New year, new me?

Hey everyone, I’m baaack!

I know what you’re all thinking… “Let’s see how long she manages this time!”  

Now I know many, many people set new years resolutions for themselves every year and don’t succeed for whatever reason, giving up after years of failed attempts to even bother – indulging in that take away on Jan 2nd, tossing aside their gym pass after the first week, cheekily buying cigarettes instead of more patches or giving up on that language class having had invested in books etc… I think a lot of people don’t think deeply enough about their intentions, wanting to achieve something takes work and far too often we shy away from effort on our parts.

Over the past few years, around this time of year, I find myself looking back on the previous year and mulling things over, recalling, reflecting, reminiscing and most importantly, evaluating.  This year I’ve been struggling to come up with something, I know I’m not perfect, far from it in fact but that’s a different story. I found myself looking back on the previous years for inspiration…

Last year I remember having two key goals and another as an after thought – so in order of importance:

1. Get a job – at the time I was interning at a charity.
2. Lose weight – I’d put on a fair amount of weight due to medical issues.
3. Possibly, maybe read more, perhaps.  – I’d been meaning to delve back into books for a long time.

Happy to say to some degree I managed them all. I’m happily employed in a graduate job – didn’t come easily but my hard work paid off. Feel as though, slowly but surely I’m working my way up the ranks there. Weight loss went really well for me in hindsight – mostly, this stemmed from watching what I ate. I won’t lie, it didn’t come without pain, bouts of having to test my self-control and multiple occasions of nearly giving up after seeing little or no progress. I’m proud to say that all in all, I managed to shed a (what I think is) rather impressive, 10kgs. I’m not done in that department, hoping to lose more this year, but that’s more of a maintenance task, which is now coming naturally to me anyway. Lastly, towards the end of the year I was very kindly gifted a kindle – you know who you are, thank you! As a consequence I find myself reading far more, especially whilst travelling back and forth from work, on average I get through a book a week which, although could be better, could be a lot worse too.

The year before I was at uni and I set myself the goal of attaining a 2:1, which considering the grades of my first two years, seemed rather bleak. After some serious struggles, sacrifices, hard work and HELLOVALOT of lot of hours in the library I somehow pulled off.

Anyway, back to the present, after thinking things over, I’ve decided that my goals for this year *drumroll please* aaaare:

• Go to the gym at least twice a week, preferably thrice weekly.
• Blog more regularly, aiming, at minimum, to make set monthly benchmark.
• Get promoted at work by the end of summer.

Let me elaborate…

With regards to gym, I’m one of those people who go frequently for a month or two then end up taking a long break of another few months before starting again. Of course, not before promising myself that I won’t let it happen again, and that I’ll be more dedicated this time round. So I’m scheduling in one gym session on Tuesdays after work and another on Saturday mornings… I figure that along with watching my food intake this will supplement the rest of my weight loss well. I’ve found that the more weight I lose the harder it is to lose it – and scientifically this makes sense. The larger you are, the more calories you need to go about your daily life, so the more you lose, the harder you have to try…

Number 2 – blogging. I think initially when I set this up it was probably a distraction from degree but the more I think about it, I definitely need some kind of regular creative outlet. I also want to write more, I used to love writing when I was younger but that passion has over the years disappeared, so, I will aim to get a blog post up towards the beginning of every month. Unlike No 1, this one you will definitely see the proof, or even lack of it, right here!

The last one is more of a professional one, which, I know is within my grasp should all things go well in the near future – I just need to make sure I’m consistently outputting a high standard of work.

So, that’s me folks. I’d love to know, about you, do you set yourself goals at this time of year? What are your new year’s resolutions?

Wish me luck!

-K

Exams, revision and self-development.

YO HOMIES!

[I swear London brings out my inner ghetto child]

It’s been a while since I last posted and to be honest although I don’t have a solid ‘excuse,’ if you will I’ve keeping myself occupied. I’m making a conscious decision however to make an effort from now. I wanna stick at it. In fact, I’m gonna stick at it. I just need a bit of prodding and inspiration from time to time...

As most of you know, it’s that dreaded exam season again. It seems to arrive sooner with every passing year and the symptoms are EVERYWHERE. Stressed moaning students, the various people temporarily deactivating their Facebook accounts, libraries suddenly packed to the brim, procrastination in all shapes and forms and of course, a rise in the sale of red bull and such energy drinks! =P Personally, I am beginning to feel the pressure! Being in my final year of my degree it feels like I’m coming to an end of an era, AND I AM ABSOLUTELY BRICKING IT. Over the years I’ve developed an off switch somewhere in my brain so I am able to block things out completely which is quite handy. I’m already finding myself uttering the three words which students akin can relate to: “after my exams,” which is basically the line we all use to put off ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you could possibly think of. The rest of the year, these words equate to the word lazy, but for this short period of time it transforms into a respectable nod of approval.

