There are two types of studiers: those who best study without noise and those who study best with it. While music is a standard go-to for background noise, it can be a distraction if you have lyrical music or you're not content with any of the songs playing. To alleviate such problems, I recommend MyNoise, which is more than your everyday noise generator. MyNoise has an expansive collection of sound generators, all of which can be customized to suit your needs. Besides having a lot of sounds, they also have very unique ones available, like "RPG Dark Forest" and "Tibetan Monks." My favorite ones are "Tropical Rain" and "Sailboat" and I like using the sites super generator to put them on one window and layer the sounds together. There's a lot of sounds and options on MyNoise that are definitely worth checking out if you need an alternative to music or just want something to drown out surrounding noise.

If you think the way you're currently studying could be improved or you flat-out don't know how to study something, the Study Guides & Strategies site might be of interest to you. This site provides helpful guides for tackling whatever subject you have on your plate. Besides studying, it also provides other educational guides, such as how to compose a persuasive essay or solving for linear equations. ESL studiers needn't despair either as the site also provides their resources in 38 different languages!

For subjects that rely mostly on terms and definitions, I've personally found that flash cards work best  when studying for exams and quizzes. I used to write all out all the terms on 3x5 cards, one by one, then flip through them to study, but after the list of terms gets so long, writing them out by hand can get a little taxing. Luckily, I've found Quizlet to be a really great electronic substitute for paper flash cards. Easy to use and just as portable as a stack of cards with their mobile app, Quizlet also provides quizzes and games using your digital cards to help better implement the material. Flash cards can be easily shared, too, using e-mails or links, like this link to a kanji/hiragana set to help me study for a quiz tomorrow. 

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, our needs can be generalized into several distinct categories and visualized as a pyramid with the most important and motivating needs at the bottom. Of course, our motivations may not exactly occur how Maslow theorizes it. Biological needs may not always win over other types of needs, though. This could be illustrated by starving artists who may prioritize buying expensive, but necessary art supplies over buying food, a basic necessity. Another example would be students who prioritize their need to accomplish in an exam over their need for rest. Despite these exceptions, in the end, our basic physiological and biological needs usually win out over the psychological, social, and self-fulfilling ones. 

From a personal perspective, our psych unit on motivation could not have been more timelier than this. Having contracted the flu over the weekend, I can see how my basic biological need for rest and recovery was an overpowering motivator over my cognitive need to work on school things. However, it is also worth noting that on top of exploring innate motivators, our psych professed added that "Even though it's 'normal,' it doesn't mean it's right." With that mindset, it's probably not best to tout some needs as an excuse to not do what you're supposed to. After all, excuses are like armpits; everybody has them and they all stink. :P

Being consistent in my blog has been… difficult. Well, to be completely honest, being consistent in anything has always been a weak point for me. I figure this is mostly due to inconsistent personal motivation, as well as a reliance on this motivation to kickstart my actual work. Whether it's school or a personal project, my motivation to keep working on a project has a tendency to dwindle and, in its place, honest-to-goodness laziness tends to keep me at a standstill. Thus, perhaps it's time for me to start relying on something more stable than personal motivation.

It's incredibly easy to fall into a certain cycle of routine, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Setting goals, applying it to a schedule, and making that goal-achievement routine could prove incredibly beneficial in the long run. From elementary to secondary school, I got into the habit of working on my school through goal-setting. Each day, I'd have a set number of pages to do for each of my subjects and in retrospect, I accomplished more with that work ethic. When college rolled around... well, that work ethic practically disappeared. :'D With all that being said, I will attempt to stick to a posting schedule for this blog from this point forward. I'm going to try to regularly posting on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and maybe Fridays. Wish me luck! ^^