T-T

To do list for the weekend :

Complete English assignment

Complete 1 unit of English (3 lessons + grammar)

Complete 1 chapter in Accounts + Revise some previous chapters

Complete 2 chapters in Economics

Complete 8 chapters Part 1-3 in Business Studies

I hope I'm able to complete these :")

How to avoid distractions while studying.

.

Social Media.

I personally know how hard it is to study when constant social media notifications are popping up so i just turn them off. This is obvious and the easiest way. Keep your phone in another room while you're studying.

Youtube

Here's the thing, YouTube is something we can't avoid, especially when it comes to studying because many times, we want to learn from the videos but end up getting distracted and therefore, i maintain 2 accounts. One, a personal account where I watch all my own channels like vlogs and other content videos and another account only for studying. I don't subscribe to any other channels beside the channels that help me with my studies in this account. I've noticed that I get a lot less distracted because your recommendations would only be study related or the content related!

Write them down

When you're studying and you noticed that you're getting a lot of distractions. Take a paper and write down the distractions with the timings and then continue studying.

Distractions - Time

Phone - 20 min (specify time: 8:20-40)

By this, you can analyse what's distracting you more than the others and you can actually calculate your study hours better and help yourself improve it.

Reduce everything by 5 mins

It's okay to get distracted. Everyone gets distracted and the best way to decrease your distractions is to decrease them by 5 mins for some days and then keep decreasing them gradually. It's the best way to work honestly because it helps you remove the distractions over time as a habit.

Complete your chores before sitting down

You might know that whenever you sit down with a firm motivation to study and then you take your notes, books, materia etc and a voice from the kitchen comes saying"You haven't finished the dishes!" So, now you go to do the dishes and then another chore pops up when you sit to study and another and another. So, here's my advice, either you complete all your chores before you study or you complete them after or you could complete them during breaks. But make sure you're not distracted by them.

Turn daydreaming into a weapon

Personally, this is something i really really struggled with, like whenever I sit down to study, I ended up daydreaming about a certain book or plot. It would definitely not help me study so recently, I started assigning fictional characters to subjects and personally, like, gosh my economics was alittle more interesting when I was "teaching" it to Cardan Greenbriar (tfota). It's kinda childish to have like an imaginary friend or such but it certainly helps with boring subjects. Imagine scenarios or do anything with your imagination as long as you're studying the content. It helps you remember important points even though it may be absurd.

Q and A sessions

From time to time, get in the habit of quizzing yourself, I do it after every topic i complete. I'll ask questions which are not in the book, I'll twist the questions just like in the tests. This means that you have to stay focused if you truly want to answer the questions or even form the questions. You can even do it with a friend/study buddies!

Tennis method

This method is really useful and i kinda made it up. You hold your hands up in the air facing towards each other. Now, after you completed a topic, you "throw" your first point from one hand to another and the other hand should "throw" back the second point and so on until you're completely done with it. If you can't "throw" a point back in less than a minute, you need to revise more. Personally, I love doing this because I'm focused on answering and it's actually kinda fun "throwing" points like balls, even though it may look crazy to any outsiders xD (You can use this for maths for formulae, vocabs etc!)

Hope this helps! :D

114 days left (+ 4 days update)

It's awfully lazy of me to not do a daily update for 5 days straight but honestly I got sick from Thursday and not to mention it was damn hard to complete assignments when you have a fever and cold. It's like something is against me being productive everyday T-T

I thought maybe i could productively use the 4 days after the school event to study something but no, of course I had to get a fever :")

In the past 5 days I:

Assignments completed:

Computers

Business studies

Accountancy

Assignments Pending:

Economics

Studied 2 topics in economics today

and that's the only thing I could do in these days... But it's fine, I'll catch up eventually. Everything will be fine or so I keep telling myself that. T-T

119 days left

Days are going by sooner T-T

Anyway, today i couldn't study a lot but I did complete some of my assignments...

Today i:

Completed Arabic assignment and submitted it (due date was Monday)

Completed 50% of both accounts and business studies assignment

Studied Economics lesson 3 & 5 (Part 1) and lesson 5 (Part 3)

I don't expect to get anything done tomorrow since we have a school event and I'll probably come back 7 in the evening so... yeah.

Assignments to complete:

Accounts (Submission: Tuesday)

Business Studies (Submission: Monday)

Computer: (Submission: Friday)

Economics: (Submission: Monday)

Honestly I don't know when I'll get to study because of these useless assignments plus we have some MCQ test coming up in a week I guess... who keeps MCQ tests near Term finals after a major school event?! I swear I'm surviving here with idiots T-T

I don't know how people have such cute and aesthetic notes while mine look like they've been written by someone from another planet in another language

120 days left

Damn, I'm surprised how fast time is flying by... Honestly, today was alright. Managed to do a lot.

