1. The staff seem so friendly. Honestly, the lecturers seem so welcoming and lovely, and like they are there to educate, not because they have to lecture so they can do their research. Yes, if you’re being cynical, they may have been putting it on to sell the place, but let's be positive here, ok! This is a positive, glass half full space haha! 
2. The course is ideal. I. Can. Do. The. Ancient. Egyptians. Do you know how hard it is to find a course with modules on Ancient Egypt, that isn Egyptology at UCL? Really hard. Other ancient history departments are mainly Greeks and Romans, so this is was such a fantastic discovery. Plus they have modules on the history of medicine (hehe) and this joint honours is about as much history I can do, ANYWHERE, in one degree!!!! Oh and it does help that quite a few modules are 100% coursework (exams and me don’t mix), as well as the fact that there are only 3 compulsory modules over the three years (two in year 1, and the third is your dissertation!). Hurrah for shaping you degree to the max 😄
3. They have so many societies that I am interested in. There is advanced Ballet, Latin and Ballroom (to get my strictly on!!), Costume Making, Harry Potter & Dr Who (and possibly Sherlock- basically I’m giving in to my inner geek) AND a non-drinking society (I have found my people!!). As you guys know, I have been freaking out about being a non-drinker at university, and the discovery of Are You Not Drinking Much (which fyi has a sister society at Reading) basically sold Kent to me, if nothing else. Hurrah!!
4. The city is fabulous. I would describe it as the York of the South. It is the right size for someone transferring from a small town, who's not used to massive cities; close to London; has good shops etc; and obviously Canterbury Cathedral (free entrance to students, hurrah!), who's library you can visit as part of some medieval modules, to look at their old books ☺️
5. The library is fab. Yes, I judge Universities on their libraries, but it is important that, as I’m doing history, it has sufficient books and study space. They’ve recently done it up, and I can’t wait to study there. I mean, TBH, I preferred York’s library, but no Ancient History there so what am I supposed to do?!

I don't know about you, but procrastination is a bit of a problem in my life. I'll get to four in the afternoon and realise that I have spent hours upon hours scrolling through Instagram instead of doing work, leading to another late night catching up.

Now, not to make excuses, but, according to Gretchen Rubin, I am an Obliger - meaning that I need other people holding me accountable for me to get things done. It's probably a mix of this, and finding more interesting things to do, that have got me in this last-minute work ethic to be honest. I am so easily distracted that even remembering that my course is costing me £9,250 per year is not enough to get me to drop YouTube and start working! I mean, going cold turkey for Lent the last two years hasn't helped me ditch the habit either!

This being said, there are some great tools that I have been using during my degree which have helped me.

Therefore, today I am sharing my top free (!) anti-distraction apps with you all, plus a few extra tips, to help you study more productively this coming term.

Self Control

If you just need to stop yourself accessing the web for a set amount of time, with no way back in, this is the app for you. With a couple of clicks, you can set the amount of time you don't want to be able to access certain websites for, and once you start there is no way you can access those websites until the time is up. No matter if you restart the app, or even your computer, this app will stop you accessing your Instagram feed, but you can still double check a fact on Google as you write your assignment.

Stay Focussed (free version)

[Note: There is a Google Chrome extension for this, but I haven't used it so can't comment on it. I also don't know if there is a version for iOS. What I can comment on is the free Android version 😇]

I love Stay Focussed.

This app completely blocks any app of your choice, but will also block apps after you have used them for a certain amount of time, and during certain periods of the day. This will stop the endless scrolling if, like me, you have no understanding of time and can binge YouTube for hours, thinking that you've only been on it for 10 minutes (please say it's not just me).

Unfortunately, there is the option to pause it, and I have been caught out multiple times when I haven't unpaused it and go back to old habits. I should probably get round to setting a password up to stop this being so easy...

Other Fun Tips

A great tool I have downloaded is Quiet Facebook (I'm pretty certain this is it but don't come for me if you get a virus instead). This is a plugin for Safari which blocks your Facebook feed, meaning you can access it for messenger, but won't get caught in a mindless scroll. There is a similar plugin for Chrome, which gives you a motivational quote instead for your feed 😇

My other piece of advice for reducing your social media use is to spring clean. I mentioned this on my InstaStory the other day and honestly, the amount of social profiles I have either never seen or don't care about is ridiculous. In 20-30 mins, I got rid of around 500 profiles! I'm doing a similar thing for YouTube, in that if someone comes up on my feed and I can't remember the last time I watched them, I unsubscribe. I used to feel really guilty about this, but people's number's fluctuate all the time and they don't get notified if you unsubscribe, so they won't come after you, don't worry 😊 This means, you reduce the amount of content you are seeing and also the amount of time you mindlessly scroll through stuff you don't care about to get to something you do!



