15 things to do whilst self-isolating

So March has been a long month and a lot has happened. As we are all isolating ourselves in our homes, I thought I would share some things that you can do while you are at home, to break the monotony and take advantage of the time that we have got. I will be sharing some examples of what I have been doing too!

1. Read a book (I finished Heroes by Stephen Fry, and would highly recommend)
2. Do a jigsaw/ Play a game (I've found a deck of cards last weekend!)
3. Draw/ Colour
4. Listen to your favourite albums (I've been listening to old Muse Albums)
5. Plan a workout schedule

6. Listen to Podcasts (My Favourite Murder/ No Such Thing as Fish/ Is it Just Me?/ Science(ish))
7. Do a manicure/pedicure (my sister has kindly gave me both!)
8. FaceTime/ phone friends (I have been doing this while walking)
9. Bake a cake/ Cook a new dish (I helped bake my own birthday cake)
10. Clean or reorganise a space in your home

11. Give yourself a facial (I knew that Jade Facial Roller would come in handy!)
12. Practice Yoga/ Mindfulness (Yoga with Kassandra on YouTube is my favourite)
13. Watch a new movie with the lights dimmed for a cinema experience (I've done this once and it was great!)
14. Experiment and try a new makeup/ hair look
15. Give yourself a massage (I am planning on cracking out the Tonic Body Treatment Oil from Clarins!)


I hope you found at least one thing that was helpful on this list! Let me know if you have any more tips and tricks on new things to try as I would love to hear them.

If you would like to read more posts then be sure to follow me on Bloglovin to stay up to date! I have  some upcoming posts that you might find helpful!

How to: Work From Home

So I have this feeling that most people actually do quite a bit of work at home whether it be studying, emailing, or filling out paperwork. I actually do all three at home, along with blogging and other things and so I wanted to share tips on how to successfully work at home, because I bet we all know a thing or two about procrastination and distraction.

1) Dedicate time

When you have work to do, I bet you also have a billion other things you could also be doing (Is it time to tidy the bedroom?). Procrastination can get the better of us a lot of the time, but if you plan out your day properly, then you will be able to make sure everything gets done without flitting through three different things at the same time. For my blog, I usually set aside around six hours a week with I spilt over various days, one day for writing and taking photographs, and then other days for using social media. Also knowing that you need to do work, makes you prepared to do it so make sure you bedroom is clean before people! 

2) Figure out your optimal setting

This is an important one, knowing your optimal setting means that you can get work done efficiently. Think about whether you like music playing while you work, or what time of day you work better. Also if you like doing everything in one go or breaking it down into pieces. Personally, I like background music when working (because it's feels less like work), and I also like to work in the morning and get everything done in one go so that I have the rest of the day free. If I am short of time, I like to work on a desk, however if I have the whole day for one or two tasks then I love to chill out and be comfortable in my bed. Once you know what works for you then you can utilise it and save time!

3) Organisation

Like the first point, organisation is important because it helps you save time, if your work space is organised  then your mind can focus on the task at hand. I'm a huge fan of planning the day before about all the tasks I want to accomplished, and since that list is made all I have to do is actually do the work. 

4) Goals

One thing that's good about working from home is that you don't have a manager breathing down your back, however that also means that you might slack off a bit and not perform as efficiently as you should. Making daily goals can help as you have somethings to work towards, and once your goals are all ticked off then you can truly rest (once tomorrows goals are all written up!).

So these were my top tips on working from home, can you guys think of anything I might have missed? On another note I am back from India and I will soon be posting some of my photos from that trip so be sure to subscribe and  follow me on Bloglovin' so you don't miss it!

Reusing your Birchbox!

So receiving a Birchbox for my birthday was amazing, and I love the contents to pieces but I had no idea what to do with the packaging! They have some beautiful boxes and I just don't want to throw them away...So here is what I did with it!

As a make-up and skin-care addict, I love to display my stuff but my problem was that it used to get really messy really fast, because in the morning you rush a lot and in the evening you just don't feel like cleaning up.

