Oh come on! You can get your certification without leaving us -it would only mean coming here only so often, sometimes a week or more off; SG only takes the time you give it. Doing or entering a few GAs a time (even if only one) or commenting something takes little to nothing. The problem is that we sink way too much time normally.
Thats what i did during my degree, even on the final moments of rush and despair. I entered only so often, sometimes weeks had gone without coming in. But when i did it was good- and short.
It actually... helped me. I feel the same as you about the friendness here, while in other places like facebook i see as much stupidity or ignorance as friendness (and it sinks even more time). On the hardest moments of my journey when i needed every single freaking minute on my pc time i browsed sometimes while on the bus or bathroom - and it actually relieved me. Not even mobile games to pass the time had the same effect, for one i couldn't stand any tension (i was on my limit, it was crazy) for other even the more zen and relaxing games, while good, lack the kind of thing interaction brings. I had 0 time to see anyone so few places like Sg where like a breeze of fresh air for someone delving deeper and deeper on a pit full of tension, clausthrophobic and that could crumble at any minute trying to strike gold.
(i got silver btw)
You want to motivate yourself with a ultimatum?
Go for GAMING itself. Its what i did.
I missed my gaming but i remained strong; The fact is gaming do 2 things that might get in your way: time and mental taxing. If its hard what you need to learn and pass (and imagine it is) then you be fully focused on this mental taxing thing and on any and every brake you will do better to plug off from taxing completely. Despite my love for gaming and books, both terrific to plug off from routine stress, they're both active engagements that are mentally taxing. You do better doing some brief positive browsing like SG or watching a movie (a dumb one, no art house, nothing too complex).
Im talking from experience. I was getting ever more tired, ansioux and worse to the point my sleeping was getting bad (in quality). I took sometime looking for all i could on stress, better habits, enhancing performance... turns out i never noticed how much mental work can be tiring- to my surprise it can be more energy hungry then physical work(!!) - a intense workout will torn you apart but you will need to stop. Mentally however we can persist through beyond the point we had to stop. Of course if someone would do a entire day doing intense workout it would end up eating more energy but im not even sure if that many in a day would be possible. Oh and it carries on- we sleep thinking. The more you tax yourself mentally the more charged will become your sleep... it can ruin someone if you go too hard like i did.
Heck- turns out i was getting hypoglicemic symptons; My blood sugar was getting ridiculously low... from sheer mental work alone (ps: restocking sugar, good one and eating often helps but doesn't solve all- brain is a muscle too and it tires along the day no matter what).
I got surprised by the facts and numbers, started doing more breaks, choosing non mentally taxing short things to do while on break, also eating having my energy levels and its harsh comsumption in mind... i ended up being able to do a entire day of hard studying on numerous subjects (while before i could tackle one or two at most) while ending the day feeling better- tired still but not destroyed.
Well, it all came crumbling in the end when deadlines amounted and i screwed my sleeping pattern doing lots of all-nighters, but i can't even dare imagine how it would be if i were still on the habits from before.
Anyway, it got long but i hope it helps. Thanks for the awesome GAs and hope you the best!!
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Same with me- i had been playing less and less anyway.
That may be part of growing up i guess, but idn, on my case at least my decreasing patience to sinking many hours in one thing (even more so at once) makes for half or more of my lesser gaming time.
But of course all i said varies a lot for each person. I know theres some things that for me aren't worth 'just a little', like pizza. Either i get 2 slices or none - what i mean is perhaps taking your time in SG is what you enjoy and doing it for little would just make you unhappy you having to be so brief and such.
But seeing since its crunch time for you just be sure you won't fall into the trapping of 'hard work only' like i once did. Crunchtime could as well be called crushing time - it completely crushed me. Allocating some little time off once a week for example doesn't cut it, it does help doing good brakes daily. Heck 5 to 20 minutes taking a coffee thinking on anything else can make wonders - but if you're anything like me you will be so worried about whats left to be done that trying to 'think anything else' will mean 'growing ansious im not back doing what i need' and thinking about it. The point where anything that can take our attention away for a little helps :)
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"... choosing non mentally taxing short things to do while on break,..." Can you share them with us? I used to take 20 minute breaks to walk in the park but it is not an option now:/
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Walking is certainly one of the best. Truth is theres no trick to it, sometimes i stopped by watching what someone was watching on the tv - even things i hated personally. 'What is that Kadarshians? Holy god how old is that again? Why god why anyone watchs this?' - and voila, i wasn't thinking about the pile of dooming 'deadline incoming', and wasn't flexing my brain on anything else.