Today I:

Completed Economics (lesson 2 (Part 1-3) and lesson 5 (Part 1-2))

Completed business studies assignment

Submitted Computer project

Did some accounts sums

Completed English assignment

Tomorrow's to do list:

Complete Arabic assignment

Complete Economics (lesson 5 (Part 3) and 3 (Part 1-3))

Learn a few accounts theories

Assignment to complete:

Arabic

Computer

I also got my test results today, I'm pretty satisfied with most of them cause i managed to get above 80 in everything... So... Yeah.

121 days left

So, I missed yesterday because honestly i didn't have that much time to even write a study post because of the computer project but now it's done and I'm so damn relieved like gosh this was a nightmare!

Anyway, I cleaned my desk (made a cardboard shelf to arrange my books) and prepared a study plan for my term exam this month end. (Honestly I'm nervous.)

Today I:

Completed my computer project

Cleaned my desk

Prepared study plan

Tomorrow's to do list:

Solve some accounts sums

Study economics (Lesson 1-3, Part 1-3)

123 days left

Today's exam was honestly pretty alright, i couldn't believe that i could attend everything especially because the teacher told us that she'd give no options for MCQ questions and we have to study like fully throughout the book T-T

Now, I'm more scared about tomorrow... even though I've been practicing for more than 2 weeks for accountancy, today, as soon as I came. I slept and I just woke up around 9:30 and panicked because I haven't revised anything. Right now I've completed 1 and a half lessons and I got to complete 2 major topics tomorrow morning.

So yeah... and my hopes and dreams on resting on Sunday alittle and studying just went down the drain. I got to complete a computer project which is like 10% of my final exam grades and submit it by Monday T-T

Today I:

Studied accounts

Tomorrow's To-do list:

Revise accounts in the morning

Complete 5/10 pratical projects in computers

Clean my desk (cause it's just too much of a message right now)

124 days left

Suprisingly, my exam today went alright despite the fact that i hadn't studied much 0-0

Okay so computer's going alright, I've completed 2 lessons out of 4 and if i complete like Part 1-3 in the other two lessons, I'll be done for the exam. Since the majority of this year's syllabus was already covered in junior year, I'm kinda really confident with the topics :D

Today I:

Completed 2 lessons out of 4

Tomorrow's To-do list:

Revise Computers

Study for accounts mid-term (2 lessons)

I'm honestly crying, you know? Just 2 more exams for these exams to end for the month and then we have exams in another 15-20 days... no idea how I'll manage especially since there is a school event coming up + there is such a huge portion to cover. I'm kinda panicking right now T-T

125 days left

Okay, today's exam wasn't bad but i could have done so much better T-T

Have i studied everything in economics? Nope, am I gonna study the whole night? Definitely not. I covered about 40% of both the chapters so let's see :")

Today I:

Studied for Economics

Tomorrow's to do list:

Study for computers (lesson 5-8)

I really feel like I'm not studying well but i will up my game from Sunday (after my mid terms). I have my term exams coming in September mid/end and a school event coming in the the beginning and i definitely know that I won't have time to prepare well. So we start early and we are touching Economics first because it's definitely my weakest subject right now + business studies.

126 days left

Did I do my mid term well? Of course not, because the paper was given 25 mins late and they didn't give us extra time either. I finished the paper but I'm pretty sure my Arabic essay made absolutely zero sense T-T

Right now we're doing HRM [Human Resource Management] unit and i absolutely love this cause why the heck not? XD

Today I:

Completed around 2 and a half lessons in Business Studies (we have 4 lessons for mid term tomorrow, no idea how I'll manage)

Tomorrow's to do list:

Study for Economics mid term (2 lessons)

127 days left

Today wasn't bad, could have done better but I'm honestly really proud that i almost completed my to do list T-T

Today I:

Completed 6 lessons in Arabic

Completed 2 lesson (Part 1-3) in Business Studies

Tomorrow's to do list:

Wake up early and revise Arabic + learn 1 more lesson.

Study Business Studies 4 chapters for midterm

128 days left

Personally today was not bad but i could have done better...

Today I:

Did almost 1 chapter in accounts

And completed the main topics in economics for 2 lessons

(I kinda lost track of time during breaks so i couldn't do business studies but I'm still happy with this progress.)

