(Daily Journal )

(Daily Journal 🌼)

Mon, June 3, 2024

🤍- I'm super proud of the coffee I made this morning. It was one of the best brews!

😴🌞- [9.30 PM - 3.30 AM]

• 🔐 • brewed coffee • morning stretch 📚- revised Eco • scanned some files • helped mom with admin things • washed dishes

∘

📈📚- 7 hrs 14 mins, 3 chapters

<Habit Tracker>

💧 ≓2/2L 🌞[ 4 AM ] ✅ 🤸🏻‍♀️[ morning stretch ] ✅ 📴 [ 9 PM ] ⬜

🌜- I woke up early and fresh this morning, but the day went pretty slow. Some of the Economics quiz questions really dragged me on, so I ended up taking more and longer breaks. Gotta manage my energy level better and study more efficiently tomorrow! (+ I rushed through writing this post because it’s almost 11 PM, and ugh!)

~(>_<。)＼

100 days of productivity // day 64

📖 finished lost in the garden!

📙 got to choose a new read which meant checking out the new releases of my favourite indie publishers :)

🎧 listened to 20% of authority by jeff vandermeer

🇱🇹 45 min language lesson (verbs)

✈️ booked my next trip in a month’s time

finish your draft challenge // day 9 of 15

revisiting a draft from january. i've made a note of everything overarching that needs fixing (narrative voice, general tension, character development, ending) and also gone through the draft and made notes on things that need fixing on a sentence level.

if i can actually finish this draft before the end of this challenge I’ll be sooo chuffed actually

kak share with us the basics of meal prepping please… also are u doing it daily or weekly?

Hi Nelyaaa! 💗 Do you cook/like cooking? I’m honestly not good at cooking and am still learning how to meal prep because my mom moved out of town recently because of her work—and it used to be my mom who cooked at home 😅. When she visits, I’d help my mom grocery shop and meal prep for a week. I just started doing it by myself this month. Still, I’m not a pro, but I’ll show you how I meal prep :) 

∘ ∘ ∘

Main activities: planning • shopping • prepping • storing

Firstly, ask yourself these before meal prepping: • How much time do you have to cook every day? This will lead to the next questions: • How many meals do you want to make? • What to make?

-⌚-

If you have 15-30 minutes a day, the things you need to prep probably are:

• Cut and washed raw veggies (you could combine and pack them into portions based on the menu or store each cut veggie separately) • Seasoned proteins (marinated or braised) • Premade sauces or sambal.

If you have less than 15 minutes, you could try:

• Blanch and freeze veggies so they take less time to cook the next time you want to eat them • Precook and freeze soups/stews. Separate the veggies and meat. • Precook side dishes • Premake easy-to-cook frozen foods (chicken/tofu nuggets, frozen burrito/kebabs, seasoned chicken, etc.) • I don’t do this, but some people precook their rice. It lasts for three days. (For me, if I ever store my rice in the fridge, it will mostly end up as fried rice, haha.) 

∘ ∘ ∘

< Meal Prep Step by Step 🥗>

1. Planning & grocery shopping 🛒

You can make a table like this one by Doobydobap to make your planning easier.

Check everything you currently have, including condiments and everything in the fridge. List items you can use for the week

List the meals you want to make for the week. You can check out some recipes online for inspiration.

List the rest of the ingredients you need

Go grocery shopping

2. Prepping 🔪🍳

Clean and chop the veggies and proteins to the right size for your menu. To avoid cross-contamination, do the veggies/plant-based ingredients first, and then clean your cutting board before chopping meat/poultry.

Make premix sauces

The rest depends on your menu. You might want to quickly blanch your veggies, pre-season/marinate your food, braise chicken, or precook your side dish.

Let them cool before storing them in the fridge. 

3. Storing ❄

Store raw veggies in the crisper. To maintain freshness, dry them well before storing them in airtight containers or zipper bags. You could line the container with paper towels to absorb moisture from the produce. Make sure to keep track of how long each type of vegetable stays fresh.

Cooked proteins, soups, or stews can be stored in the freezer to extend shelf life, and they should be thawed in the chiller the night before use.

Store soup/stew ingredients with different textures (like meat and veggies) separately.

You can store precooked side dishes on the middle shelf for 3 days or in the freezer for longer.

I think that’s everything I can share for now. I hope it’s helpful. Stay healthy, Nelya (and everyone else reading)!! <3

Weekly Review

Week: 1/35 Dates: May 27 - June 2

Highlights:

i updated my 2024 reading plan. i recognize i have quite ambitious reading goals and not that much time, but i'm willing to try.

i made both my bedroom and balcony slightly cozier with small changes and planting new plants. my sweet peas are already sprouting!

finished 1 book

Challenges:

i wanted to procrastinate on emailing my guidance counsellor, because i felt like i didn't have a clear plan on my studies, but i overcame it and sent a pretty good email imo

i struggled with planning my studies, i forgot one course and then had to add it, had to do a lot of adapting but eventually got it to a good start

couldn't focus on reading, which is unfortunate, because i really want to!

