Reflections and Images

NOTE: Do not take this advice word for word. Everyone's study methods are unique. The advice I mention here might not suit you. Nevertheless, try it out to see if it works very well! I have to admit, my worst grades over the course of my short life wasn't recently, but in 6th grade. 6th grade was a lot easier than high school, yet I had more A-s than now. Some of you may have had a similar experience with me, while others have the total opposite trend. I believe the reason why I gradually had better grades over time is that I evolved my study habits. Cal Newport, a Dartmouth alumnus, captures this idea by saying in his book, "Study like Darwin." Studying requires adaptation and isn't the same as before. It is an iterative cycle that requires reflection, analysis, and refining it. I have to admit, I still struggle in a few classes like AP literature. * For those that are having a hard time, don't worry. A common studying technique I hear among students is c...

It has been around 3 weeks since I started the digital minimalism experiment. I wouldn't say I am a serious digital minimalist because I have to admit I sometimes use the internet to search up things that aren't my top priority. Some are important, but not as of the present moment. I will break down what I learned from not being on some websites I used to be on quite often. I hope my experience will help you consider what you can do to change your relationship with technology. 1. Blogs Before: I used to read my favorite blog, MIT Admissions blogs, on the weekends, but then it gradually became something on a daily basis if there was a new blog. Even if it has provided me with a lot of information about MIT student life and culture and quite a few chuckles, I think reading it was kind of unhealthy because I became obsessed with one particular college. I probably spent more time on this than YouTube. After: I learned that missing out isn't necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed...

I have been listening to TED Radio Hour during the weekends on the car or on the way to the track, and I can't tell you how it has made my life more enriching. I start my day by listening to creative solutions to societal issues that I never considered before. Before, I hated going on the car because I would try to read a book or look at flashcards but it wasn't good for my eyes. Listening to podcasts was never a consideration until I decided to switch up my Spotify choices. A recent one that I enjoyed was about nudging and how tiny actions result in big consequences, such as how bad habits form. I was able to relate a lot to the issues about cravings and desires, such as eating a lot of food. The psychiatrist's suggestion was to be curious about what you experience during that moment and think of what you feel, smell, taste, etc. I have to admit, when I eat pastries or chocolate (which is a daily habit now), I don't really take a step back and pay attention to my bod...

I know that my posts can be quite trivial and irrelevant because I post on a consistent basis, but I like to post blogs not for the views, but to reflect on my life and my journey of self-improvement. Yes, I doubt that people actually  care about my tiny snack problems and that is okay. Of course, that is not to dismiss viewers that enjoy my blogs (which I hope). Blogging is more like a medium to talk to myself or to an invisible person on the internet. Remember the previous post where I was pretty fed up with my cravings for snacks? Since I was tired of it, I tried to not eat them for a day and see how things went. During the morning, it was a struggle. I would whine about how hungry I was in my head. I ate apples instead of Pocky sticks. I wouldn't say that apples taste better than Pocky sticks but at least I wouldn't be in the trap of making myself guilty. I guess I felt like I had more freedom and liberated from these monsters (okay, monster may be a hyperbole). It wasn...

I stepped on the scale right after vacation, and I was a bit concerned because I gained weight. Ok, maybe I ate so much food from vacation that I gained 2 kilograms, but it was something I shouldn't ignore. This is a habit I see myself doing. I see a yummy snack in the pantry, which is usually chocolate. Something inside of me gets triggered (no, not being mad triggered). I have a cue that tells me to enter a routine, which is indulging on sweets. The reward I get recently is the satisfying long time it takes to eat a single Pocky stick by slowly nibbling off the chocolate (which you may find relatable or strange). Despite tracking what I eat, it seems that nothing works, even if I exercise every day. I think I still eat snacks because of the any benefit logical fallacy, which is you try to find any tiny benefit to justify this action, even if the negative sides outweigh the benefits. This term was originally coined by Cal Newport regarding social media, but I think I can apply i...

I am sorry, readers, but some things aren't working out when I came back home. After skimming some parts of Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit, he mentions a really important part of habit. When you go back to your old environment where you fostered this old habit, which is usually bad, you might go back to this old habit. I am back home and not completely the same in a good way. I no longer feel the urge to sneakily use other computers to read blogs or check my email an extra time. I don't have the compulsion to check the news. But still, I can be distracted.   When I did this in the hotel room, I had little distractions. Well, the main reason is because I didn't need a computer except for blogging. It was either finish a book or do nothing. Because I was on vacation, I didn't need to do any academic work on the computer. Now, I have to use the computer for work and school. The small urges to search up this thing, can end up sucking up some time. Although it may r...

Ever since we are little, we are told to never give up, no matter how hard it may seem. However, there are be exceptions. Recently, I have felt unmotivated when I was practicing for the AMC 10, a math competition that most participate in. For quite a while, I didn't exactly enjoy math because I got most questions wrong. Then, I would get mad myself and over time, my self confidence was worse than before. However, I still persevered and practiced for the AMC. It was like banging my head against the wall over and over again. Ok, I did improve compared to last year, but I was nowhere close to achieving the next round. Why? I was confused if quitting was a bad thing, especially because I heard a lot of times that quitters never win. I needed time for reflection. In fact, I should have re-evaluated myself a long time ago. I read Barking Up the Wrong Tree during Thanksgiving break both for fun and to learn something, but I didn't sit down for an hour and ask myself these questions...