Tomorrow's to do list:

Study 8 lessons in Arabic for mid term

Study 2 lessons in business studies (part 1-3)

[I think I'll manage that]

129 days left

Okay, my English exam went alright, not too bad but i didn't do anything else today which is bad but I'll make up for it tomorrow. I got to study for Arabic, Economics, Business studies and Accountancy in these two days... I'm comfortable with computers because our teachers keeps tests frequently so yeah but the others? Definitely not.

So, tomorrow's to do list (study wise):

Complete Accounts lesson 4 and half of 5

Economics chapter 6 and 7 (Part 1-3)

Commerce chapter 9 and 10 (Part 1-3)

[I hope I have time to do this much but let's see]

Countdown till the year ends

So, there's literally only 4 months left which is almost 130 days and I want to start studying more and actually do something in these months. The worst thing is that I have hardly 5 months for my final exams and damn I'm scared so... I'm gonna do this. I'll be better.

The past few days have been hectic because of school trips and competitions so yeah.

I'll change my countdown once my final time table gets released so... Yeah... Until then, I have midterms from tomorrow till next Saturday T-T

Today I:

Completed 3 Computer practicals

Studied English

Study Trick That No One Told Me.

Division of subjects:

Every subject is learnt and graded in a different way. You can't use the same study techniques for every subject you have. You have mostly 3 types of subjects:

Memorization based

Practical/Question based

Theory/Essay based

Memorization based:

Mostly Biology, Sciences, Geography etc are fully based on memorization and so you'll use memory study techniques like flash cards and active recall.

Practical/Question based:

Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Accountancy etc are practice subjects. The more you do your questions and understand how a sum is done, the better you can score.

Theory/Essay based:

English, history, business studies etc are theory based. The more you write, the way you write and the keywords you use are the only things that will get you your grades. So learn the formats and the structure on how to write your answers

Note: Some subjects are a combination of the three. Like Economics etc

The reason we divide the subjects is because you can adopt the right study methods for the right subject. Like ex: business studies is mostly based on how you write your answer and the keywords, if you're gonna spend your time memorizing in this, it's a waste of time and energy.

Hope this helps :)

08.08.2024

I have no idea how I'm going to complete such a huge amount of syllabus in around 5-6 months. Gosh, I can't believe there's literally only 6 months left for my whole schooling to get completed!

I've been trying to focus on accounts and economics more because honestly, computers and business studies is a little bit easier this year. Just alittle.... at least for now T-T

And I haven't touched English and Arabic so I'm pretty scared. My second set of mid terms are at the end of the month but I'm still preparing the syllabus for the one's that i finished... I know it sounds stupid but in my opinion, my main goal right now is only to get amazingly terrific grades in my final exams so with that in mind, I'm... doing something else which i don't know what T-T

Today I completed:

Accounts chapter 5

Topics covered:

Distribution of profits, reserves and losses

Revaluation

Capital account

Revised accounts chapter 4

07.08.2024

Today was tiring, gosh, I feel helpless honestly...

Completed 80% of the chapter in Business studies

Topics covered:

Financial Markets

Completed some topics in Economics

Topics covered:

Types of Inflation

Money supply

Monetary standards

Wrote some Eco + business studies notes

Revised Accounts formulae

T-T

06.08.2024

Well, today was alright i guess. I did some accounts and economics... and for some reason, I'm like one of the few in my class who actually is anxious about the finals, especially accounts. Like, i literally an so confused with it this year but everyone else is like "Oh wow dude I love accounts this year, it's so easy" and I'm like T-T

Anyway, Today I:

Did 2 sums in accounts (took me 2 hours almost)

Made some economics notes

05.08.2024

Today was surprisingly not that tiring though I am pretty sleepy... And this week is just too packed, actually the whole month is packed. But anyways, today i just did accounts and mentally made a study plan for the week cause when I write it down i never really end up completing it :")

Today I:

Completed 1 full lesson in accounts

Topics covered:

Goodwill

Calculation of goodwill

Average profit method (Simple and Weighted)

Super profit method (Capitalisation and Annuity)

Capitalisation method

And I'm done for the day T-T

04.08.2024 + past 3-4 days

Today was alright, I've got a cold for the past few days plus cramps... Doesn't really help in productivity but nevertheless, I did do something....

Today I:

Completed English assignment

Reviewed 5 lesson in business studies

Topics covered:

Financial Markets

Capital Market

Money Market

Stock exchange

Past few days:

Completing Computer Project (50%)

Reviewing Economics lesson 4