Autumn is just listening to Taylor Swift, Lana del Rey, Arctic Monkeys, and girl in red. It's for watching Anne with an E. It's for celebrating and mourning Jily (the number one ship ever). It's for celebrating a festival literally every week!! Its for scaring everyone and eating sweets as the month ends. It's for revisting your happy memories.
There is so much to look forward to in October!!
“living seems like a promise that i never made.”
Hi everyone! I have a few tips that I’ve gathered over the years to help cope with your brain not working like everyone else’s.
1. Find a way to turn part of your brain off.
For me, this means having something that is stimulating in the background, like a podcast or loooong video. I really like stuff like Critical Role, if it’s too funny it just distracts me so I recommend something serious but not really important to know.
Conversely...
2. Find a way to turn your body off.
I do this by crocheting. It’s like productive stimming, it’s fun, the progress mounts super quickly, and you can redo something over and over if you need to. I use this time to listen to something important. Because my hands and eyes have something stimulating them, my ears are free to listen intently. This is when you should listen to an audiobook or a recorded lecture.
3. Don’t read and have someone speaking in your language at the same time.
That’s a recipe for not understanding either thing and having your time be wasted, essentially. If you’re reading, keep any background to something that you can tune out but still have in your mind, like lofi or classical music. Sometimes I’ll even use albums that I’ve listened to hundreds of times because my brain goes on autopilot for those.
4. Keep your workspace as busy as you need, but don’t let it get cluttered.
If you are a maximalist like me (or love hoarding stationery) your desk might be a little... much. And that’s okay! As long as you can work with visual stimulation. This comes down to personal preference, but if you know that having few things helps your focus, try to downsize, or vice versa!
5. Structure your study time and plan your breaks.
Structure is so important for my mental health and function, so I always recommend it to others. Plan your study time, lay out what you want to learn by the end, and have some sort of timer or cue for when it’s time to take a break. I recommend short breaks every 90 minutes or so, and a long one after 4+ hours. If studying in tiny chunks doesn’t work for you, don’t do it! If you need bigger blocks of time that’s totally fine, don’t feel guilty about not being able to focus properly on 10 minute sessions.
6. Repetition is soooo important for conceptual things.
Math and science can be especially difficult for people with ADHD due to memory problems. It is very important that you work at these problems and repeat them over and over to get the concept memorized in your long term memory so you can reach it continually. So, do your assigned problems, do the other problems in the book, find some on Khan Academy, and do them until it’s ingrained. It’s so worth it, I promise.
7. Set your own deadlines and STICK TO THEM
If your procrastinate until the 11th hour and then produce decent work, I completely understand and see you. However, work with your executive dysfunction and trick your brain. Set deadlines for yourself and rewards for sticking to them, punishments if you don’t, and actually enforce them. Maybe if you don’t finish your rough draft by Thursday night, you have to finish it before you can FaceTime your friends. If you do finish it on time, call and play some games together. It helps to have a study buddy to keep you accountable and set deadlines with so you can both motivate each other and be accountable. ***Be very careful to not let this affect your mental health!!! Do not burn yourself out and lose your friends, your mental health comes first!!!***
Finally
8. Do not beat yourself up for not being entirely productive all the time.
You are human. You are already at a disadvantage due to your brain’s chemistry. Work with your brain, don’t berate it. Eat some candy or drink some Gatorade to give it the dopamine it needs to keep focusing. Take down time for yourself. Let yourself have free time to just exist, practice regular self care and hygiene. You are strong, valid, and brave for going against the odds and pursuing learning at this disadvantage. I am very proud of you, and I know you can succeed.
042420
As most people are working and studying from home right now, I wanted to share some concrete, implementable ways you can help yourself feel better. Though I believe productivity and quantity of work done (or lack thereof) doesn’t/shouldn’t translate into your self-worth and how you view yourself, when you get work done, you actually do feel better in your own body.
By the way, it’s the first time I’m formatting a tips/guide post like this, so I apologize that I couldn’t be more concise.
I’ve spoken to a licensed professional counsellor as well as to some professionals who have been working from home for a long time, and some of the advice above is from them. I’m also sharing from my own experience as someone who used to be very productive and an (ex-)overachiever, and still attach a lot of my self-worth to grades and other tangible accomplishments. I hope these slides can help you. In case it’s hard to read, I’ve included it (reworded) in text form if you’d like to read more.
A peaceful life here with the smell of old books is everything I want.
General:
Introductions:
Body Paragraphs:
Topic Sentences:
Conclusions:
Thesis Statements:
Citing:
Argumentative Essays:
Writing About Poetry:
Expository Essays:
Research Papers:
College Application Essays:
Narrative Essays:
Note-taking is one of the most essential skills a student should master. It allows you to record and review information to be used in the future. But what’s the best way to do so? Here’s an overview of note-taking styles that can help you maximize your learning!
Important ideas to consider when creating characters who are black and indigenous people of color. (x)
proud to say that I worked hard to stand out and officially signed with a big 4 firm in ny. no one here in tx has been excited for me but I have to remind myself that it’s okay to be proud of your hard work.
