Productivity - Ceed

Posted on 9 August 2021 - 12:00 pm by admin

Writing a great essay can be overwhelming. Handling a great deal of information and making sure you answer the question is a lot of pressure. Eventually having a finished essay can feel impossible, especially when you begin with nothing but your thoughts!

This is where essay planning comes in. Did you know that effective essay plan can relieve students of stress? According to a 2011 study involving 3,000 participants, the best stress managing technique was planning.

What is an essay plan?

When beginning to consider writing an essay, the planning stage is the most critical. It is a landing point to work through essay subtopics and ideas. At its core, it is an organisational tool. It’s the singular central space where you note down your thoughts surrounding the essay question.

Creating an essay plan can help you keep on track with your deadlines!

Essay plans are often divided into sections. This is usually done by topic or paragraph, allowing the plan to create a linear pathway of thought. It shows the entire breadth and scope of your argument from beginning to end.

Not every student uses an essay plan. This is especially true of new university students, as essay plans tend not to be utilised in further education. This is due to the fact that University essays are often longer and more complex. They are written completely independently from tutor assistance, usually requiring support in the vein of academic references.

It is important to note that essay plans may look different to each student. There is no right or wrong way to prepare them – find what works best for you.

How can effective essay planning relieve university stress?

Essay planning can be surprisingly beneficial to lowering student stress. Here are some examples.

It gets the bulk of the thinking out of the way. Planning is an informal way of getting all of your ideas out of your head. This means that all of the information you need is right in front of you when it comes to writing the essay itself. It takes the pressure away from you as it gives you a personalised step by step path to follow.

It helps keep the argument on track. This means that there is less worry on what you’re arguing as it has already been laid out. Plans help to not lose sight of exactly what you want to say. They allow you to stress less about content and focus more on how you make that argument.

It segments and paces your workload. By keeping essay planning and writing as two separate activities, the work is broken down into manageable tasks. It helps the brain focus on one thing at a time and makes the project more mentally accessible and approachable.

It helps you begin. One of the biggest struggles when writing essays is beginning. It helps remove the mental block as your plans give you a starting point. Plans keep you organised and help you think chronologically about your argument. If you know what you are arguing, you know what you want your first point to be!

Tips on Writing an Effective Plan

Before You Plan

Before anything else, write out the question. This may seem obvious, but one common observation that markers make about weaker essays is that the writer did not sufficiently address the question.

Make sure you know what the question or statement is asking you to do. Don’t be afraid to dissect the question. Use highlights, annotations, mind maps. Brainstorm around your topic, as there is no point in writing a plan without an idea of what you are answering!

Underline and bold the question at the top of the page, and always return to it whenever you begin a new point. This helps to keep it in your mind as you write. Always consider how the point you are making answers that question.

While You Plan

If your essay requires secondary criticism, create a bibliography. This will contain any academic journals, articles or books that may want to refer to throughout your essay.

As you’re still in the planning stage, don’t worry about using them all. Much like the plan itself, it is helpful to have everything in one unifying document.

You can later annotate this bibliography. Do this with quotes you may want to use and thoughts you may have surrounding them. It may also be helpful to note where you might want to include them in your argument.

The amount of detail that goes into the plan of your bibliography is up to you. Find out what feels right and works for you.

Once You’ve Finished Planning

Depending on your university, some lecturers will have no problem proofreading or double checking your essay plan. This can be helpful if they can’t check the final essay product before submission.

If you choose to do this, give it plenty of time before the deadline. Professors are just as busy as students, and it gives them time to get back to you without putting pressure on either party.

Don’t assume that all professors will do this, though. Simply send a professional, respectful email enquiring whether they can do so. Keep in mind that they may say no – but it can never hurt your chances to ask!

If that doesn’t work, you can always ask your peers to take a second look over the essay to proofread and check for grammar errors!

Conclusion

Essay plans can be as in depth or as brief as you want. Effective planning is about finding out what works for you and applying it to your preparation.

