Bullet Journal #2

Hey,

As promised yesterday I am going to give you an update on my bullet journal experiment today. Check out this post if you want to learn more about this experiment.

In the last post I just touched on what I was going to be doing with the bullet journal and a few of the things that I was liking about it. Today I am going to be talking about the weekly layout and why I find it has helped me.

For the last two weeks I have created a two page spread that contains room for do-to lists and events for each day, as well as study tracking, blog tracking, notes and goals. In the next few days I will be uploading some pictures onto a page of the blog.

Layout

I found that this layout works really well for me, especially since I am a very visual person. I find it helpful to be able to sort from the events and tasks for each day because this allows me to break up my day and plan ahead, and there is enough room for me to add some quotes, pictures and colour.

Study Tracker

The study/blog trackers I also find really useful. My study tracker consists of a table of 9 colums and 9 rows, down the left side I write all my subjects, in the first colum I write if I have any assessment that week, and what day the assessment is on, and on the remaining 7 colums (one for each day of the week) I write a day of the week. When I spend time working on homework or studying for a subject I colour in the box for that subject on the day that I completed the task on. I find this helps me balance my time and ensure that I am spending equalish amounts of time on each subject.

Goals

I have 3 boxes for my goals in each weekly spread. I use the first box for a goal for that particular week and the other two boxes are for my long-term goals. This goal set-up helps me keep track of my aims and goals and is always there to remind me of what I have to remember to do.

That's all for today, but next Monday I will share some tips for making your bullet journal pretty and interesting. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this post and/or what you do in your bullet journal.

See you on Wednesday,

Read More

Unknown

Share Tweet Pin It +1

0 Comments

Bullet Journal Experiment #1

Hey there,

On Monday I decided that I was going to start a bullet journal. I really enjoyed looking at the ones I found on pinterest and I decided that it would be a great way to organise myself. 3 days later I have found a journal to use, a pen and started my index page as well as some other pages. For those of you who do not know below is a video that explains what a bullet journal is.

I've decided that I am going to make my bullet journal an experiment and publish weeklyish updates here. Each week I am going to give you a few tips that I have learnt and include some photos of my journal. Today I am going to share some tips for getting started.

1.Don't stress about it being neat and the order making sense- the index page means that you don't have to worry about keeping things in any order.

2.Experiment with different layouts and find the one that works for you. I am still finding the layout that works best for me and I'll let you know when I find it.

3. Use colour and pictures to make it more interesting. I am going to stick with 3 or 4 main colours to use for each page and add pictures instead of words to make my journal more exciting and, hopefully, make me want to use it more.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any tips for me to use in my bullet journal , or if you have a bullet journal.

Read More

Unknown

Share Tweet Pin It +1

0 Comments

Being more productive.

Hi there,
Once again, it's Poppy. I've got a pretty lengthy post for you today, so strap yourselves in. Today I wanted to share with you my thoughts on being more productive and some things that help me make the most of my time. (which I am really not the best at, so please leave some more tips in the comments below)

Everyone has the same number of hours in their day. It is what you choose to do with these 24 hours that makes the difference. You can choose to make the most of your hours and get heaps done and out of the way or you can sit around and do nothing. You still used 24 hours in that day, the same amount someone who went to school and finished 3 assignments. Being productive isn't easy and sometimes it isn't fun but it is rewarding. It saves you time and energy in the long run and can help reduce your stress levels.

After reading that paragraph I hope you have decided the being productive could be slightly useful and you want to give it a go, now I'm assuming that you would like to see some step by step instructions or 5 ways to be more productive. But unfortunately it isn't that simple. There are thousands of ways out there that claim to make you more productive and I haven't got any proof of how well they work. Instead I want to share a few things that help me be more productive. Understand that this might work for you, if you are similar to me, and may not if you aren't. If you want to find more ways, simply search ways to be more productive (I just did it and there were a lot of results).

