🌟 Helaine’s Quote of the Week:
Don’t wait until you lose something before you appreciate it.
🗓️ Weekly Recap
Personal Life
I had lots of fun this week and I thoroughly enjoyed the last week I have before all the clubs begin and midterms start soon!
I want to Newbury Street this Friday with my friend and did lots of shopping :)
Lululemon: I got a new pink yoga mat because I want to start doing home workouts in my dorm! Get ready to see it in my videos!
Oak & Fort: OMG I found the cutest black dress that was also on sale and it was adorable! I posted it on my IG Story so go see it in my Highlights if you haven’t already!
Brandy Melville: I got another basic black top, because you can never have enough basics.
UNIQLO: I got a pair of white sweatpants because they were miraculously long enough for me (I’m 5’10).
All of my favorite products are linked in my Beacons AI storefront!
Productivity Life
School has been getting quite hard, especially with my Statistics problem sets. They are so long and difficult. But overall, I am still balancing everything quite well and I feel like I have more free time on my hands this semester compared to the last since I am taking one last class!
Work: I love going to the library or doing a study session for a long period of time (3-5 hours). I find that I can enter my flow state and it is so much more productive than studying a little here and there.
Story: I was in the library yesterday from 9AM to 2PM working on my homework and Statistics problem set. In the four hours I spent working on my problem set, I only finished three problems ☹ On the bright side, at least I ended up understanding everything!
🚀 Lessons Learned
Lessons & Challenges
There will always be people and voices judging or hating on what you do. Let their noise fuel you, never stop you. Keep your vision sharp, your dreams untouchable, and never allow anyone’s judgment to stand between you and the life you want for yourself.
Always be grateful for what you have, even before you lose it. As humans, it is so easy to only be grateful or notice what you have after it’s gone. I feel this especially with the weather in Boston. As of now, the weather is still relatively nice with sunlight during the day and temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. However, I know that in a few weeks, it will be difficult to even reach the 60s. And next semester, I can wave goodbye to the sunlight and wind/snowless days. So I’ve been trying to make the most of this weather—going on picnics with my friends, traveling to Boston and Newbury Street, taking morning walks—and to truly appreciate it even when I easily take it for granted.
Tips
Like I mentioned earlier, find or make a chunk of time where you can focus and study. Not only does this make it easier to romanticize studying, but it is also more productive. Your mind can more easily enter the flow state after some time, and you will retain the information better and also get work done faster. Get yourself a little treat or sweet drink and go get that studying done!
💖 Recent Obsessions
Vitamins: Lemme Gummies
Tell me why the Lemme Gummies are so delicious! I literally can’t stop eating them, I take them as a snack (which I probably shouldn’t do). I especially love the flavor of the Lemme Debloat gummies. Not sure how well they work, but my brain tells me they are working and they taste good.
Drink: Blank Street Blueberry Matcha
I have fallen in love with the Blank Street Blueberry Matcha again, but tell me why the shop in Harvard Square is always SO packed. I ordered 10 minutes beforehand to go pick up, and I still waited 20 minutes in-store before my drink was ready. Like guys, chill (says the person most obsessed with matcha).
🔥 Ask Helaine
Question: What is your best study tip?
Active recall!! 100 times active recall! If you don’t know what active recall is yet, I talk about it in almost every video on my study account (TikTok: @helainestudyfetch). It is basically when you retrieve information from your brain instead of putting it in. So instead of reading your textbook over and over again or listening to lectures, you should do practice problems, practice tests, review flashcards, write your own study guide, and so much more! I talk about each of these strategies in much more detail on my study account.
A common misconception with active recall is that you can just do practice problems from the very start. However, if you don’t even know any of the content or concepts, you are just wasting your time. You should have a basic or overall understanding of all the information already before you can start doing practice problems. Then, these problems will help you actively retrieve and memorize the concepts and help you figure out what you thought you knew but actually didn’t. Doing practice problems is also the best way to memorize formulas since you are actively using them.
So definitely use active recall, no matter what class you are taking, and check out my study account for more tips!
🏆 Looking Ahead…
Goal: Start preparing for my midterms early so I do not feel too stressed when they come around!
Feel free to leave your goal for next week by responding to this email or in the comment section!
See you next week,