Regardless of which way you choose to plan, just by having a plan at all, you are one step closer to a successful essay submission.

Interested in support during your studies? Here at Ceed, we are committed to supporting your journey as a student. Click here to learn more.

Different Types of To-Do Lists to Help Organise your Tasks

Posted on 15 July 2021 - 11:00 am by admin

So you’ve got a list of tasks you need to do, but you can’t seem to work through them. As the list grows longer and longer, you’re left unmotivated to begin, continue and complete your assignments for the day.

To-do lists should help you get things done, rather than complicate things and disrupt your productivity. By prioritising and organising the most important tasks from the least important, a practical to-do list should prepare you for the day to come.

But different types of lists work for different people. Whether it’s using one type or combining multiple methods, an effective to-do list that works for you can help you progress through your tasks and achieve larger goals.

Create a to-do list that helps you get tasks done — Creating an effectively list can help aid your productivity!

Here are a few different types of to-do lists to try out:

Bullet Journal System

Bullet journaling is an all-in-one organisational method that sorts out tasks (things you have to do), events (noteworthy moments in time) and notes (things you don’t want to forget) into a single journal using a technique called rapid logging.

Rapid logging is essentially capturing information as bulleted lists. Bullet points are used alongside symbols to identify each category and the importance of each bullet.

The versatility in customising your bullet journal means you can create a daily, monthly or yearly list that keeps track of all your tasks and priorities in one place.

Bullet journaling is also a forgiving system when tasks haven’t been completed. According to research by I Done This, 41% of to-do items are never completed. Labelling a bullet with a new symbol signifies that it can be completed for a later date.

While this type of to-do list requires a lot of upkeep, common reasons as to why people stopped using this method are that they were falling behind and weren’t sure if it benefitted their productivity.

The Burner List

Rather than listing multiple projects in overwhelming detail, this simple two-column list is intentionally limited to prioritise tasks that need to get done as soon as possible.

The Burner List is split into four sections: the front burner and counter space on the left-side column, back burner and kitchen sink on the right-side column.

Front burner: this is your top priority list. Your most important project, and the tasks it entails, will be listed here.
Counter space: this space allows you to add more tasks to the front burner project if necessary.
Back burner: your second most important project and its related tasks will be written here.
Kitchen sink: this section is for miscellaneous tasks that you need to do but are unrelated to your front and back burner projects.

Using the analogy of a chef cooking, the chef will focus more attention on the front burner (first project) while occasionally working on the back burner (second project) as well.

Burner Lists are designed to be disposable, as you “burn” through the lists once you’ve completed your projects. Recreating this list allows you to constantly prioritise a new project but also discard unfinished tasks that have become unimportant.

Whether it’s a work project or personal endeavour, the Burner List is accommodating when priorities shift from one project to another.

While you won’t have room to write everything down, you can focus your time and energy on the tasks that matter the most for your projects.

Digital Calendar

If you’re sick and tired of bullet-point lists, using a digital calendar can help keep track of your tasks. By imputing tasks into your calendar, you’ll be able to schedule when to work on your tasks and for how long.

Preparing ahead of time what tasks you’re going to do and for when limits indecision and forces you to start working immediately. Not only does a calendar keep you on task, but the ability to schedule breaks throughout the day helps you relax in between your tasks.

With a digital calendar, it is easy to book recurring events, e.g. work meetings, as well as move tasks around due to scheduling changes. But if you underestimate the time it takes to complete each of your tasks, you might have to keep pushing tasks back to get your immediate task done on time.

Digital Task Management Apps

Having a to-do list on a mobile app is handy if you need to refer back to your lists often, especially if you’re working on a variety of projects that include many tasks.

From Asana to ClickUp, there are a plethora of digital platforms that organise your tasks using a range of features, such as project sorting, prioritising tasks and scheduling recurring tasks.

The ability to share lists with other people is ideal for collaboration as people will be able to work on different tasks that contribute to the same project.

Completing tasks can be a source of stress for many, so Todoist has gamified task management through their Karma point system. Rewarding users with karma points once they have completed their tasks, people will be more likely to stick to their tasks as they progress through higher levels.

