No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 11

02.07.2023

I should have written this post yesterday, on day 10, but who cares? The update doesn't have to be every 3 days, it can be 4, or even 7. I did 2 lessons, do there is progress, and that's all that matters 🙂. The photos show my messy notes and a cute kitty lamp 🐈, with messy charger cables in the background 🔌. Learning isn't always aesthetic.

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

🎧 Maja Francis - Saved by the Summer

1/100 Days of Productivity

01.12.2022

Hoy estuve estudiando por varias horas con descansos cortos, recomiendo mucho usar un pomodoro.

Además, he cocinado esta semana de una forma más saludable y balanceada. Soy de las que odian los vegetales, pero si los disimulo con condimentos y poco más, me sabe estupendo.

Por cierto, soy nueva en esto así que trataré de ser constante mas que nada variar mi rutina.

No-stress Summer Learning Challenge 🌞

Where did the idea of the no-stress summer learning challenge come from 🤔?

I see do many posts about summer studying, that it makes me worried. People spend their time studying during summer holidays, already preparing for the upcoming semester/school year. It's your free time and, as someone, who already has a full-time job (and is trying to finish her thesis to get a master's degree), I can tell you, that you probably won't have that much free time in the summer once you start working. Yes, it's sad and unfair, but unfortunately, it's real 🙁. So please, take your time, use it for something else, than worrying about exams, preparing for school and getting stressed and burnt out before school even starts. Don't waste your energy sitting in front of your PC/laptop, or with a course book, learing stuff by heart, while the sun ☀️ is shining outside, children are playing and other people are going out with their friends and families. And if you already work full-time, but also are still a student, don't use whatever free time you have on summer to study even more. Unless you absolutely have to, of course (I'm in this kind of situation, I have to write my thesis during summer, because the deadline is in September), but even then, don't use all your time for schoolwork. Although I consider summer studying an unnecessary stress factor, there's a difference between studying and learning. Studying is for school, learning is for yourself 🙂. I'm not telling you to be lazy the whole summer, but to consider learning something, that doesn't include schoolwork. It may be related to what you're studying in college/at school, or it may be something totally different. It may be something about technology 🔌 (programming, robotics, electronics...), art 🎨 (drawing, painting, embroidery...), nature 🌱 (gardening, foraging, birdwatching...), music 🎶 (singing, playing an instrument, making electronic music...), foreign languages 🗺️, sports ⚽, cooking 🍲, baking 🍩, kintting 🧶, sewing 🪡... the list is endless. So, as an alternative to summer studying challenge, you can start a no-stress summer learning challenge.

The main rules 📑

The main purpose of this challenge is to find motivation to learn for yourself 😀 again, so no exams, no homework, no grades, just you and your goal .

You're free to choose what you're going to learn, based on your own passions, dreams and ambitions 😍, without worrying about other people's judgement and expectations.

It's supposed to be stress free 😌, so there are no fixed schedules or deadlines. It's up to you to plan your learning and decide, how long it's going to take you.

To stay focused, please choose one topic and stick to it. It doesn't mean, you can't learn anything else. Actually you should, because staying concentrated on one thing for too long can make you burn out quickly, but have one main goal 😎.

Remember to take proper breaks 🥱. Learning all the time will only make you sterssed and tired. It's not school, so you don't need to worry about any fixed due date or preparing for a test.

Don't be too hard on yourself and remember that mistakes are a part of learning 😯, not a failure or shame.

Preparing for the challenge and completing it 📚

Think about, what do you want to learn this summer. It doesn't have to be very specific at this stage. For example, it can be something like "I want to learn about cats 🐈", or "I want to learn to draw 🖼️", or "I want to learn about tea 🫖".

When you know, what you want to learn, do your research, to be able to set a more specific goal. Read about this topic, watch some videos, maybe try to find people, who have more knowledge about it, than you, and talk to them. Let the "I want to learn about cats" become "I want to learn proper cat care 😸", the "I want to learn to draw" become "I want to learn to draw manga 🎏" or the "I want to learn about tea" become "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea 🍵".

You've done the research, so now it's time to find your "why", because to stay motivated, you need to remember that you're doing it for a reason and that this knowledge is useful. The "I want to learn proper cat care" becomes "I want to learn proper cat care to make my cats healthier and happier 😻", the "I want to learn to draw manga" becomes "I want to learn to draw manga, because I'm interested in art and Japanese culture 🌸" and the "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea" becomes "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea, because I like tea and I want to make it even better 🍃".

Once you find your motivation, look for the learning resources 💻. It can be an online course, internet articles, scientific papers, books, YouTube videos, TikTok videos... whatever, depends on what you're going to learn. You can also contact someone, who is na expert in what you're learning, and ask them for help. While learning from blogs, videos, etc., remember to check the sources, to make sure the person, who created this content, knows what they're talking/writing about.

When you know your resources, plan the whole thing ahead 📝, considering your other summer plans (like traveling or going out with friends), to make sure, that you have enough time for learning and that the time you're going to spend working towards your goal is fairly evenly distributed to avoid stress and burnout, but remember to make your schedule flexible, so you don't have to worry about learning at a fixed time. Again, it's not school.

You've planned everything, now set reminders in your phone 📱 and/or write it down in a planner 📔 or on some post-it notes 📄... whatever works best for you to remember about your goal and the time you've decided to spend learning.

To minimize the risk od procrastination, divide the tasks into smaller tasks. You can write to-do lists ☑️ (either digital, or on paper), so you can see your progress and know exactly, what needs to be done.

