How making my own plans can make me feel so productive

Evening everyone! Hope you're having a good week so far.

Just to prewarn you all that this is going to be one of these posts where I just type as I go along. Meaning, it's not scripted beforehand.

The main reason behind this post, (as the above title states) is because I've personally been feeling pleased with myself in terms of my productiveness lately. As a matter of fact, I felt like 2023 has been a brilliant year for me, (and its not often I'd say that about how each year has been for me either) as I've been productive with so many things this year. Let alone get myself involved with new work opportunities, which help towards my future career in the police force.

I know I STILL do have the capacity to lack at plan making due to me sometimes lacking motivation & productiveness. My mind simply likes to zone out wherever possible. Especially on a day where I know full well I'm not going to be doing anything. Hence my "Ugh days". But the 1 thing I've learned about trying to keep myself & my mind as productive as possible by coming up with a continuous flow of plans, (regardless of what they may be) is to look for things to keep myself occupied with.

Again, I feel so thankful to now be in a position where I can do a lot of things to keep myself occupied. Whereas it could be going out to work at my 2 current jobs, going out to do things related to my future job, going out for exercise, travelling, blogging or even just working on a research project on here prior to posting. Looking back at last year, I remember I had experienced so many of my iqouted "ugh days" that I felt like they were taking over my motivation & productivity to do anything. Although I will hold my hands up by brutally admitting that I let it happen. Purely because I was so adamant on not doing anything else besides my L3 BTEC course in Public Services, as I had fears about become distracted of I did.

Growth Mindset VS Fixed Mindset

Happy Sunday all! I hope you've all had a great week, wherever you are in the world. I've mainly been busy prioritizing my self-care throughout this week by not spending too much time on the internet, as spending too much time on the internet does genuinely kill my productiveness.

Anyway, as the title states, I shall be explaining what is a growth & a fixed mindset, as well as explaining the differences between them both. This was another one of those psychology studies which I have learned about back in my 1st year of my Public Services course at college, but had never gotten round to sharing it onto here. The fascinating aspect about this study, is that it can be used to analyse other people's minds. This can mostly be effective for when you are watching studying answer some questions in a classroom. The same method can also apply for when your mind is being studied by somebody else.

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is where you are always looking for ways to learn & grow. This is very commonly used when it comes to making a mistake. For example, when you see somebody being asked to work out a question on chemistry, and they get it wrong, they would want to know where they went wrong in order learn from that mistake.

What is a fixed mindset?

A fixed mindset is where you like to think you are perfect all of time by not making any mistakes. In fact, you try to avoid making mistakes all together for the sake of looking like a genius all of the time. For example, when you see somebody in a classroom copying somebody else's answers in chemistry, because they are too headstrong about making mistakes if they were to provide their own answers. The trouble is that person won't be able to learn how they got their answer in chemistry, as there are no mistakes to help them learn.

Here is the attached picture that shows the characteristics of the 2 contrasting mindsets. Although I may do a separate post on here fir another time, which involves discussing each of them in more detail.

*I began this post on the 29/10/23, but didn't finish it until the 31/10/23*

A little something for #WorldMentalHealthDay

Evening all, I hope you've been well doing whatever you've been doing today. This is especially because it is an important day. (In my opinion anyway)

As the title states, I want to share my say on World Mental Health Day with you all on here. This is because of 2 valid reasons. Firstly, I personally deal with anxiety from time-to-time, which can sometimes interfere with my daily life. Secondly, it is important for me to show my respect for this important world day, as I currently have 2 voluntary jobs with MIND & Samaritans.

As of today, as well as everyday, there are people all over the world who battle with their mental health. (Myself included)

They may act as though they are fine on the outside, but in reality, they could be feeling insecure in the inside. It can be very deceiving.

Also as of today, too many people are choosing to end their lives due to feeling alone with their mental health, or due to being let down repeatedly by the mental health system. I cannot even say the accurate amount of times I have seen this across social media & on the news... It's so depressing.

Now more than ever, please provide a open heart & mind to anyone everywhere. By doing so, you could may well save someone from choosing to end their own life.💚

WHY AM I SO INATTENTIVE?!

If you have been reading through, or still have been reading through my blog posts, you may have seen that I have been slacking on getting them finished on the same date I have started them. This is due to the fact that I now have so many things going on in my life now that simply takes away my free time to be blogging on here. 

