Third Year, Specialist in English and Minor in Religion
“What do you want to be in the future?”
“I want to go towards my PhD, so I can either be a Shakespeare professor or an American literature professor.”
Month: February 2014
Someone Explain Handshakes to Me…
I had this interesting encounter over the break. I was at a Christmas Eve service at my church and I was greeting a friend of mine. Now I thought we were at that level of familiarity where it was okay to hug, but then it got weird. He went for a high five, I went for a hug, and long story short, we ended up doing the arm-worm, like two kids at a club who forgot they could use their legs to do that dancing thing.
Humans of UTM
First Year, Introduction to Management
“What’s something about yourself that you would never change?”
“My sense of humour. It’s dark and I know some people don’t get it, but I’m not about changing that.”
How to Stay Motivated During School
It’s the middle of midterm season, I’m drowning in a sea of loose papers and textbooks, and Teen Wolf is on TV. Despite all of this, I’m still going to pause it all so I can tell you guys how to stay on track.
Pretty generous, I know.
In all seriousness, it could just be me (though I’m pretty sure it’s not), but this semester seems almost twice as busy as the last. Everyone I talk to seems swamped – waist-deep – with schoolwork, and it can definitely be difficult to find encouragement when you feel trapped by your workload.
The dark side may have cookies, but the Internet has Facebook, Tumblr AND Netflix waiting for you.
So, for those of us that are experts of the Web, but are still motivationally-challenged, I present to you three ways to beat your procrastination issues:
This extension is available to almost all types of browsers (yes, even those of you on Internet Explorer). It blocks websites (of your choice) for a specified amount of time so you can focus only what is absolutely necessary – that you hand your paper before that 9am deadline. I can’t even recall how many times this has helped me in the past.
A lot of people gawk at me when I say I read better with music playing, but I’m sure I’m not the only one. For those of you that are musically inclined but know how much time/effort making a ‘study’ playlist takes, here’s a website with pre-made playlists that are based largely on moods. Hit ‘Explore’ and type in ‘study’ + whatever genre floats your boat, and voila! You’re good to go.
Someone in high school suggested this to me. In the simplest terms, The Pomodoro Technique breaks up your time so that you can a) work efficiently and b) prevent a burnout from happening. This particular method suggests creating time slots of 25 minutes in which you work intensely, then take a short break, and then resume your next 25 minutes of productivity. Reminder: your ‘short break’ should ideally be less than 25 minutes long.
And as a special bonus…
Go get ‘em, tiger!
Humans of UTM
Second Year, Criminology and Psychology
“Last night I went to a drag bar and saw drag queens perform. It was awesome and it was a new experience and I loved it.”
Humans of UTM
Second Year, Art and Art History
“What’s one thing you wish you could change about UTM?”
“I wish the buildings were actually connected… I don’t like going outside! It’s so cold.”
Humans of UTM
First Year, Art and Art History
“If you could travel to any point in time, when and where would it be?”
“To the future, in England.”
“What do you want to see in Future England?”
“Robots.”
Humans of UTM
Fourth Year, Computer Science
“What advice would you give to someone who is struggling?”
“I would say take a step back and think about your priorities and why you’re doing this, as opposed to ‘I have to do this.’ I made mistakes in my first two years of university; I wasn’t doing things for the right reason. I was in a completely different program than I should have been in. So you really just have to put things into perspective.”
Humans of UTM
First Year, Criminology
“In the future, I want to go to Florida with my sister ‘cause she hasn’t been to Disney world. She’s only four now, but I want to take her there.”