To avoid getting burnt out 🤯, step away from what you're learning once in a while. Don't overwork yourself, you're not preparing for an exam.

To ensure you have enough energy ⚡, take care of your health, both physical and mental. Take breaks, sleep long enough 😴, go out with your friends, stay hydrated 💧, exercise 🏃🏻‍♀️, spend some time in nature 🌲.

Last, but not least: remember to post regular updates about your progress on your blog. It can be every day, every three days, once a week... you decide. It can include photos, but doesn't have to. Just make it regular and tag it with "no-stress summer learning challenge" or "no-sslc" 😊.

No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 7

28.06.2023

I did one lesson in 3 days. That's not how it's supposed to be. Will I finish this course before the end of the summer, if it goes that slow 🙁? But I'm really busy and tired, do maybe that's how it should be. I can do more on the weekend 🙂. It's called a "stress-free" challenge, so I don't wanna be stressed about it. Slow progress is still progress 😀. And my cute kitty 😻 came here to help.

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

🎧 Gretel Hänlyn - It's the Future, Baby

No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 1

22.06.2023

First day od summer and first day od the challenge. My goal is to learn how to design electronic circuits, because as an electrical engineer I may use this knowledge at work and also because it's simply interesting. The resources I'm going to use are: an online course + some YouTube videos and internet articles. Today I started creating a list in Notion od all the lessons of this course, so I can easily track it. I've already done some od the first lessons, do I won't be starting from the very beginning, but I want to conplete this course before the end of the summer.

🎧 Grimes - Idoru

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 22

13.07.2023

I've done 3 next lessons since the last update. I'm going to do next one, as I have nothing better to do, while waiting at the airport ✈️. I'm traveling for vacation to Iceland 🇮🇸, so there will be no updates for the next 6 days.

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

🎧 Björk - Jóga

No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 18

09.07.2023

I've done 5 lessons since the last update, so there is progress. Today I tried to work on the gas turbine Simulink model, which is a part of my thesis, but after Matlab stopped working twice, for an unknown reason, I gave up.

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

🎧 Opał - Droga Mleczna

76/100 Days of Productivity 🍓

25.11.2022

I went to work

Attended classes

Read next chapter of The Summer Book

🎧 Enzalla - Iceland

📖 The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

I started a new job last week and I was a bit stressed. My first job was quite boring, mostly paperwork, and that's the main reason why I changed it. But now I'm learning how to design rectifier and inverter cabinets with all the control and protection circuits, and that's what I'll be doing in my new job. It's something I haven't done before, but it's not as hard as I thought it might be. Finally, I'm starting to feel like I'm a real electrical engineer, not just a bureaucrat with an engineering degree. But I'm going to start a driving course next week (yes, I'm 24 and still can't drive, I know it's not something to be proud of, but I hope it's going to change soon) and in October the academic year begins. Seriously, idk how am I going to handle it all - full-time work in a new job, where I still have much to learn, part-time grad studies and driving lessons. How to find any spare time for self-care, for my cats, for social life, for hobbies? I feel overwhelmed, sometimes I wish I was a cat. Cats don't have any responsibilities.

92/100 Days of Productivity ⛄

11.12.2022

Snow kept falling 🌨 for the whole day ❄, it was beautiful 😻

I read next chapter of The Summer Book

Wrote next page in my art journal

Did next lesson from the electronic systems design course

🎧 Streams of Thought - Floating Away

📖 The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

45/100 Days of Productivity 🐿

I worked out

Read next chapter of "Metro 2035" by Dmitry Glukhovsky

Read an article about gas and nuclear energy being included in EU Taxonomy as environmentally sustainable energy sources

Revised German and learned some new words

🎧 Samaris - Gradient Sky

No-stress summer learning challenge 🌞: day 43

03.08.2023

It's been quite a long time since the last update, but I haven't abandoned this challenge, I'm learning as planned. I just didn't have time to make an update. I've finished the design of an unstabilised power supply (which is a part of this course). The second photo shows a PIR motion sensor, that will be used for a cat fountain, so that the pump only starts running, when one of my cats walks nearby.

📖 Janusz A. Zajdel - Limes Inferior

🎧 thea wang - garden song (i prefer a loon)

95/100 Days of Productivity ☕

14.12.2022

I did next lesson from the electronic systems design course

Read next chapter of The Summer Book

Had a driving lesson

🎧 Vanyashi - Always in the Midst of Infinity

📖 The Summer Book by Tive Jansson

Engineering studies be like:

Me: I want to code some Arduino scripts, finish the online courses on PCB design and protective relays in power systems and maybe make an inverter, bc why not? I'll do it all in my free time.

The uni: first revise all the stability criteria from control system theory bc you have an exam. And write lab reports. And do projects. You don't have free time.

Me: 😿

30/100 Days of Productivity 🍃

10.10.2022

I went to work. Nothing new happened there.

Read the next chapter of Migot. Z krańca Grenlandii (Gleam. From the outskirts of Greenland)

Added the LCD code to the Arduino CAN project and it works. It's finally finished 😊

🎧 Tall Heights - Horse to Water

📖 Migot. Z krańca Grenlandii (Gleam. From the outskirts of Greenland) by Ilona Wiśniewska

58/100 Days of Productivity 🦊

I did next lesson from the PCB design course (about automatic soldering)

Worked out

Read an article about the planned gas unit in Kielce CHP Plant

🎧 Resonance - Myself