As much as I do genuinely enjoy being busy, I also find it annoying that I am becoming too busy to be active on here doing what I love doing. Hence, I rarely have any time to be looking into what is happening in the world of psychology. Hence, my reason('s) for feeling so inattentive lately.

If I was to be honest with myself at this point, it would be that I have been feeling drained when I try to type on here. To add onto that statement, I feel like I have to put pressure on myself just to keep myself active on here, let alone come up with another post to publish.

It's not that I do not enjoy blogging anymore, or that I do not have a passion for psychology anymore, (because I still do) it's that I am now in the process of providing better future opportunities for myself. This had meant I want to put my focus onto doing that, rather than worry about trying to keep active on here all of the time.

So if you see that I am hardly active on here at the moment, or slacking to get anything published by taking as long as 5 days, you'll now know why. 

Academic VS Practical (My perspective)

This is something I've been curious about for ages now, but recently, I was looking into it more than ever, so I thought about using this post to summarise the differences of how these 2 ways of learning work. (Psychologically, of course!)

In case if anyone here is unaware of the differences of being academic & practical, they have the psychological capacity of showing how oneself can learn. If oneself is academic, that means they learn by doing written examinations. Whereas, if oneself is practical, that means they learn by doing hands-on tasks. 

Luckily for me, I personally am both of those things. This means I'll have an equal say of how being academic & practical works in full effect.

Academic: The first sign of realizing you are academic is having a keen interest in writing. Although, having a keen interest in numeracy can also count as playing a role in showing signs in early academic development as well. The more good you become at doing these subjects, the more your mind becomes actively keen to further investigate the many ways of how you can make a difference to the world, as you utilise your developmental academic skills into perfect form, so it helps you to aim high as the sky in life. I mean, doing a lot of research can certainly encourage people to become academics, as doing research helps you to gain knowledge about anything at all. Or alternatively, if you're more into reading, then that too can count as inhaling knowledge to the world.

Practical: The first sign of realizing you are practical is having a keen interest in doing things with your hands. When I say that, I could be referring to building models out of Lego or trying to fix random objects. Unlike being an academic here, being a practical shows that you are eager to fit into the practical working industry. Relating to being an academic here, you can utilise your developmental practical skills to aim high as the sky in life. I'd say the most beneficial aspect about being practical is having the capacity to finding the best problem solving solutions, when needed.

Can they work well together?

Coming from me, yes they can! Although, it actually really does have a dependency on what carer path you are looking towards. There are some which are lucky enough to require both traits, but there are some which require being good one or the other.

Conclusion: It is honestly not a bad thing to be just academic or practical. Even both combined for that matter, as long as you require one of these aspects which makes you happy to do whatever it is that you do in life, then that's a match made in heaven. In all of what I've discussed, the one thing I had found fascinating was the fact that there are colleges/universities out there with either just academic or practical courses or both combined, so I'm glad that they are taking these learning traits into consideration.

However, please do bare in mind that this is how I tend to vision the 2 learning traits as an individual with its own view on something, so do not be criticisable by saying that I've got no right to judge the 2 without proving that I am right. When doing a perspective view about something, there is no right or wrong answer in any shape of form, as different people have their own right to share their own perspectives about how they vision something. 

It's perfectly human to have an "Ugh" day

Evening everyone, as of now, I'm glad to say that I'm currently on half-term. This means I'll have more free time on my hands to invest in my blogging again. Not only that, but all my coursework is done and up to date.

Here's to a well earned week off!

On a slight downer, though, I haven't felt like doing anything today. It's one of those days where I lack motivation to produce productivity. I like to call these particular days: "Ugh days"

The way how I see myself experiencing one of these specially named days, is where my mind tells me that its lacking thought power, otherwise known as motivation, so it goes into recharging mode.

During recharging mode, my mind paces up and down, as if it was an alive human being walking about inside my head. If any of you reading know how to relate to this, then you can obviously understand how frustrating it can be to feel like your mind doesn't want to work with your motivation right now. 

Realistically, the reality of the recharging process is me just trying to keep myself sane from going insane. If that makes sense? I say this, as it could be worse when you could inevitably be stuck with a dead battery for days.

To peice everything together here, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an "Ugh" day. We humans have to experience it sometime in life.

If anything, it shows that your mind needs to recharge for a stronger function. To put it another way, it recharges for you (as a character) to keep on playing in the real world video game.

Does living in your thoughts help you escape reality?

A fairly quick, but interesting post tonight.

As the Rhetorical Questionized title says, I've pretty much more or less spent today 'Living in my thoughts'.