Truth is the best possible things are walking and meditation. I had previously had some sucess meditating, was improving via the simplest way of letting toughts flow (instead of figthing to 'not think') but that was way before and i didn't kept at it so lost any progress i had. When i tried to get back to it as way of recharging... i couldn't. Just stopping my toughts all revolved around the same thing- my work, what was left to be done... i was either worring more or found myself still thinking on 'how to solve x'. Impossible.
Dumb is good actually. Non-brainy browsing and watching (youtube included) of any kind- but for me at least some kinds of browsing where harder to engage me or had the risk of making me loose more time then i should (facebook and youtube seen pretty good at making us do that). But its doable as long as you don't loose track of the time. I used a lot of pomodoro like time management so i was on breaks where my smartphone would bip when 'okay, time to go back to work now'. Worked flawlessly.
I recall getting up to date on lots of news via youtube, simple things like gaming news (it helped with me not gaming for example). Videos were short, some were about the precise time of a break...
Depending on the day i did longer breaks and stopped working near the end of the day, for some longer relaxing of any kind. Its the better way actually. But during the worst of my crunch time, running against the clock, i kept only the short to medium breaks. Not good, not really as i ended up every day really freaking tired but definetly way better then working without breaks. Theres dimmishing returns to long hours and in my case i saw the data on the subject being spot on- many of what i did was measureable (things like pages written for example) and i could compare long hours without breaks with the break days- i did more with the breaks.
Oh important- no matter what do whatever it is far away from where you're working or studying.
If like me you're doing your work on pc go outside. Pull out your mobile and browse there or the tv in living room. Don't keep the same posture on the same place no matter what. It will be far less refreshing that way.
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PS: naps are tested and proven to be really freaking good so if you're tired, have it easy taking a nap and don't mind napping for only 20 min(yep, that short) it is great. Longer then 20-30min we start getting in deeper sleep and wake up slower so it ain't good productivity wise.
But i couldn't resort to napping most of the time. Im talking about crushing crunch time with the added risk of loosing my scolarship (because of some results previously). i was a pile of nerves on top of all the work wich made everything worse and in my case tackling more then one hard project- the kind of stuff where i had to find solutions where there where none, different then studying for a test or solving math problens (where we can check the solution). It was maddeness lol- reason why i was getting so freaking tired all the time (stress multiplied the tiredness). Short is i digged my grave so to say- i had chosen badly my subjects without realizing how long, hard and uncertain they would be, and couldn't go back on it :P
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Thank you for your answers! I will take your advice and find myself some dumb tv shows (fortunately, there is no shortage of them).
I used to watch gameplays on youtube couple of years ago while preparing for a major test aaaand I ended up playing them. That is the short history of how I find this community:) Playing videogames helps with anxiety but, as you stated, sucks the brainpower. The study-play-study strategy does not work anymore because of the deadlines in near future. I feel relaxed while playing and after I close the steam, I feel more anxious and without the will to study (like a dead battery).
Meditation only helped me to realize which parts of my body hurts the most. Ah, taking a nap is a dream that may never come true. I have never been able to build a habit of napping. I don't stay up late though.
I miss the days while I was studying at the library and walking off to the green. I hope you can handle the pile of work. Here is my favourite "I have been working/studying for a long time and there is still so much to do" song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sfhvxTZ0wo
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Really digging the song! Didn't knew then
Just be carefull with temptations (like watching gameplay videos and ending up playing) - series in particular can draw you into binge watching... terribly more dangerous in cold or rainy days.
But thats more related to another issue- procastination (i as most people also suffer from it). From what you said it seems to be the case- it comes most often from things we really don't want to do, no actual motivation for the thing itself (you may want to pass, study, get high notes- but generally what we want isn't studying this subject, rather getting the final prize).
I was lucky for not having to deal with it near the end- i really liked my field and most classes, thankfully the boring ones i finished previously (where i suffered procastinating). Procastination isn't just lazyness, it leads to lack of concentration and more tiredness. Its hard to focus, understand, etc, etc.
In those cases it helps trying to improve the study or work in itself- so tackling it overloads less or becomes easier. The ideal is finding something to enjoy on the thing itself but thats much harder; Depending on what it is hearing music may help(if it doesn't mess with your focus).
but one of the things that helps the most is breaking it down in smaller easier parts. After i started breaking things down i finally got to do math for example (something i utterly failed in junior high)- my struggle was such that i really broke it down... i started a problem, took some notes and then wen on to another problem, another subject or a break, then i came back later and solved another part... a few times doing the same kind of problem that way and suddenly i was doing it fully with more ease.