1.Creating aims and deadlines.
I used to and still do really dislike setting goals at the beginning of each semester and generally mine are the same 'do better in PE' 'contribute to class discussions' as always. I know that goal setting is good but I can't seem to see the benefits for me. However, setting out aims of what I want to achieve in each day, or by a certain day is one super useful way I find to make me more productive. It gives me a clear list of what I need to do, and I can then sit down and work out how much time I'm going to give each thing and create a checklist of stuff to do for that day. Deadlines are also useful, telling myself I need to have my draft essay written by the 7th of September can help me break stuff down and not spend hours doing not-much.

2.Take breaks
This one has been scientifically proven. Taking a 5-minute break every half an hour can help make you more productive. As much as I like to think so I know I cannot stay focused on one task for an hour and a half. Usually I will give myself half an hour to work on something, take a five-minute break, then move on to something else and come back to that first task another time.


3.Don't put it off.
My final tip is to not put things off. It makes it 100x harder to get other stuff done and you will be distracted all day. If you do it straight away, you can be more focused and get more done.

Wow, that was a lot of typing. If you've read all the way down to here I really hope you have gotten something out of this post and it will help you to get more out of your 24 hours. Please let me know in the comments ways you find help make you more productive, also take a look at this video.

See you on Sunday

Read More

Unknown

Share Tweet Pin It +1

2 Comments

Books I've Loved Recently

I am so sorry that we haven’t posted in almost a week now, both Mop and I have been super busy with school work but everything is under control now and things are going to go back too normal.

During the last weekend I worked on updating our good reads account, which you can find here, and I decided that I haven’t shared any book ideas with you in a while, so that is what I am going to do today. These books are the ones I have read most recently.

The last leaves falling. This book is about a teenage boy, Sora who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, one that has taken away all his dreams for his future and even his hopes of finishing the school year. Desperate for someone to talk to him normally, Sora turns to an online messaging forum, where he can talk to others without them knowing about his illness. To his surprise Sora makes some friends who he trusts enough to invite over. Together with Mai and Kaito, Sora spends his last few months of his life as happy as he possibly can be.

The sisterhood of the travelling pants. This book follows four life-long friends (Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget) as they spend their first summer apart. On the eve of their separation the girls find some pants that magically seem to fit all four of them, despite their different body shapes, the girls agree to send the pants between them during the summer as a way of keeping in touch. The book alternates between the four girls and their summers. Following Carmen to her dad’s new house, Bridget to a soccer camp in Mexico, Lena to Greece to visit her grandparents and Tibby to the local shop for her summer job.

One. This book is about conjoined twins, Tibby and Grace. Since they were born Tibby and Grace have not known anything but being one, and they have never wanted to be separated. But one fateful day Grace begins to get very sick and there is only one way the doctors can save her life. The girls have to make what seems like an impossible choice, their lives changing forever no matter what they choose.

Hopefully you have found one of these books (at least) appeals to you. Let me know in the comments below what books you have been reading recently.

Read More

Unknown

Share Tweet Pin It +1

4 Comments

What should I make next?

Hi there everyone,

It's Poppy again! Today I thought that I might share some different art forms that I enjoy. Everyone has heard of some of these put others aren't so popular and maybe one will be your next favourite artwork!

1.Watercolour painting- who doesn't love watercolour paints? They are so easy to work with and you can create so many different shades and effects without having to buy a lot of paint. You could try doing a shillouette, drip painting or just a normal painting!

2.Scrapbooking- scrapbooking is great fun and a great way to document your travels. You can start scrapbooking with just  book, some paper, pens and glue but once you start you will probably need to get some fancier paper, stickers and other scrapbooking supplies. I love scrapbooking with my instant (polaroid) photos.

3. Photo doodling- this is an art form that isn't really that popular- but I love it. In a drawing class on creative bug I did at the beginning of the year (line drawing) I was introduced to this fun way to reinvent and add interest to photos. Basically you just draw lines, and circles around the main parts of the photo. But you can see the class for more information.

Let me know in the comments if you had a go of any of this, especially the photo drawing! I would love to see photos, you can email them to me at PoppyandMop@oulook.com.

Have a great day

PS. I would love to hear any questions you have for me to answer in a Q&A post coming up, email them to me or leave them in the comments.

Read More

Unknown

Share Tweet Pin It +1

1 Comments