I have no idea when I decided to stick my freestanding make-up and skin-care into a Birchbox but I am really glad I did. It conserves a lot more space, and it's easier to clean up because there is an actual space where each product belongs. It's harder to knock things over and nothing can really get that lost.  The pictures shown are actually where I keep my stuff, I actually like the fact that the bottom and top of the boxes are different!

Everyday Skin-care

As a university student, space is definitely needed and also having these boxes around mean that when it comes to packing up I have extra storage space, that can transport my make-up and skin-care for when it's time to go home. 

Honestly, if you have a one of these boxes, try this out; it doesn't even have to be on your desk, it can be in a drawer or even in your bathroom. It makes a really great organiser. 

A few make-up pieces (the rest is in my make-up bag!)

Reuse your Birchbox by using it for:

- Chargers/ adaptors 

- Hair-care (a place where your hairbands and bobby pins will not go missing)

- Stationary 

- Desk tray - always lose your keys? or need a pen? 

- Important documents

I kind of want another one so I can use it for keeping my chargers because mine are all in different places! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post - especially if you are a loyal subscriber of Birchbox you now have a few idea's on what to do with all those boxes!

You can find me on Twitter and Instagram :) 

10 Studying Tips

Hey guys,

So it's that horrid time again - exams are approaching and I have already started to study for them. I thought I would share my tips and tricks on how to study and also the lifestyle changes that you should implement to fully absorb all that new information.

1) Keep Hydrated

Studying is mentally draining and so, just like when you work out, your body needs to keep hydrated. They say that you should drink two litres of water a day and when you are studying it's easier to get to that amount if the water is accessible to you and keeping a glass or a bottle near you will help you to reach for it whenever you feel thirsty and even when you don't. Just remember that more water = happier brain =  fully absorbing information.

2) Exercise

I bet I am not the only one who has fallen off this bandwagon, but recently I have been trying to climb back on. The reason why exercise is so important is because it helps to get rid of stress which is needed if an exam is approaching. Not only this, but studying usually consists of sitting down a lot which means that we are being way less active than we usually are. I know that when I haven't exercised I feel sluggish and lazy, which can carry-over to how I study and so I really try to incorporate some form of exercise into my day. Also exercising, at least for me, makes me want to eat healthier so that's another plus.

3) Food

When studying, snacking isn't ideal because you aren't aware of how much you are eating due to your attention being (hopefully) elsewhere. I know for me that snacking actually distracts me from my work so what I tend to do now is eat properly before I study, this way I am already full and won't need to snack anyway. If I want to have a break later on then I will grab some fruit, eat it, and then carry on. So my advice is to eat beforehand, and to perhaps plan out what you are eating so you are sure that you are eating a nice mix of things.

4) Music

Music helps me concentrate. If you are like me and find it weird to study in complete silence then I recommend playing classical music. Instrumentals, such as classical music are the best because anything with lyrics will definitely be the opposite of helpful. Also, if you can try to get long pieces of music because fiddling around with songs gets distracting too, or just stick it on repeat. My personal favourite pieces to listen to is Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy and Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

5) Write, write and write again

So for paper based exams where you have to write, I make sure that I have personally handwritten all the information again and again, I do this because I find that I will know how to express things easier...it just flows nicer and quicker too. Also reciting things again and again is the best way to remember things even if it kills my hand. I love these record cards from Ryman! They come in four different colours so I can colour code my modules.

6) What person are you?

I'm a morning worker, I study the best in the early hours so I try to be working by 9am and because I know this I can utilise this. Try to find out what works for you and try to study in that period of time, I know a few of my friends are night workers and they get a lot done when other people are sleeping. Once you figure this out, try to build your routine around it so you can know exactly how much time you will spend studying - this is my next point. 

7) Time, and I mean a lot of time.