Let's be honest though: the best (and simplest) thing you can do when you really need to work, is turn off your phone and put it in another room!



What is the best thing you do to beat procrastination?

June xx



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This is the second instalment in my University Application Diaries, where I share the thoughts and experiences I had in the run up to starting University in September 2016. In this 'episode', I went to York University's Applicant Day, and learnt that non-stereotypical student types like me are more common than you'd think!

[Note: Extra comments I've made since writing are like this. 'X' refers to the University I actually attend, which I keep private]

17/01/2016

• I still love it there
• The library’s fab
• Shy, non partying types of people like myself do exist and are easily found (what were the chances of finding people like myself so easily - I only spoke to Laura !?!?!! As my Dad said, 100% success rate haha) 
• Witchcraft is a fascinating topic, put me down to take it as a module [I've since written an essay on Witchcraft - it is a FASCINATING topic, would recommend!]
• Still want to do ‘Languages For All’! Cause I apparently want to learn German despite being terrible at trying to learn French haha
• Bit annoyed they don’t do much to help find housing in second and third year. Ah well they seem to have lots of housing fairs etc so should be ok (touch wood)
• I need to find out where they bought the cake for us from! The lemon cake was sooooooooo good mmmmmmm. 

Now I don't know about you, but I'm not normally a New Year's Resolutions sort of gal. The negativity that surrounds them, in that few succeed, is hardly the most motivating thing in the world for starters, and then I don't know what I want to change when I do want to make one.

However, this year, as I set up my diary for the year ahead, I had a brain wave. A new way to do resolutions in a way that (hopefully) suits me. I'm calling it:

Mini-resolutions. 

Because, honestly, just saying: "I want to loose weight" gets you no-where. If you have never eaten healthily or done a lot of exercise before now, it's a huge change to attempt to make over night, and a massive shock to your body. It's also not very specific. Ignoring the lack of a numerical amount you want to loose, where's the how?

This, I think, highlights two of the main issues with resolutions - they are often too big, and ignore the how.

This is where my 'system' steps in. 

It's a project in development, granted, and if I do a follow up post at the end of the year, I'm sure it will have changed, but this is what we're starting with:

It will also look prettier once I get a better diary, instead of using a notebook I found from 2008...

Well, to start things off, you need to break down what you want to do into 12 steps. In my case, there is no over arching goal, but mini-things I want to change. I haven't even thought of them all yet, so I've allowed space for sparks of inspiration later in the year.

Then dedicate each goal or habit to a month. If you are aiming for an overall end goal, then start with the smallest in January and work your way up. If you have a varied list of changes you want to make, then choose and easier goal or what you are most looking forward to doing for January. If you can complete January, it will set you up in a more positive mindset for the rest of the year.

Next to each change, write how you are going to achieve each goal. Be as specific as you can, and be sure to write a detailed explanation, such as the steps of a new morning routine, on a separate piece of paper to put up near to where the new habit will be carried out, to act as a reminder. The more specific, the less thinking required when it comes to doing it - who hasn't done something because they're not 100% sure what they're doing so spend all their time thinking about a task instead of doing it.

Finally, create a tracker for the initial length of time you are doing the task, before you add the next one. This will allow you to keep track of your new habit, by ticking off even day that you complete.


It takes on average 66 days to form a habit. By giving you a month to slowly build up new habits and changes, you should have acclimatised to one habit enough by the end of a month to allow a new one to be added. Go for 66 days before adding the next habit if you wish, but I am very impatient so this should stop me from getting bored...

This method also paces yourself. Like I just said, I am very impatient and could go all guns blazing into this, changing up my hand washing, drinking gallons of water, and stretching before bed all in one day, but that's a lot of change to implement each day if it's all new, meaning it is more likely to end up in failure - hopefully this method will stop this from happening.



I hope this New Year's Resolution method will help you stick to any changes you are making to your life in 2019. Do share photos of your trackers with me on instagram (@rougebyjunekonrad) using the hashtag #miniresolutions and keep me updated on your progress - GOOD LUCK!


What New Year's Resolution(s) are you making this year?

June xx


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