Only because today was a purposely nothing day, so I thought thinking would help me to keep my sanity.

Don't take the above sentence the wrong way, as just casually thinking can very easily turn into overthinking. If you can relate to the stresses of overthinking, then you can understand my point of view.

To justify my unexplained reason in the 3rd paragraph, I felt like thinking about my good times in the past. This helps me to take a momentarily break from my present reality, as I think about my successful moments that were worth applauding for. I like to use moments like these as self motivation fuel.

Furthermore, I utilise that break from reality, in order to stop any negative thoughts come into my head, and potentially, waste my day feeling worried about silly scenarios which will never happen.

*A pictured definition of what my mind was like today*

One thing you all need to bare in mind is, your mind is like a magnet, in which, it has the capacity to play tricks on you. 

Best feed it with success and positively, regardless of how you want to take a mental break from reality.👍🏻👍🏻

Boredom...

As of writing this, I'm currently chilling in my 4 walls of privacy, (my bedroom) whilst I'm watching old Coronation Street. This is just one way of killing my boredom time, as I had nothing to do today. 

However, I am still a busy bod at College at the moment, as per usual! Trying to complete all my work before I break up for the festive period really is hard work. If those of you reading know, you know!😂

And if I'm not active on internet world when chilling at home, I could be rolling around on my bed, thinking about a hundred or so more things at random. Yes, my mind has the capacity of thinking of absolutely ANYTHING at one time. Looking on the bright side of that statement, I could be thinking about doing something productive. For instance, writing out new ideas for my blog.

On a not so funny side, boredom can slowly eat you away if overthink, so always be careful with what you think about.

To sum up my conclusion, boredom tells my mind to do silly things, as they're all ways of trying to occupy my time with nothing currently on my radar.

What do any of you out there do during your boredom time?

 

 

There is always a light at the end of every tunnel

Just a quick one for today.

For all of you out there struggling with life right now, be sure to read this...

If you suddenly fall into a hole of Anxiety or Depression... and you feel like you can't find a way to escape it. Keep a special message in mind... as this is what I like to think when I have a down moment.

There will ALWAYS be a light at the end of every tunnel, regardless of what your struggle is. Struggles are a part of learning in life, but NEVER take struggling for granted, meaning it's never around to permanently stay.

If anything, you can use your struggles to help you learn to improve on yourself. Trust me, I guarantee you will feel so much better once you embrace the struggle!😁

Why is #Anxiety linked with #MentalHealth?

Disclaimer: This will be a follow-up post, in relations to my previous special post. See here: Just a little something for #WorldMentalHealthDay 

Hello and Happy Friyay! Yes, I've been in a great mood this week and I've hope you all been the same way too throughout this week. 

As of such, I've been wanting to talk about for awhile (until it was actually the most convenient time to talk about it. I'll explain in a bit) why Anxiety is linked to Mental Health.

From where I stand, I see this topic of discussion somewhat personal to me, as I suffer from Anxiety time-to-time, hence my reasons for a lengthily break. However, as I'm sure you all know by now, talking to an audience by writing/typing really helps me to feel better about myself, as well as taking a huge weight off my chest. 

Whenever it DOES happen, I start to think about the worst case scenario('s) in regards to what's going to happen? Or will it even get better? In shorter terms, all of the mentioned can be referred to as 'Overthinking'

Reason and being the most foremost as to why it links with Mental Health, is because you will be thinking of too many things at one time, (basic definition of overthinking) causing your mind to overload and therefore not being able to cope with anything for a short period of time, as your potentially putting yourself off your own focus.

Well, I say a short period of time, as it never lasts forever, but in reality, it all really depends on how long YOU go through it all.

The best advice for trying to avoid your Anxiety by overthinking too much, is to take everyday as it comes. Do everything one step at a time, so your mind will be able to adapt to the one priority you intend to prioritize first, in order for you to succeed at trying to accomplish something. My biggest example of this would be coursework. With that said, I'm sure many of you can relate to that too.

Furthermore, keeping with the "Do everything one step at a time" strategy will make life a hell of a lot easier for you when you try to get any work done, as well as making you feel good about yourself when you acknowledge that's the strategy to success.

I hope I've taught you all something, by gaining a more in dept understanding of why that link is strongly paired between the two factors. 

Bottom note: Research definitely helps to gain more knowledge.

Thank you for reading, please do feel free to notify me and I hope to publish again soon!  

Why does social media influence people into the way they are?

