Good morning students. I hope you all had a candid weekend. If you’re wondering what ‘candid’ means, well I must inform you that I have no clue whatsoever. It looked like a cool word on thesaurus.com. Can you all hear me alright?
Amy: Hi!
Chi: hi yes we can hear you
Alan: clear as day sir
Oh yes, hello, hi everyone. That’s wonderful. Great to see all of you here. All you dark gray, muted, video-less boxes from Hell — err, excuse me, lovely people I mean.
As you know, I’m Mr. LYFE Junior, your substitute teacher for today. My papi Mr. LYFE is on an important business trip in Rotterdam, still, of course, living his fullest life. You’ll all be stuck with me for a while.
Let’s see, first on the agenda is… oh would you look at that, a pop quiz!
Ryan: Boo! You suck. Bring back Mr. LYFE!
Jaskaren: yeah get outta here man
Tily: 👎👎👎 not cool
Amy: Mr. LYFE Junior? More like Mr. DEATH Senior.
Deanna: 😆🤣😂 accurate
Jayson: I’m just craving some potenuse right now
Woah class, settle down now. These are orders from Mr. LYFE. And Jayson, I wish I was high on potenuse too. Anyways, where were we…
Deanna: wait what’s potenuse?
Russellee: ooh is that like candy? I want some too if that’s the case
Nothing, don’t worry about it. Let’s stay focused here everyone.
Jayson: guys DM me your addresses, I’ll ship you guys some, I can get you some too Mr. LYFE Junior
Alan: the quiz…
Oh yes, the quiz. Thank you, Alan. And that won’t be necessary, Jayson. I have my own stash.
Jayson: wait REALLY? what flavor do you have? maybe we can share? I’ve got peach and passionfruit
…
Let’s begin.
QUESTION 1: From your experience of being enrolled in online education, which of the following statements resonates most with you?
A) It’s hard for me to stay focused and motivated to study.
B) I get distracted constantly, it’s hard to manage my time properly.
C) I struggle with procrastination.
D) All of the above.
E) I am breezing through this, give me a challenge already.
Jayson: E E E E E E E E E E E E!!!!
Tily: honestly, D. at this point i’ve sold my soul to zuckerberg and his minions at facebook. i don’t know what to do
Andy: studying in groups is something that I know helps me stay motivated, but I can’t do that anymore. I wish we had something like that.
Well, Andy, you’re in luck.
Introducing Flipd: Focus & Study Timer
Flipd is a productivity app designed to help you put off distraction and focus on what matters most — getting stuff done. It’s got several core features I think would serve you all well.
- Timed sessions — join live study rooms with just a few of your close friends, clubs, or thousands of others using Flipd around the world. Built-in Pomodoro timer included.
- Focus lock — block out distracting apps and games completely for a set period of time. Make a whitelist of only the apps you really need.
- Community groups — create and join groups with friends and followers. Keep each other motivated through friendly leaderboard competition and tracking everyone’s progress via Flipd friends.
Andy: wow cool, so from what I hear, does this mean I can study with other SFU LYFE members?
Yes, Andy, precisely. We’ve actually got an SFU LYFE group already set up in Flipd. I know this must seem very abstract with me just talking about it, so let’s get you acquainted with the app.
Step 1: Download Flipd
Take a few moments to download Flipd. It’s free on iOS and Android. Hopefully none of you have a Windows Phone.
Amy: what about BlackBerry?
Once it’s installed, follow the steps, and sign in with Google or create an account with your email address.
Step 2: Join the SFU LYFE Flipd Group
Once you’ve successfully created your account, you’ll be directed to the home page. Head on over to the community tab by clicking the second option on the bottom navigation bar. From here, make a search for ‘SFU LYFE’ or paste in the code ‘ntOgo4’.
Click on the group. Click some more buttons. And voilà! You’re in.
Step 3: Join Live Sessions
Live sessions are the bread and butter of Flipd and appear in the community tab. To join, simply click the event.
Once you’ve joined, you’ll see a number of things such as the amount of time you’ve spent focusing and how many other people are in the room with you. For the most part, keep the phone off.
(for extremists: turn off all notifications, turn on “Do Not Disturb,” activate airplane mode, power your phone down, and chuck it out the nearest window.)
There’s a button to take a break when you need one and even a track selector with an assortment of musical selections including a 24/7 lo-fi mix.
LYFE sessions run in four-hour intervals (PST):
- Mornings (8:00am-12:00pm)
- Afternoons (12:00pm-4:00pm)
- Evenings (4:00pm-8:00pm)
- Nights (8:00pm-12:00am)
You’ll need to make sur-
Tily: okay but why?
Jayson: yeah, give me the science bucko, why would an esteemed kingsman like myself use such an app to ‘study with others’?
I’m glad you asked.
The Science from Mr. LYFE Junior, a ‘Bucko’
Do you know why it’s so easy to get stuff done in an exam? It’s pretty obvious, there’s a sense of pressure that you feel being in that environment: invigilators walking around making sure nobody’s cheating, a time limit as to when you are expected to hand in the exam, and a sense of impending doom.
