live | beat the exam blues

This post is addressed to all those amid a never-ending mound of revision right now. If you have some spare time right now and you are worrying about how you are not revising, don't be too hard on yourself, hopefully reading this will be of some benefit to you. It does not count as procrastination! Right now, I am sitting on Emily's bed with revision pending for my A levels too. But, I think it is important that we put some time aside for ourselves and our own hobbies in life, and especially during revision time when we can all get a little overwhelmed. This is my break! We thought we'd share with you some of the things we have discovered in our studying-lives - we hope you find them helpful!

OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION

INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY

"It always seems impossible until its done." Nelson Mandela

1. Be clear on what YOU want.

Ask yourself, 'what do I want from these exams, for me?' This is your own personal desires and not a soul else. Try to forget about others and think about what you want for your own self. A specific grade may spring to mind, but I'm talking about what you really want from it, for example, someone might be taking their a levels because they want to get the necessary qualifications for them to go to uni, because they want to go to uni. Emily wants to do her exams so she can feel a sense of accomplishment for finishing her course and moving on to the next stage of her life. 

2. Take what you want into your revision.

Take your own answers about what you want from 1. and remember them when you are revising. Every time you feel yourself yearning to do something else, think about what you want. This will propel you forward and make your revision more purposeful and fulfilling.

3. Get to the root of your procrastination.

If you find yourself procrastinating, be aware of what you are doing. What sort of activities/things/people are the source of your procrastination and drawing you away from work? If you know what things you want to do instead of revising, you can schedule them into your itinerary to be used as activities for downtime. The key to battle procrastination is to make your downtime count. Reward yourself during your free time with something that you have been denying yourself recently but really want to do - it will feel great, and you'll be ready to tackle revision afterwards.

4. Don't be too hard on yourself. 

Time spent frustrated at yourself for procrastinating is counterproductive and unnecessary. Found yourself doing no revision for the whole day and you have an exam in a few days? Who cares! You can always pick it up tomorrow. It's likely the reason you took the day off was because your body was in need of a refresh and it definitely does not mean you are lazy! Sometimes we need to relax, and in fact it is probably better if you listen to what your body is telling you to do - if it needs a break, it needs a break!

5. Pounce back into action after your rest day.

Always remember what you want from 1., and make your revision plans. Before a revision session, jot down a few pointers you want to achieve from this session. This will help guide your revision and pin down what you want to achieve. Remember, small steps are the way forward! No matter how close the exams are now, accept and embrace however much or however little you have done up until now, and move forward. Just keep going - little by little, your goals will become material and you will be able to have them!

RELAXING
CLEANSE A STRESSED MIND
"If you are depressed, you are living in the past, if you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." Lao Tzu

1. Take time off doing what you love.
See point 3. of beating procrastination above.

2. The power of the breath.

We recently took a Buddhist meditation class that taught us about different lengths of breaths used in meditation. We learnt from the leader of the class that the most cleansing/calming breath is the longest breath with a count of 1-9. Instead of breathing in and breathing out as you would in an ordinary breath, we were encouraged to take a deeper, more expansive breath, visualising the movement of air from the nose to the navel during inhalation, and vice versa on the exhalation, and counting from 1-9 during inhalation, and 9-1 during exhalation. Try this! You do not even have to take 10 minutes out to do some meditation, sometimes, closing your eyes and taking two deep breaths and following this counting system when you get stressed during revision is enough. Research has also supported this relaxation technique, in the 7/11 process - breathing in for 7 seconds and breathing out for eleven.

3. Yoga hits the spot.
Emily and I have just discovered 'Yoga with Adriene' (click to go straight through to her channel) on YouTube and she is amazing! Her videos are targeted yoga workouts for all different kinds of things you might be in need of. She has restorative practices, relaxation practices, flow, detox etc. Give her a try, we love to do yoga during our revision breaks.

GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE

• Make a massive plan, stick it up somewhere obvious and follow it.

• If you end up not following it, you probably do not like this plan. Make a new one and stick to this one!

• If you get distracted easily by other things make your revision huge so it obscures your vision of other objects and potential causes of distraction.

• Give your iPad, phone, iPod and every electrical device you are not using for revision to your sister.

• Breathe in fresh air, take time for exercise, drink plenty of water and eat well (as always) - but don't deny yourself a treat once in a while on the food front (we all get this).

• Visualise lots of different circumstances - imagine being in a really positive mood on the day of your exam and positively reacting towards any challenges the day might bring. Visualise your success story as much as you can.

• Listening to quiet music while revising for me is quite beneficial when I am stressed about the other subjects I should be revising for. I think it is a kind of way of preoccupying the stressed out part of my mind and allowing more room for me to focus on the revision.

• Take on one thing at a time. Put all your energy into each revision session as you do it. Try not to think of other topics/subjects - there will be time for them, but for now you are studying this.

• Make a really really really really concise plan/map of the whole subject a few days before the exam so you can cement in your mind how the whole subject connects and interweaves together.

• Before the exam, accept what you have done and trust yourself - you've got this! At the end of the day, your BELIEF is key, and what will set yourself apart from others.