While digital apps can create visually pleasing lists which sync across various devices, it will take some time to learn how to use these apps, especially when there’s a multitude of features to choose from.

The Done List

For those who get overwhelmed with to-do lists, the Done List may help you manage your stress when it comes to completing tasks.

Rather than setting out your tasks for the day, the purpose of a Done List is to list all the things you’ve accomplished during the day. These achievements will determine the tasks you set for yourself tomorrow.

This system recognises that people do not get enough done because they have too much to do. By reflecting on what you have done at the end of each day, you can reflect on your productivity levels and motivate yourself to work on your tasks the next day.

It’s easy to feel guilty when you haven’t completed your tasks, but the Done List takes the emphasis away from incomplete tasks and focuses your attention on good things you’ve achieved.

Having to update this list daily might seem like a chore, but over time, you’ll be able to track your progress when it comes to the tasks you’ve accomplished, whether big or small.

Be proud of the tasks you managed to complete — Listing everything you’ve done today is a good way to keep motivation high!

To Conclude

A to-do list is an essential productivity tool that helps people keep track of the tasks they need to work on. As it is something you will be using very often, you must find a to-do list that works for you.

With tasks ranging from work to personal, it may be better to adopt different types of to-do lists depending on what projects you’re working on.

Remember to revise your to-do lists often, whether that’s tackling a hefty task head-on or prioritising time-sensitive work, to allow your workflow to continue.

An effective to-do list will get you organised, boost your productivity and give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day – making your life a little less stressful and a little more easier!

If you’re looking to improve your productivity, Ceed is here to help you unleash your full potential! Speak to one of our life coaches to find out more.

How Exercise Improves Productivity at Work

Posted on 5 July 2021 - 11:00 am by admin

Maintaining good physical health will, of course, improve your overall health. But, staying active during the day can also increase productivity and make you a more efficient worker. If you find yourself feeling tired or overwhelmed at work, getting into an exercise routine might be able to help you!

A paper published in the academic journal, Frontiers in Psychology, found that exercise has clear benefits towards cognitive function and, as a result, increases productivity rates.

Many modern corporate environments have begun to promote exercise, both on and off site. Employer might offer free or discounted gym memberships to employees or, in some cases, may even build gyms in the office where employees can work during office hours.

Exercise doesn’t just benefit employees – it benefits the employer, too. The more awake and energized you feel, the better you’ll perform at work. The better you perform at work, the greater your return on investment for the employer! Increased productivity might even lead to promotions and a general improvement of your mood. It could be the start of a really fruitful cycle!

More and more employers are beginning to recognize the importance of exercise and its positive effects on brainpower.

So, let’s take a more in-depth look at how exercise can benefit your productivity rates!

A few minutes of exercise during the day can help you be more productive!

Does exercise really make you more productive?

A recent study by Leeds Metropolitan University found that after going to the gym during work, employees returned more driven and productive than before. Researchers also found that exercise during the workday can improve office workers’ ‘mood and self-reported performance’. There was a clear benefit to exercising at work, not only to employee wellbeing but to competitive advantage and motivation.

Remember, fifteen minutes exercise is better than nothing! Just because you don’t have the time to do a full hour workout, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother at all! Getting the heart pumping might be all you need to give you that head-start during the working day.

Stress

It might sound strange to say that exercise helps reduce stress because some exercises can be vigorous and tiresome. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins that help you rest and relax. So, if your work life is feeling tense, some exercise might do the trick.

Think of a stress ball – the more you squeeze and tense your muscles, the more relaxed you become! Exercise is no different. By getting your body moving and your blood pumping, you can purge yourself of all the built-up stress. Some of us like working out ahead of the day, whilst others like to get in the gym after work and let all their frustrations go!

Whether it’s cardio or weight-lifting, get the blood pumping!