The most horrenduously boring part of my essay so to say, i did a page or paragrah a day. Started it early, avoided trying to do more then a page and only continued until i started feeling bored, the hate i felt for it or tired. It all started really soon lol. But little by little...
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You hit the spot! Lately I am procastinating my master's thesis. I like the field, I am in love with doing research but...my advisor and I have no communication. He said "Write it and then I will check..." Here I am, not writing it at all. "Procastination isn't just laziness..." I think I understand that very well. After this talk, I started to learn german and I got 75/100 (top %10) from a nationwide german language test. (It is based on mostly reading comprehension and vocabulary.) I rather learn a new language or get experienced in a totally different field than write the thesis which is probably a much easier activity. "Breaking the work into smaller pieces..." I know this rule and again I don't practice it on this issue. I began to use my thesis as an excuse. I need to accept the situation I am in and move on. Sooner than later.
"...hearing music may help..." It helps:) While studying, I often listen lo-fi (without lyrics), Japanese or Korean pop songs.
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Wish i had that ease with music. Half ot taks music distracts me.
I suspect thesis suffer from what i see as one of the flaws in high education. I don't know how to explain it well in english as some words id use in portuguese... From the minutae of the process, expected language and structure to the whole context and the proccess of being evaluated to the all the little rules and how it all fits within the confines of what is almost a microcosm apart from the real world - the academic world, the scientific journals and such. Its one thing to have regulations and proper ways to apply the scientific method, its another how its actually done. At least i and some people i know felt like it matters more convincing our peers then whats actually being said or done. For all i love and approve of high education theres something i condemm. Quite frankly even the fomalization of thesis as means of getting a degree is something i frown upon; I think things would be better if we had thesis out of true pursuits and interests, out of actual research- what the system does is force thousands of people into finding a subject and reason for a thesis wich for me is starting with the wrong foot. Idn, better not start because i could go on and on and still not being sure.
I may not be able to put my finger quite on it but one thing im certain: thesis suck. For everyone. Its almost part of the definition by now lol
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"thesis suck" yeap, I agree on that.
http://gph.to/2mmYbiO
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how can someone do math by choice ? :P
good luck ✨
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Good luck on getting the certification!
Hmm...where is the puzzle? where is it? .?.?.?
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Bump and thank you for the added casual giveaways in the name of Barbie! ^^
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She is watching over you - nothing is impossible. FOR BARBIEEEEEEEEEEEE!
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I wish you all the luck! Math is absolutely not easy, even if you have very dedicated teachers. So teaching yourself math is really impressive!
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It sounds to me like you could use a teacher. Most people with knowledge are eager to share it with others. It's just a matter of finding someone who is available who knows what you wish to learn.
Here's hoping for your success. )
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GL with your certification. Remember you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for BARBIEEEEE :-)
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Best of luck this year! Hope all your plans go well!
In the name of Barbie you will do it!!
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After reading this post and your GAs description, I'm not sure if your New Year Resolution is to be more serious irl, or is to increase your barbie madness xD
Anyway good luck and happy incoming cake day!
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Good luck for your teaching certification ^^ I hope you'll become a great teacher :3
The best teacher I ever had said the following, when he was disappointed in our results: "What did I do wrong?" He was actually our principal and the only teacher I've ever met who asked this question. He wanted to know what he could do better, so we would understand math better and could get better grades ^^ Others just raged, or even insulted the whole class ^^" but never even thought about changing their age old routines.
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I feel like I could benefit from something similar. If I want to take my career in CS seriously, something needs to go: priorities need to be set, tasks need to be completed, a schedule needs to be followed. I have a terrible issue with procrastination (at least I think I do), and it often eats me up from the inside. How badly do I want to succeed? What am I willing to sacrifice to get there? (There's no way in hell I'll be sacrificing anime, though...one episode a day isn't all that much anyways, right?)
Anyways, I wish you all the best with your plans. We may not know each other very well, but if you're looking for an accountability partner, feel free to hit me up (we're friends on Steam).
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Good luck with the test and plans for the future CasualGifter123. Hopefully everything turns out alright and you're back to spread the word of our prophet Barbie!
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I'll be waiting for Teacher123 to come back soon :3 May Barbie be with you!
Good luck with the certification and thanks for all your GAs.
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