Hello my fellow readers, hope you're all enjoying your weekends so far. As for me, I've been a tad busy recently, due to me starting back at college again, so I'm currently keeping myself prioritized with upcoming coursework.

However, this week, I've been writing down ideas on what my next post should be about, then I thought about making some kind of follow-up post from my previous one about social media. 

Link here: The psychology behind social media

What I've found on the internet:

Just last night, I've done some research on how can sociology can play a part in social media influencing, (I'll discuss about that in the next subheading) and one of the key factor which plays a huge role is something called: "Gaining empathy from one-another"

This is now very much commonly used by people on their socials, (namely Instagram) to attract likes and comments by their friends, as this is their own way of showing they require attention from their friends or close friends, (if necessary) in the EXACT moment that publish has been created on their social media. Here's the link to my research source: Mirroring

How can sociology be used within social media influences?:

For those of you who are not familiar with the term 'Sociology' it is another one of those scientific human behavioural studies, which mainly focuses on how humans typically behave in social situations around us. A prime example of this would be, how do we typically behave around our families and why do we behave the way we do around them. You could otherwise say, this all comes under the overall psychology umbrella. If you know what I mean.

What I'm seeing a lot on Instagram nowadays, and I'm not just aiming at friends/family either, is people never intending to post anything, yet they still have the intention of posting eventually on there, but this is to just simply gain lots of likes and comments from them, especially their close friends, as they will always be the ones who will support those individuals from day 1 - until the very end.

Let's say, you live in a family of people who have Instagram, but never actually post anything on there, unless it's a special moment in their lifetime, in which, it could be birthdays, in memory of someone or even a major celebration etc.

If your only posts were to be about the above listed things, therefore, you'll be hoping to get as many likes and comments from nearly everyone who follows you on there, meaning, they say lovely things to you, or even just use emojis as a substitute. (Depending on if you're a lover of them or not, as not everyone like the idea of using emojis in their communication)

To flip this point the other way round, if you see a friend/family member do EXACTLY the same thing as what you do on Instagram, you'll be the one who gives out all the likes and comments, in order to help them feel good about themselves in life.

If you were a celebrity, that would be a different scenario all together, as you NEED to post things on your social media, as it's YOUR job to keep the public updated about every single thing you get up to in your famous life, so you'll be able to make a living out of it. This way, other celebrities will give you lots of likes and praise, to help you to keep moving forwards with your career.

If I have to conclude all of this in my own way, it would be, that I see people now enjoy echoing on-another, so they can fit within their own form of society. Bare in mind, I'm not saying this is either a good or bad thing, as you may very well now, that I'm just curious to know how these things work and why.

Lastly and foremost, everyone has an individual right to be themselves on whatever social media. I want to put this message out there.

That's all for this topic.

Thank you very much for reading through. Please do feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person.

Bye for now!😊

The benefits of "Putting Yourself in Timeout"

How has this week gone by quick?! All I've done is mostly chill out, as I had a busy holiday last week.

Which is why I want to discuss all of the beneficial methods of "Putting Yourself in Timeout" with you, as you may find these tips helpful for yourselves.

What does this expression mean?

It means, that you decide to be somewhere else, doing something else, when your mind gets overwhelmed by everything around you. This is where it screams: "STOOOOP!"

(The above picture shows MY definition of Putting myself in timeout. Everyone has their own way)

My top 5 bulleted points:

• Go for a long walk - This will help you to clear all the current worries in your mind, by replacing them with your distance goals.

• Listen to music - You could use this method to help keep your mind calm when working on something or to help keep your mind calm when you need alone time.

• Drawing - This is something which I find therapeutic, as your mind just focuses on your imagination sketched out on paper,  as well as being a silent activity.

• Relaxing - This not only helps your body to recharge itself, it also sends messages to the mind by saying: "Just relax, you're in no rush to do anything."

• Watching TV - Use this method to help escape your own stressful mindset, by going into the world of comedy, celebrity gameshow's or sport.

These are all my choice of activities to do when my mind gets overwhelmed by everything and needs to go into timeout. 

It does deserve a well-earned break when you think about how many things it thinks about day-in, day-out. Just so you can keep it happy and healthy for when you need it for important stuff. I.e. Researching.

That's concludes today's discussion.

Thank you for reading through. Please do feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person and enjoy the rest of your afternoon!😊

Why do people get overhyped about football?

Wow... 7 months I've been blogging now! I'm so honestly amazed of how I've managed to stick to it for this long. 