Mental Health

When you feel overwhelmed or stressed with work, your mood and mental health can be greatly affected. It’s easy to let work get on top of you – missed a deadline or just got one too many things on your mind? Exercise helps with symptoms of depression because the release of endorphins can help lift your mood. Moving your body promotes changes in your brain that create feelings of well-being.

When your brain releases endorphins during exercise, they act as your body’s natural pain reliever. These chemicals are responsible for the happiness boost you feel after exercise.

By incorporating exercise into your work schedule, you can help tackle those overwhelming feelings and boost your mood!

Exercise, like yoga, can help improve mindfulness.

Increased Energy

Exercise can also help you combat tiredness or fatigue by increasing energy levels. Whilst it’ll certainly be difficult at first, the more you exercise, the more your energy levels will gradually increase. Working out allows you to build muscle strength and endurance over time, making you physically more resilient. By improving your body’s resilience, you’ll inevitably have a more positive outlook on life, too!

The increased energy from exercising can also help improve your mental alertness. This can help keep you aware and focused on your tasks throughout the day. The more energy you have, the better your performance!

Concentration

As anybody who works in an office knows, concentration can sometimes be hard to come by – that’s just another benefit of exercise! Work can sometimes feel as though it is moving very slowly, causing us to lose focus as the day goes on. Exercise improves our ability to get through busy workdays whilst maintaining focus and improving the quality of our work.

Exercise can also help sufferers of illnesses that affect concentration. It has even been shown to improve symptoms of ADHD. Exercise works similarly to ADHD medications such as Ritalin because it releases chemicals that improve focus and attention.

Improved concentration will increase your productivity rates!

Memory and Learning

Exercise doesn’t just improve the size of your body – it also improves the size of your brain! A study at the University of British Columbia found that forms of aerobic exercise were shown to increase the size of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area of the brain integral to improving memory learning and retention!

You might not have thought it, but exercise can have a positive effect on your capability to learn as well as your mood! By exercising, you not only allow your mind to let go of stress, but also free it up to soak in other information!

Our Conclusion

Exercise has many physical benefits that most of us are well aware of. But, as you might not have known, exercise also has countless benefits for the mind, too! It has been proven to be an effective method for improving productivity, raising concentration and even increasing memory retention! Whether you’re an employer, or an employee, gently encouraging exercise amongst your colleagues – whether in group activities or otherwise – could really revitalize your workforce!

Sticking to an exercise routine, on the other hand, can be difficult! If you need help sticking to your goals and targets, take a look at our other articles for some advice. If you would like to learn more about how Ceed can improve your productivity, you can contact us today.

How To Create an Achievable Five-Year Plan

Posted on 28 June 2021 - 12:00 pm by admin

Have you ever been at an interview or a social gathering and someone randomly asks you:

“What’s your five-year plan?” or “where do you see yourself in five years from now?”

And you offer them the response of “Um, I’m not too sure, I haven’t really thought about it…”

It seems that everyone around us has some sort of direction as to where they’re headed or where they see themselves in the next five years or so, but we can’t even think past next weekend – YIKES!

When creating a five-year plan, where do you even begin? Should you make realistic and achievable goals. Where do you want the next five years to take you?

Setting a five-year plan can help you feel accomplished.

Wait, What Is a Five-Year Plan?

A Five-Year plan is a list of goals and achievements which you want to reach within the next 5 years of your life. Your goals and achievements can be personal or professional, depending on what you want to change in order to help you visualize your future.

Usually, your plan will consist of smaller concrete goals to help you achieve the bigger goals on your list of goals and achievements.

For example, let’s say you wanted to become a qualified heart surgeon (big goal). First, you should apply for universities that offer medical degrees with a clear path into your chosen career (small goal).

So, Why Should You Create a Five-Year Plan?

Sometimes, our goals and desired achievements seem like a distant dream, slightly unrealistic and probably unattainable, right?

Well, that’s because we need some sort of plan to turn our dreams into reality. By providing specific timelines and measurements we can keep ourselves accountable for our future ambitions.

A five-year plan allows you to dive deep into your current lifestyle, clarify your future goals and help you determine whether or not you would be content with your progress in the plan.