Revision is an interesting area of discussion. I myself, tend to get particularly ambitious and want to cover EVERYTHING and take notes (i.e. copy practically everything down with colourful pens.) Hell, half the time my notes are longer than the page in a book ‘cause my handwriting is so big and I combine sources and add in extra explanations for myself! After spending a week studying at Queen Mary, however, I have discovered new techniques. Let me narrate a conversation I happened to overhear: “I know how to answer Q5 in the exam, do you understand Q2, teach me?!” Shocking that this is even possible! I mean, yeah, you can get an idea into how the exam will be laid out, even potentially topics that come up. But to know exactly what formulae to use for each subsection of every question and have template answers, really?! People are able to analyse the type and structure of the question in previous exams and derive a method to solve calculations without understanding anything at all. Risky and amusing, but in short time spans, I am assured that it has proven to be highly successful. There’s revising, there’s revising smartly and then there’s just taking the damn piss.

Everyone has their own learning style, you can find out yours by conducting a simple VAK test, check out Google, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of alternatives available. Results will vary from Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic to a combination of these. I happen to be a visual and kinaesthetic learner, so I learn by seeing and doing things as opposed to by hearing of things. Naturally, this means that I should read more, in particular colourful books with pictures (I just read that back and it makes me sound like a four year old) and put things into practise, doing and touching things (and that makes me sound like a baby exploring! – BRILLIANT =S). Anyway, it makes sense to utilise your strengths with your revision technique. Another revision tip I have is cutting the crap. Seriously, this is the time of the year you should be fuelling your body on good stuff, not the dentist’s worst nightmare! With your mental exertion at it’s peak, surely you want this is the time when you want the best inside you so your performance is optimum...

Exams and revision aside, this will be the final few months where student behaviour is acceptable, and frankly, I’m gonna miss all of the lie-ins, lack of routine, the flashing of my student card cheekily requesting student discount on everything and not having to answer to anyone, at all. On a more serious note, I’m sure that my learning has not come to an end and I still have much to gain from working. Self-development is one of those things in life, the more you put in, the more you gain. It’s always great to volunteer for things and consciously consider improving your skills base be it athletically, academically, technically, confidence levels, leadership, learning a new language, what ever tickles your fancy really. 

I'm constantly thinking of ways to better myself and to explore ways to self develop. I want to push myself and be the best person I can be. For example, I blog to work on my writing skills, I make cards to channel my creativity, I love to read and I'd like to think this makes me somewhat knowledgeable. I've also got targets for myself, like sometime in the next year I want to complete a 5K run and begin to learn a language.

A few of my friends have/will be taking gap years or travelling abroad to teach or for charitable work, (out comes the green eyed monster – for those who aren’t fans of Shakespeare I’m referring to jealousy/envy) and I see them developing despite not being in education. There is so much out there to learn in this world, TV and the internet can only offer so much. I recommend taking some time out to pursue a hobby or something; I came across this quote last night: What we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are. I think it touches on this area. GO OUT THERE AND GRAB LIFE. If you want to be a musician, go and do it. If you want to go swim with dolphins, go do it. If you want to climb a mountain, go do it. If you want to write a best seller, (you know what’s coming!) GO DO IT! Or as Nike would say, just do it! You’re the only one stopping yourself! Sometimes, I seriously think I’m my own worst enemy sometime in terms of progressing and I’m sure some of you share this view. It’s a tonnes easier just to laze around and take things for granted, easier to watch a film than to read a book, easier give up your dreams than to go out there and fight for them. Where does all our childhood ambition go?! Go out there and take some risks! Do things a bit different, shake up the routine a bit!

Also, you must understand it doesn’t mean because you have some grades you have what you need in life. Quite often after all the struggle people still feel as though there is something missing, perhaps just something depriving them of fulfilment. I’m not trying to devalue education, you must understand education is a stepping stone for big things. You have so much potential. I believe every single person has the capability to do something unique and special, I think you all have a world record within you that is waiting to be unleashed so explore... Let me end by saying: study hard, use your strengths to your advantage, eat well and remember it’s not all about the academics. There’s more to life than books, grades and jobs. =]

-K

P.S. Couple of little things. Show your support by joining the Kay’s Take fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kays-Take/189308221115770. Feel free to post suggestions for future topics and ask questions. And if you’re a fan of my cards and crafts, join the Kay’s Krafts fan page on Facebook also: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Kays-Krafts/158470380884257.

THANKS EVER SO MUCH!! =]