Sucking It Up!!!

Hey guys!
Huge apologies for such a long absence - blame it on my university :)
Today, I want to talk about something which keeps and will keep me going through all the challenges I face in my academic (and soon professional) life!

You see, motivation doesn't come out of nowhere. If you sit and wait for it - nothing will happen. You also cannot really "search" for motivation, because that type of motivation is usually short-term. The motivation must be something inside of you - something that is activated even more if you face a challenge or even failure.
A lot of people at my university have a great potential. But because they are not motivated enough, that potential is never fully exposed, and those people are just wasting their time. They make excuses, procrastinate, and avoid responsibility.
I do understand that things are tough sometimes, but nobody said that getting and A is university is going to be a breeze. Obviously we must work for it. But where do we take that willpower from; that motivation?

There are a few concepts I want to bring to you in this blog post:
- don't waist your time; you are basically disrespecting the opportunity life has given you to have or do whatever you are doing right now, and a lot of people would love to take your place; prove that you're worth it
- you don't need a village to support you in your challenges; a few words of support must be enough - the rest must come from yourself
- you are your own strongest competition; never compare yourself to anyone - compare yourself to yourself; learn, and proceed forward
- be able to SUCK IT UP when things are tough!

I get it. It isn't healthy accumulating all those negative emotions inside of you and you must seek help if you feel like there is a real issue. Most of the time, however, we let loose of ourselves - we pity ourselves and find more excuses to avoid the work. The truth is, we must learn to suck some stuff up. For instance, if you've gotten a bad grade - don't spend a week re-thinking your career choices - just reflect and move on. Sometimes you will also deal with your friends leaving you, and/or trying to put you off course - don't allow that. Reflect, and move on, once again. If you think you can't focus long enough on your homework because there's too much - suck it up and do it! You are in a complete control over it!
Rarely people always get whatever they want immediately - shit happens. But it must make you stronger, and make your desire to overcome challenges even bigger.

I really hope that this semester won't let you down, but you must remember to work for it! Like I said previously - things don't come out of nowhere.
The best of luck! ;)

Pulling a (Relatively) Healthy All-Nighter + Pros and Cons

Hey guys,

I hope your holidays went very well, and here we are, starting a new semester with positive attitudes to improve your weaknesses from the first semester. So, in this blog post, I wanna discuss a controversial topic - pulling all-nighters. I haven't done many of them throughout the past semester, but the ones that I have, have been very productive, and not too energy draining.

1. At least 2 days before examination
If you realize that you really need to sacrifice some precious sleep-time before your exam, do it at least 48 hours in advance so you won't have a messed up sleep cycle by the time your exam comes. Make sure to nap before the actual all-nighter. Usually, of course, all-nighters are the last resort for procrastinators, but it may be useful if you feel like you need to put in good 5-8 hours of studying.

2. Set up the atmosphere
Some of you live at home, and some of you live on campus, where the library is within reach. However, the key for setting up an appropriate atmosphere for an all-nighter is preparing the following things:
- snacks (proteins are best)
- lots of water + caffeine (if you'd like)
- comfortable temperature
- specific plans for the study time
- full-charged devices; or have charges or yourself
- some physical activity during study breaks (walk around; jump, etc.)
- have all materials gathered
- other things (ex. computer brightness level adjustment)

3. Study Actively
Because you might still feel sleepy, try to awaken yourself with some active studying: whiteboard activities, mnemonics creation, content-related animations, and games, etc. This will keep you awake, and you'll absorb lots of info from such an effective study methodology.

4. Catch up on sleep
Make sure you are choosing the right day for your all-nighter. It will be best if the next day is not busy, and you can dedicate some extra time to sleep. For improving long-term consequences from pulling an all-nighter, either try your best to wait until the evening to fall asleep, or take a short, daytime nap, but be ready to fall asleep by the evening, at your usual time.


Pros:
- little to no distractions
- most productive time of day for most people is evening - night
- 5-8 hours of productive studying
- very minimal consequences, if done properly

Cons:
- messed up sleep cycle and other health issues, if done improperly
- may be too sleepy if it's not your most productive time of day
- you might have other circumstances that might limit you from having a successful all-nighter (sibling in a room; library closed at night; etc.)

don't drink that much coffee ;)