*Inserts applauding noises here*👏🏻

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying their week, as well as the Euro 2020. Yes, I say that, because we are now through to the quarter finals, where we will be playing Ukraine on Saturday.😄

Since we're on the topic of football, I thought about specializing this post for just such an appropriate occasion.

I just like to justify that football is NOT for everyone, so I honestly see no need for people to criticise one another, just because it's a popular sport worldwide. (Almost)

What is it about football that makes it so popular?

For starters, they began making European and almost worldwide tournaments back in 1888 by a guy named: William McGregor. Link here: https://www.google.com/search?

Secondly, as the ever-growing tradition became so successful, It attracted many fans from all over the globe! At this stage in time, the sport lovers will now vision football as "The best thing ever" As of such, they feel the need to brag to other people face-to-face or on the internet that you MUST know about football.

Finally, the players make a HUGE impact on their fans, by playing in the games, influence people on social media and even appear on adverts to gain more popular with the public, as well as the advertising company they appear on. This encourages the public and fans to know more about them, due to the high law of attraction they are gaining.

What thoughts and emotions run through your mind during a football atmosphere?

Let's say you're a mass Chelsea supporter (My supported team btw) and you love going to every single game at their home ground to see them play.

During the game, you would be sat there feeling tense, as you don't know who is going to score yet. This phrase is known as 'The waiting game' The more tension you build, the more your heart starts beating.

If your team was to score and win the game, your mind automatically gets these thoughts of joy that your team had achieved something that day, feeling very proud of their progress. Also, you feel relieved that they've managed to score in the first place, by lifting a heavy weight of your shoulders l.

However, if the opponent team was to score and you lose the game, you automatically gets these thoughts of frustration and anger that the other didn't deserve to score, due to them playing dirty or your team were genuinely playing poorly. Whilst these thoughts happen, you can physically feel the tension running through your body like electric and you need something else to take your mind of it.

This can also be the same scenario when you actually go out and play football for real.

So realistically, your thoughts and emotions are playing on a seesaw when it comes to watching and playing football, as you don't know which way the game will make them tilt to. If this makes sense to anyone?

As I happen to like football, I know what I am talking about here.

Thank you so much for reading through my what ended up being a long post today.😅 Please feel free to comment or let me know in person whatever your thoughts are on this topic and I'll try to post again over the weekend. See ya!

"Show up!" Motivational Quotes

Hey everyone, I hope you're all having a good week thus far. Especially now the Euro 2020 has now begun recently, and I'm happy that England have won their first game. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it past the group stages!

I feel like I need to address my readers with more verbal motivational content, well... look no further!

What does the expression "Show up" mean?

It means you MUST make an effort to attend every single thing, regardless of how you are feeling. For example: Running classes

• When you are feeling too tired to go to class - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you lack confidence about performing on stage - SHOW UP!

• When you feel nervous about walking into a huge room with 50 people - SHOW UP! 
• When you don't feel like exercising when you have to - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you have to face your fears - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you attempt at trying something new and don't succeed - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you get humiliated by failing at something and wish to quit - SHOW UP!

My advice to you all: Whenever you have a bad day and you feel like you can't do anything, READ THESE QUOTES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Make sure you have a long hard think whilst you read them, as they will help to get your mind motivated with whatever it is you will eventually be facing.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading through and please feel free to let me know about what you guys think.

Remember to keep following this blog and I'll be back soon!

You are blessed because...

Just a quickie, but the title says it all.

My main objective of this post, is to spread the message, and make people feel better when they're feeling down in the dumps. This is what is known as: "Common decency"

 

To all of my readers out there...

• You are blessed because... You have a loving family.
• You are blessed because... You have a roof under your head.
• You are blessed because... You have friends that look out for you.
• You are blessed because... You have education.
• You are blessed because... You have food and drink.
• You are blessed because... You can achieve anything you want.
• You are blessed because... You have feelings.
• You are blessed because... You are a human being.
• You are blessed because... You have clothes to wear.
• You are blessed because... You have entertainment around you.
• You are blessed because... You have many places to visit.
• You are blessed because... You are able to make decisions in your life.
• You are blessed because... You can NEVER be too old to do something.
• You are blessed because... You realise that happiness is your top priority.
• You are blessed because... You have so much talent.
• You are blessed because... You are kept healthy and well by the NHS worldwide.

I hope this post will bring a ray of sunshine to everyone's day and I shall see you all very soon!💞