i remember my first exam season. the pressure of having 50% of your grade based on one 2 hour test
was truly mind blowing... especially when you had exams back to back.
i sat in my small dorm all day doing calculus or physics problems and ate takeout for every meal.
the only time i went outside or did any exercise at all was to walk to the cafeteria and back. at
the end of the three weeks i looked at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe what i saw. i had
*literally* gained 15 pounds, my skin was all kinds of messed up, and i felt so unattractive
i didn’t even want to show my face outside. i thought i would be happy because i worked hard and
my grades showed the result... but i wasn’t. fast forward to now...
I’ve definitely learned how to better balance productivity and
taking care of myself. I know all of us are in different situations and circumstances,
and i’m still constantly learning. but here’s what I know about how to
*actually* be productive whilst maintaining mental & physical health.
when I was studying for hours upon hours for my exams, I wasn’t even making any progress or
absorbing the knowledge. I used to spend so much time perfecting my notes to the point
of ripping out whole papers because they weren’t aesthetic enough, but I was blindly
copying the lectures and not knowing what it actually even meant. I was studying a lot,
but I wasn’t learning a lot. throughout the years, I’ve learned a lot of tips to work smarter
and it was actually one of the first videos that I’ve ever made on my channel. I’ve learned that
practicing with example problems was much more effective than blindly copying lecture notes. I’ve
learned that studying really hard for 30 minutes was better than 2 hours of distracted studying.
I’ve learned there are so many resources online that are extremely useful... (brainly integration)
**High performers are successful as a result of consistent action, not intense effort.**
staying consistent in all aspects of life is so important. in terms of school, instead of studying
the entire course at the end of the semester, I can keep up with the content throughout the whole
year. during exam season, everything just becomes review material, rather than actually trying to
learn the content itself. in terms of exercise, I know we’ve probably all gone through phases
of getting extremely motivated and trying to workout everyday for 2 hours for a week,
and then getting completely burnt out. but it’s more important to keep a consistent workout
schedule that’s realistic, than go through the ups and downs, and yo-yo exercising and dieting.
it’s better to workout twice a week for 30 minutes and stick to it for months on end, and slowly
increase it over time, than jump into working out 2 hours a day everyday but give up after a week.
same thing goes for keeping organized- 15 minutes of organizing and tidying a day is so much easier
than having everything pile up. a huge mountain of a mess is really intimidating compared to a small hill.
People often say that you yourself are your own worst enemy. Sometimes the way that
you talk to yourself can be crueler than you would ever dream to be to another person.
It’s so easy to hold yourself to such a high standard that you often even forget to
give yourself credit for all the progress you have made. Why should you be the only person
who can’t catch a break? In these cases where I’m not feeling my best, I like to ask myself
“what is the smallest thing I can do right now to move my life forward?”. its important to
take things one step at a time because small wins can snowball into huge accomplishments.
Here are reminders to take it easy on yourself. pay attention to the trends: It doesn't matter
if you failed at doing something today or this week, what matters is that you tried.
your mistakes are part of your learning.
don’t compare yourself to others because you are not them.
there is no right way to do anything.
learn from people who criticize you.
anything worth doing is worth doing badly
look at your past like a biography where you lived and learned.