No phones, no texting, no laptops, or access to anything. It’s just you, a pencil, and the exam. It’s literally the only thing you can do.
You simply cannot procrastinate in an exam, the situation forbids that. And if you can, then I’ll be damned, you are the true procrastination master.
Jayson: actually, i’ve done it before for econ, i played tic-tac-toe with myself for the first 40 minutes and then went bezerk the rest of the exam
Tily: oh shoot, Jayson you too? thought I was the only one
The location you choose to do your work in has a huge impact on your motivation levels and willingness to get stuff done. It’s called study-space design.
In a library, there is no immediate sense that you need to get anything done, but being around other students who are studying creates a sense of pressure that you should also be getting your work done. This is the exact reason students love studying in libraries.
Good study-space design creates a self-imposed “pressure system,” which effectively peer pressures yourself into doing the things you don’t really want to do.
COVID-19 has entered the meeting.
And then our little friend came and ruined everything, remember? The world went crazy, everything went online, and like many of you, I struggled to adapt to the rapid shift.
When COVID hit, we entered a world where our systems for operating and succeeding as students no longer worked. We became more distracted, less motivated, and found it harder to concentrate.
Regardless if you’ve found a new system that works for you or not by now, here are two things you can try to virtually induce yourself with a desire to do (besides Flipd of course).
Virtual Workrooms
In one of Thomas Frank‘s videos, 21 Apps that FORCE You to Be More Productive, he introduces something called “workrooms.”
A “workroom” is essentially a digital meeting room, like Skype, Discord, or Zoom. It’s a great way to connect and chat with friends over long distances, but Thomas makes it clear that the purpose of the workroom shouldn’t be to talk, but to work.
Back when I was in college I set up one of these [workrooms] with a couple of blogger friends who each lived in different states. And every once in a while we would get on Skype, we’d be on a call but we wouldn’t talk to each other. We would simply be on the call and be working, and this was in order to simulate the experience of sitting in a room with study buddies or accountability partners getting work done and just getting the motivation from knowing the other people were also getting their work done.
So even though I wasn’t physically in the room with my blogger friends, I knew that on the other line of that Skype call, even if it was silent, was somebody who was getting work done. And that made me more motivated to do my work, as well.
If you have a group of friends you always study with, ask them if they’d like to try this thing out! It can be such a great way to stay productive and be together without actually meeting up. Think of it like you’re going on a study date.
Study With Me
On Youtube, Study With Me videos are popular. It’s a type of video where students stream themselves studying or preparing for an exam.
Why would anyone want to watch that?
Robyn Welsh — co-founder and editor of Vamp Media — decided to give Study With Me videos a try to see what kind of effect it would have on her concentration levels. This is what she had to say:
Every once in a while I would glance over at the video and see how concentrated they were with their studying and it would motivate me to stay focused. I can’t say why this is, but it was almost as if I felt like I had to study harder because the person on my screen was focused.
Study With Me videos aren’t meant to be entertaining. It’s a Friday night and you text your mate, “I’m chillin’ with a bag of Lay’s potato chips and some guacamole watching a Study With Me video; the productivity levels are absolutely stellar!” Said no one ever.
Actually, do yourself a favor and try it. When you’d normally feel like procrastinating, put one on.
See what happens.
P.S. I personally recommend this Korean dude. He does 24/7 streams. I have no idea what he’s studying but he’s been at it for over a year since I’ve checked.
Tily: very thorough answer my guy
Russellee: 👏👏👏
Why thank you. There’s just one last thing I’d like to mention before I let you guys go.
Flipd has leaderboards. Meaning that if you join our SFU LYFE group, you’ll automatically enter a friendly competition with all of us.
Now I’ll admit, as I’m writing this post, I’m racking up minutes on Flipd. Call it an unfair advantage, call it cheating, call it what you will. Whatever the case, I’m winning :). So come dethrone me. (that’s an outdated screenshot below, by the way)
Oh, and don’t forget to share your friend link with your friends, and invite them to our group too; we’d love to have them. Keep each other accountable y’know.
And that’s basically it. Any questions, class?
Jaskaren: I believe Jayson asked you which flavor potenuse you had but you never answered him. I’ll have you know I’m also interested to know.
I can’t believe this, you guys are absolutely mad… I finish class and all you seem to care about is freaking potenuse?
Chi: can someone tell me what potenuse even IS?
Ryan: It’s this really gooey mixture of honey, caramel, and artificial flavoring, but it’s a fruit. Weird, I know. But my uncle owns this plantation in Maui, and, oh my, you just have to try the pineapple flavor.
Andy: woww sounds like a delicate artform.
Well great, now I’m just enabling this conversation to happen.
Deanna: I can get us a grant!
Tily: oh that’s a great idea, we should do a giveaway
You know what? I’m just gonna end the meeting. Though I hesitate to say it, thank you all for coming and see you next week!
This meeting has been ended by the host.
This one goes out to all of you. As finals season inches closer and closer, let’s keep each other motivated and on track towards freedom.
Be sure to stay connected with us on all our socials, and if you haven’t already, download the Flipd app and join us. We’ll be there.