Your plan can be a rough idea of where you want to be a few years in the future; however, we recommend that you put your pen to paper and try to be specific and realistic with your aspirations.

“Those that make plans, take action”
Brian Tracy.

Making loose but guided plans can help you stay on target.

How To Create an Achievable Five-Year Plan:

Step 1: Determine what’s important to you

If you’re already wanting to create a five-year plan for yourself, you must have an idea of what you want or don’t want from your everyday life.

You could be unhappy in your current job position and want to change your employment status, or maybe you visualize yourself leading a completely different lifestyle to what are now.

With a five-year plan, anything and everything is relevant. The reason behind the plan is to better yourself and to picture your progress throughout time.

For a five-year plan, you want to be thinking about important and life enhancing goals you’ve thought or dreamed about for a long time.

The term HARD goals can help you form long-term and challenging achievements that can help you strive for success when creating your own five-year plan. Hard goal is another term for your desired end goal.

H.A.R.D. Goals can help you reach your long-term targets!

Read now: Goal Setting: Striving for Achievable Yet Challenging Goals

Here are some examples of different categories that your HARD goals can fall under:

Personal Goals: health & fitness, habits, education, mental wellbeing etc.
Family and Friend Goals: making more time, building your relationships, your family status (marriage, separation or children) etc.
Financial / Career Goals: renting/buying a house, paying off debt, work promotions, increased salary, job transfers, employment status (unemployed, employed, self-employed) etc.

Fun Goals: scuba diving certification, skydiving award, growing a sustainable vegetable patch, traveling around the world, attending a live festival etc.

You can also work with multiple categories for your five-year plan, we recommend splitting your future goals and achievements into separate categories in order to keep your objectives clear, concise and straightforward.

Split your H.A.R.D. Goals into achievable categories.

Step 2: Be Specific, Yet Realistic

Now that you should have a rough idea of where you would like to be within the next five years, you should begin to think about your desires in a specific, yet realistic way.

Examples:

Specific and Realistic: “I’m going to learn how to drive a car, with two lessons a week, in January 2022 and I’ll aim to pass my test 6-9 months later”.

Unspecific and Unrealistic: “I’m going to learn to drive a car at some point in the next five years and I’ll probably pass my test straight away with only a few lessons”.

It’s hard to know how to be specific on a five-year plan, you might want to just “be a better person” – but what does a “better person” mean to you? Would you like to make more time for your family and friends? Or you could want to become more eco-friendly with your plastic waste.

Figure out what your goals mean to you. Generalizing goals, like becoming a better person, won’t help you to visualize and understand what changes need to be made for your long-term success.

Remember, when it comes to setting realistic goals, plans change and not everything works out exactly how you imagined. So, make sure that when you’re refining your realistic goals, make them manageable and allow room for error or for the course of direction to change.

Step 3: Break Your Goals into Months and Years

Start with your big goals; the reason as to why you want to start a five-year plan, your end goals.

Big goal example: Buy a 2-bedroom apartment in London

Place your big goal at the end of the time line, and figure out smaller and more tangible goals to hit to enable you to reach closer to your end goal.

Small goal examples:

1. Pay off debt

2. Reduce Monthly outgoings (become more budget conscious)

3. Find an increased salary

4. Save a deposit

Remember to be specific with your small goals too. By listing: “pay off debt” as a small goal, it isn’t specific enough to ensure your plan will work. When making short term plans use the SMARTER acronym:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Time-bound

E – Evaluate

R – Readjust

Assign your smaller (or short-term) goals into months and years, giving you time-bound milestones to reach throughout your five-year plan. Keeping yourself accountable, regularly, will ultimately decide how far away you are from reaching your long-term goals – that’s the reason why you decided to make a five-year plan, remember?

Read now: How to Build Effective Short-term and Long-term Goals

Create a calendar to help you keep track of your goals!

Step 4: Adjust and review accordingly

Life is pretty crazy sometimes, isn’t it?