Ginny is the spring. Warm and vibrant. Birds chirping in the distance, paddling through lakes barefoot. New life and hopes growing stronger everyday. Dancing in the rain, holding hands as the days become longer. Running through fields filled with blooming flowers filling the air with the sweet smell of pollen. You can't have spring without its autumn.
Hermione is winter. Calm and peaceful. Snowy boots and thick gloves. Curled up by the fire reading a book wrapped in an embrace of warmth. Jewel tones and bobble hats. Snow ball fights then drinking tea with a dash of cinnamon. Short days and long nights. Rosie cheeks and words leaving lips like the clouds filling the crisp air of winter. Cold hands holding warm. Constantly keeping summer on its toes.
Ron is summer. Bright and carefree. Sweaty palms holding cold. Water fights and walks on the beach. Roasting marshmallows over a bonfire. Red cheeks from the blazing sun. Freckled skin and lighter hair. Long days and short nights. Watching the sunset as the world begins to cool. Always accepting the challenge winter presents.
Harry is autumn. Content and loved. Golden leaves falling. The end of something but not the end. Never the end. Running through forests as the leaves pile up. Singing in the rain as the days grow shorter. A head on your shoulder as the skies turn golden. A hand in yours as the thunder starts to crash. The perfect contrast to spring.
- The ‘I totally did that’ smirk
- The 'I didn’t do that’ smile
- The 'I wish I did that’ laugh
- You can remember what your friend got for Christmas three years ago but can’t remember their birthday for shit
- Loosing track of time and obsessing over something on the internet until 3AM.
- Constantly needing supervision or else you’ll destroy something
- Radiating Chaotic energy whenever you’re plotting something
- Not being able to keep secret because you didn’t know it was a secret
- Not being able to lie about little things, but when it comes to bigger things, they’ll never know the truth
- Having a weird photographic memory that kicks in randomly
- People calling you smart, and you not agreeing because you do stupid shit constantly
- Trying to figure out someones life story after meeting them one time
- Trying to use your 'intelligence’ as an advantage, and then it backfires
- Having your own little celebration whenever you do something (something like noises or a little dance you do)
- Trying to understand people’s motivations and morals, and then giving up because it just gets more confusing as you go
- Feeling as if you’re detached from reality. Like no one really exists and this all is a dream. Then you realize you’re being stupid and go back to whatever you were doing.
- You can’t stop talking about certain things, even if you see that the person doesn’t want to hear about it, YOU GOTTA TALK
- Being introverted and wanting to have friends, but just don’t want to talk people, but you want to have friends
creative writing exercise: craft a short backstory in the style of the euphoria episode openers
“I wish I could write. I get these ideas but I never seem to be able to put them in words.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I put together a post containing Awesome Sites and Links for Writers, which is also pretty useful for school work too. Some of these sites I’ve discovered on my own in pursuit of knowledge and other times by friends. Many of them I wish that I knew about back when I was school. Most of the websites listed below are geared towards college students, but a few are aimed at high school students and primary students. So there is a bit of everything for everyone.
Homework Help & Studying
Free Online Courses
Information & Research
Books & Shopping (Student Discounts & Deals)
Apps & Tools
Miscellaneous
lots of people who have executive function difficulties worry about whether they’re procrastinating on a task out of laziness/simply wanting to be a jerk or mental struggles. this checklist might help you figure out which it is at any given time! (hint: it’s almost never laziness or being a jerk.) (obligatory disclaimer: this is just what works for me! something different might work better for you.)
1) do I honestly intend to start the task despite my lack of success?
2) am I fed, watered, well-rested, medicated properly, etc?
3) does the idea of starting the task make me feel scared or anxious?
4) do I know how to start the task?
5) do I have everything I need to start the task?
6) why am i having a hard time switching from my current task to this new task?
7) have I already procrastinated so badly that I now cannot finish the task in time?
reality check: having part of a thing done is almost always better than none of a thing done. if I can get an extension, having part of it done will help me keep from stalling out until the extension deadline. i’ll feel better if I at least try to finish it.
reality check: if i’m having fun doing what I’m doing, I can keep doing it, but I should probably set a timer & ask someone to check on me to make sure I start doing the task later today.
8) I’ve completed the checklist and still don’t know what’s wrong!
hope this helps some of you! YOU’RE DOING GREAT SWEETIE DON’T GIVE UP ON YOU
Need motivation?
study tip: don‘t think about studying as something you need to do. that implies it’s some tedious process, something you can’t really enjoy, just another task ruining your day. rather, try to enjoy the process. think of yourself as someone who loves the subject, who loves studying for the sake of learning. you’re someone for whom studying comes easily, it’s just another good part of your day. if you change your identity and sense of self from someone who struggles with studying or with a particular task, it will be much easier to get done, as we always strive to stay consistent with who we think we are. think of yourself as a productive person, and it's much easier to act like a productive person would.
