See You Later 2015!

I think I have finally recovered from the holiday craze and am one-hundred percent ready to jump in to 2016!

Y'all, it has been a crazzzzy couple of weeks! First of all - WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE! Which really itself is what has contributed to most of the chaos around here lately.

Of course in addition to that is still the wedding planning, which starting to all come together, while still feeling like there are a million things to do - more on that tomorrow. But all in all, it is has been a great few weeks and I wouldn't trade it for anything, well, except maybe for a little extra sleep.

I don't know what it is about this year, maybe the wedding, maybe the new house, or maybe the fact that for the first time I'm not heading back to school after the holidays, but there is just something in me that wants to make this year the year. You know, making resolutions and keeping them, getting rid of old bad habits and welcoming new positive ones. This year is going to bring about a lot of change, and I don't want to get lost in the shuffle and forget what is really important to me and what really matters. So, for possibly the first time ever, I am setting goals for myself and for my family. Real, written, goals. And for the sake of accountability, I want to share them with all of you as well, in hopes that we create a network of support, and I want to know your goals and resolutions as well!

These Short Term goals are really things that I am hoping to accomplish in the next month or so. I keep a to-do list every day, although there are certain things that obviously cannot be done in a day, but still require some kind of timeline/deadline. The wedding is less than two months away, so clearly that will part of the resolution has to be done soon! I also don't love living in a complete state of chaos, so I would like to get things as settled as possible in the new house. What are some of your short term goals? 

If I'm being honest, a lot of these Long Term Goals should really be life-time goals, but y'all that is hard to think about sometimes. Like, I know I should eat healthy, but I also know I love ice cream. You know? 

But seriously, I am really hoping that by sharing these goals I can stay accountable and be diligent in my every day decisions. I don't think any of these goals are unreasonable. I have generally been an active person, so working out often isn't intimidating, it's just difficult keeping that schedule when my day to day feels so unpredictable. Similarly, I've always done well keeping a budget for myself, but now there are two of us, so I feel a little more guilty if I want to go a bit above the budget, while expecting my fiance and soon to be husband to abide by it. But this is a new chapter and I am so looking forward to it! 

Are you a big goal-setter? Like I mentioned, I'm not the type to make big resolutions, or any kind of resolution that is actually tangible, so I am really looking forward to see how this turns out - any advice welcome! 

I hope you've had a wonderful start to 2016! Cheers!

Have a great day, y'all!

xoxo 

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Wednesday Showcase

How to Study More Efficiently

Make a Plan 

This might be the best advice that I've been given in terms of getting a good start on your studying. Make. A. Plan. Personally, I like to plan in increments of about 30 minutes because that is the most realistic way to do it. I don't mean only thirty minutes at a time, but there is no reason to decide you need 22 minutes to work on something, that is ridiculous.
That being said, when you make a plan it is easier to know what you need to do and what you have left to do. Like I mentioned in this post, there are plenty of times that you will have over or under estimated how much time you need for a particular task, but at least you have a basis of something to follow and you aren't spending time in between trying to decide what to work on next.

Set Goals

In keeping with the first tip, setting goals gives you an big picture idea of where you "need" at certain points. For general reading this could be a certain place in the book, or a certain number of cases. For outlining, you could set a goal of x amount of chapters for the day, or a certain day in your notes that you want to get through. If I have printed my notes out, I like to put tabs every so often and use those as my goals that I want to reach. The key to this is to set realistic goals. Trust me, it feels a lot better to set a relatively easy goal and exceed it rather than to set a far reaching goal and come short.

Organize Your Material 

Organizing your material can really help streamline your studying and outlining. I struggled initially with getting all of my information together before the semester was over, but as you know, or will know shortly, it is very important to start your outlining before classes are actually over. I think the best way to go about it is to print your notes through the day you start and then within your notes make some kind of notation like, "PRINTED THROUGH OCT. 20." That way when you print the rest of your notes at the end of the semester or some other time, you know where to start.
Doing these things will make sure you only have the material that you need and makes it easier to find what you need instead of wasting time filtering the important information and relevant class notes.

Limit Your Use of Social Media

This might seem obvious, but if you actually do it you will notice a huge difference in the amount of work you can get done in such a short time. I understand you need to take breaks, but schedule those breaks or allow them to coincide with goals you set. When you can work for 45 minutes to an hour without distraction you are going to get a lot more done. I will be the first to say that this is hard, everyone's first instinct when they start to get bored is to grab their phone and open up Twitter, Facebook, etc. But, after you see how beneficial it can be, you will appreciate the limited use while you're studying. Sometimes I try not to use my computer at all so that I'm not tempted to open up Facebook, Pinterest, or other non-school websites, but obviously most of the time you need to use your computer.

When I was in undergrad I discovered an App you can download for your computer called "Concentrate" and with this App you can block certain websites from yourself for a certain period of time. Maybe you have more self control than me and you don't actually need an App to keep from getting on those websites. But if you are as easily distracted as I am, this is a great tool. I'm sure there are others like it - and turning WiFi off can be enough sometimes, unless you need Lexis or access to your email - but I have used this for a few years and it is really helpful.

What are some things you do to study more efficiently?

Have a Great Day, Y'all!
xoxo