It’s full of the good and bad, ups and downs and all of the life changing moments. While we want to set SMARTER targets to achieve our HARD goals, we need to realize that not everything is always picture perfect and straightforward.

You might find that the path you have chosen has changed throughout time, and that’s completely fine!

You should review your goals monthly to not only see if you’re achieving them, but to change them if they’re not relevant or possible to complete. Here’s an example of goal changing from someone wanting to become a digital nomad, making a full-time income from travelling the world:

Original goal: In September 2021, travel to Dubai to meet with X brand for a collaboration.

New goal: In September 2021, postponed trip (due to COVID-19), set up a video conference call and work with X brand virtually.

Revisiting goals and adjusting them will help you stay focused on the outcome of your five-year plan. You can modify your goals at any stage of your life progress. You may even find that some of your goals are being reached fast, while others take longer than you originally expected.

Read now: Why Tracking Your Progress Is Important

Tracking your progress can help you stay motivated!

Conclusion…

So, where do YOU see yourself in five-years from now?

It’s critical to remember that, although it can feel as if everyone around you is succeeding and on-track with their goals, that may not be the case. However, having a life coach could help you to see things from a better angle.

Read now: What is a Life Coach and What do They do?

Your only competition is yourself and you should only dictate your future yourself. With a five-year plan, you can begin to see where you were and how far you have come with your achievements.

Read now: Imposter Syndrome: What is it and How to Overcome it

Become a five-year plan professional with Ceed – Speak to us today to see how we can help you to create your perfect five-year plan.

Returning to Work after COVID: How to Manage Anxiety

Posted on 17 June 2021 - 11:00 am by admin

The majority of us have spent the past year more isolated than we have ever been before. With lockdown restrictions in full place from March 2020 and continuing throughout the majority of the last year, many people spent the lockdown on furlough or remote working. A complete contrast to the fast-paced British work culture we are used to.

In 2020, remote working became a crucial tool for rescuing jobs by allowing employees to work from home. Over a year later, the government are finally beginning to ease lockdown restrictions with all restrictions set to end completely on June 21^st, 2021.

Many people are finding themselves confused about what this means for the future of jobs. Will we return to the workplace Monday – Friday? Will we continue to work from home? What happens if there is another rise in COVID-19 cases?

Some people have also developed anxiety about returning to the workplace after so long away. In fact, Bdaily’s research found that 65% of workers are suffering with ‘return to work’ anxiety. So, if you are a little bit anxious, it’s safe to say you’re not alone in feeling that way.

In this article we’ve highlighted some tips we think you might find some useful for coping with anxiety.

After a year of working from home, returning to the office is a daunting affair.

It’s Ok to Be Anxious

It’s important to remind yourself that it is perfectly normal to be a little bit anxious. We’ve all been living in uncertain times so your feelings are valid and understandable. Many people are anxious about returning to work so you are not alone. You may even find that some of your colleagues feel the same.

Your return to work will likely be a gradual process. Make sure to give yourself some time to get used to it. Why not find a routine that will help you adjust and try to stick to it as much as possible? The important thing is to know you’re not alone and feeling anxious is not something to be ashamed of. With the right mindset and support system, anxiety can give way to reassurance.

The New Normal

Perhaps, the best thing you can do to prepare for your return to work is to accept that things will be different! COVID has meant we have all had to adjust to sudden changes over the past year. There will likely be some small changes at your workplace but it’s important to remember that it is all for a good cause.

You can familiarize yourself with any new policies and listen out for changes to Government guidelines. There are plenty of tips on gov.uk about working safely during COVID-19 for both employees and employers. It’s worthwhile to remind yourself that not all changes are negative. Some changes can be positive and you may find the changes to your workplace beneficial.

You’re not the only one experiencing these feelings. Talk to your boss or fellow employees about your concerns!

Speak to Your Boss

The best thing you can do in most cases is to speak with your employer. They will likely already have prepared for people to feel a little apprehensive about returning to work. You can take the initiative to ask them about the measures in place. If you are concerned about your health and being exposed to the virus, you can ask them about the specific health measures that will be used to keep you and your colleagues safe.