Current projects

to be healthier: went for five 1-hour walks this week and want to do the same next week. i'm trying to wake up earlier to do so. also ate healthy this week and started taking a multivitamin again cause immediately after i stopped my acne flared up.

walk 1000 km this year: currently on track with 428,8 km.

studies: this month i need to turn in 2 courses. 1) Introduction to Philosophy (86%) 2) Introduction to Civics (10%)

reading challenge: finished 1 book this week and hoping to finish 2 books next week. 52 books in 2024 progress: 25%

Next Week on Project Azura

Philosophy studies: 3 pondering exercises, update 2 study log entries and write first drafts for 2 essays

Civics studies: finish theory from chapters 2-4, 3 exercises on chapter 2, 3 exercises on chapter 3 and 2 study log entries

doctor's appointment on Wednesday

keep up good habits, and a healthy lifestyle. next week i'll try to get a good productive headstart on the courses, and hopefully achieve even more than i have planned

Thanks for reading! Here's a playlist for you:

Weekly study reflection (June 1-7) 💗🧠

Goals: Study at least 7 hours or revise 4 chapters a day Goals achieved: 3/7 (June 1, 3, 5) 

💌 - When I told you I'm a potato, I meant it, guys. My biggest blunder this semester? Being lazy for an entire month in April, which left me binge-studying 23 days before exams. I ambitiously aimed for 7-10 hours of daily study and promptly burned out in the first week, lol. Well, it's embarrassing. It's okay guys… Feel free to use me as a bad example. That way I won't be that useless. Haha, just kidding! We either win or learn :) Now that I made the decision to not fail this semester, I’ll make the most of my time, even if it's not perfect. So… here's my evaluation of the first exams prep week :v

Goals & objective 🎯

🧐>

The goals I set could be more attainable and specific.

Studying for 7 hours doesn’t mean I am effectively learning something. I could learn more or less in the same amount of time.

Revising based on the chapters isn’t practical for exam preparations. I don’t need to relearn everything, and it gets boring for my rebellious mind.

💡>

I need to set different goals for each subject & topic.

Outcome-based objectives rather than time-based ones.

Time, energy, and focus management ⚡

🧐>

Boring study schedule. As I set my goals based on study duration, I made a fixed study schedule with a fixed study interval. I got knocked out really fast. 

I tend to get burnt out every other day when I study for more than 5 hours.

Long sessions lead to diminishing returns. My study time keeps decreasing throughout the week.

I’m not too fond of Pomodoro because it breaks my flow. Still, it is helpful when I have difficulty focusing or don’t feel like studying.

Coffee doesn’t necessarily enhance my focus. Drinking enough water works just as well. Morning coffee causes me anxiety during noon study sessions.

My brain works best in predawn hours until early morning.

💡>

Add a big buffer to the study time, so you can start when you’re physically & mentally ready and don’t feel guilty when you start late.

Break the study time into shorter intervals with breaks.

Use a variable-interval/variable-ratio reinforcement schedule. Stop when you’ve learned/done enough or are tired. Give yourself a little reward.

Optimize study environment and various learning methods for sustained focus. Keep it interesting!

Adjust caffeine intake and timing. Drink enough water.

Learning Techniques 🧠

🧐>

Since I have only studied Statistics and Economics until now, my biggest challenge is the numbers 💀 My biggest weakness. The only way out is to practice and practice more.

I think the theory part went pretty well. 

Unless the book is ‘poorly written’ or hard to understand, I don’t really need pretty notes. Scribbling the book and writing side notes work better for me. 

Flash cards for key concepts and terminologies.

I use the Feynman method and mindmaps to review my understanding of the information. I usually explain the concepts to the walls or my cats, lol.

I still need to make time for the practice tests.

💡>

Make card decks for Statistics and Economics equations.

Convert charts and diagrams into your own words.

Schedule a time for the practice tests.

╰⁠(⁠*⁠´⁠︶⁠`⁠*⁠)⁠╯

June 3, 2024, Monday

Day 17 of 100 Days of Productivity (contd.) 🪴

It’s been a really good day! Aced most of it considering it was my first day back at this.

Here’s what my day looked like:

Did an hour and a half of workout and yoga early in the morning

Ate morning health blessings - dates, walnuts, soaked peas, anjeer and almonds

Sat down and ranted with my roommate for an hour completely forgetting I have college to get to 😳

Walked to my first day of Paediatrics posting which by the way was absolutely fantastic

Finished college lectures for the day

Discussed my research project with my professor and mentor

Came back to my hostel room, took a half an our break and danced to old love songs 😋

Sat down to study Pharmacology and got up straight for dinner

Was super tired so called it a day early but I’m gonna wake up early the next day!

It’s only the first day which makes saying big things seem like throwing words around but it already feels so good.

Haven’t felt this satisfied with myself in a pretty long time. So hopefully I’ll keep this up and ace this year academically 🦦

P.S.: I am now officially the owner of a jade plant and a cactus. I’m so excited to take care of them! I’ll share the pictures next time 🌵