When it gets closer to the exam, you really need to dedicate a lot of your time to studying (and not just rewriting notes). I usually find that I can't get a lot done if I have just an hour, so really plan out your time well, if you have some errands to do then plan when you will take care of them. Because I am a morning worker, I will usually take care of other things in the late afternoon depending on how big of a job it is. Sometimes I like to get the other stuff out of the way first so I can truly spend the rest of my time on work. As long as you plan your time and know that you have spent enough time studying then that's all that matters.

8) Goals

So this goes hand in hand with my last point, I like to set myself daily goals on what I would like to get done - whether I want to rewrite three lectures in that day or just one. This is really good, at least for me, because you feel happy when each goal is completed. This doesn't have to be just for studying, I do this for my daily life too, today's goal is to put up this blog post for example. I find by doing this things do actually get done  and because things get done it also means you have some time to spare!

9) Motivation

So sometimes studying is something that you do not want to be doing. I get like this sometimes - all I want to do is sleep or read a book and do anything else but study. But you need to remind yourself why you are even studying at all. What gets my butt in gear is thinking about the grade I want to get at the end of my degree. You know what you are working towards - just remind yourself of what that is. Heck, even stick it on anything you look at daily - like your mirror or phone. If you lose motivation then think of the consequences of that. Another good way of maintaining that motivation is to reward yourself, this is something that I do constantly - If I think I deserve it then I will go ahead and buy it whether it be make-up, clothes, books or food. It doesn't have to be about buying stuff but just taking the time out to do something that you enjoy, for example if I finish everything before 5pm then I can read my favourite book or watch a movie with my friends. If you complete your goals then you feel better about yourself and can enjoy yourself much more knowing that you are done for the day.

10) Relax

Working 24/7 isn't going to help you. You need to make sure that you relax in order to perform as backwards as that sounds. Give yourself breaks in between studying. If I rewrite a lecture (my life at the moment), then after I have completed it I'll go watch one or two YouTube videos before starting the next lecture. Taking these breaks just means that my brain can concentrate for longer, it's like that whole Turtle and Hare race. Just take whatever breaks you need in order to perform and you'll find that you pay attention and digest the information better than someone who is rushing. 

Studying seems to be all I have been doing lately and I know people wonder how I have enough steam to get on with it and this post is basically it. I hope that this helps you guys, even if it is just keeping a glass of water next to you or going on an evening run after a long day. If you do have exams approaching then I wish you good luck :)

Do you have any more tips to share?

Thanks for reading,

Anjna

My Organisational Secret: Academic Diary

Hey guys :) 

So today's post is a little different from my others :) it's more to do with lifestyle and how you can maximise productivity in my opinion and I can tell you right now that I can't live without it at all. 

So the secret is actually in the title - it's my academic diary. I cannot even express how much this diary means to me - it literally goes everywhere with me because it has my life in it.

 My memory isn't that bad but occasionally I do forget to do important work - for university or just in general and writing things down just makes it so much easier. I honestly list things I have to do in the day - a bit like a check list and by the end of the day everything should be ticked off and that's how I know it has been a productive and useful day. Having this sort of check list is self rewarding too because you get a lot of satisfaction from ticking each thing off as you have accomplished a goal each and every time. Another reason why this is specific to an academic diary and not just a post it note (I use those too) is that everyday you will have a set of goals to do - I have hardly had any days which were completely empty because there is always something to be done.

I always carry my diary around with me because I start planning for the goals or events for future weeks in advance and if asked about my availability I know exactly what days I might be free in a matter of seconds. 

Oops - I was two hours late posting this!

Honestly having an academic diary is a game changer if you use it like this - this post really is for people who are struggling to balance out how they should tackle the amount of work they have to do and I think organisation is a large part of it - if you know what you need to do and when then you will automatically be quicker at achieving it since you wake up with a purpose - even if it is something simple like buying milk or doing laundry for the day.

I hope this has let you all in on how I achieve my maximum potential and I hope you invest in one if you are finding it difficult to remember and plan properly. 

Thanks for reading,

Anjna x