We also have an article on our blog that explains how businesses can implement digital wellbeing in the workplace. It’s valuable to remember that your employer is there to help you. They may have experienced some of the same feelings about the lockdown and will likely be eager to accommodate your return to the office.

Hybrid Working

Hybrid working or remote working is very likely to become the norm. Hybrid working is defined by Personnel Today as ‘a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between attending the workplace and working remotely (typically from home)’. If you are struggling with social anxiety about returning to work, this could be an effective solution to your problem.

You might feel worried about having to interact with your colleagues in person. Many employees have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home. Some people have even found that they are more productive than when they are at work.

If you have the option to work remotely and have done so over the past year, speak to your employer about your options. You could use hybrid working as a temporary solution to ease yourself into being back in the workplace.

Helpful Habits

Your daily habits can be crucial to your overall well-being. When you are feeling overwhelmed or anxious, healthy habits can help you better manage these feelings. Ensure that you get enough rest and implement habits such as healthy eating and exercise into your daily routine.

Mindfulness is a useful technique for coping with different types of anxiety. There are tons of effective meditation practices that can help calm your nerves. You can read more about the benefits of mindfulness in the form of meditation, writing and exercise here.

Try to foster a positive mindset by paying attention to your feelings.

In conclusion

Many people are experiencing anxiety about ‘the new normal’. Remind yourself that you have plenty of options; you can speak to your boss, explore flexible working and maintain positive habits. After reading this article, you should hopefully find it easier to manage your anxiety about returning to work.

If you are struggling with anxiety, you can always seek help from a professional. Get in contact with mental health services such as Mind or Samaritans for support.

If you would like to learn more about how Ceed can help your build and strengthen your mind, you can contact us today.

How to Take Effective Notes

Posted on 3 June 2021 - 11:00 am by admin

When you’re taking notes, it can be tempting to jot down everything you hear, but this makes it harder for you to make sense of your notes later down the line.

Ideally, note-taking involves summarising core concepts and theories in your own words, so you can understand and engage with these ideas with the topics you learn about.

But taking notes the right way can be tricky. By refining your note-taking process, you’ll have clear and concise notes that save you valuable time, energy and confusion.

Graphical user interface

Description automatically generated — Effective note-taking can massively improve the retention of information!

How should you take notes – Digital vs. paper notes?

First, you need to decide whether to take notes using a laptop or a notepad.

Each medium has its benefits and setbacks. With a laptop, more information can be recorded at a quicker rate but the tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim can disrupt learning.

Whereas with a notebook, you can process information and reframe it in your own words, however, it can be tough to read back if your handwriting isn’t neat.

According to a study, students who took notes by hand scored about three times higher than average on tests with conceptual questions than laptop users.

Whichever format you decide, as long as it helps with your learning, then you’re one step closer to taking better notes.

What method should you use to take notes?

Cornell Note-Taking System: Developed in the 1950s as part of a university preparation program (AVID), this method divides your notes into 4 sections:

Top row for the date and title
Middle section with two columns – one column for your main notes, another column for additional comments and questions
Bottom row for a quick summary

The benefit of using the Cornell method is that it forces students to summarise information systematically, rather than writing notes down verbatim.

In addition, it encourages students to review their notes so that they can fill in the final summary, which can help when it comes to highlighting the main takeaways from a lesson.

But these notes require a lot of upkeep – the page layout needs to be prepped in advance and a summary needs to be written for every set of notes.

The Outline Method: This method organises your notes into bullet points, with information being listed under relevant topics.

By not having to write full sentences, bullet points allow students to identify key points as a way to break down large amounts of information.

While these notes can be looked over easily, this method can be hard to implement if your notes are predominantly made up of diagrams and formulas rather than text.

The Box Method: This method divides your notes into different boxes. Each topic is assigned a particular box, and any information related to the topic is detailed in these boxes.

Organising your notes with boxes can help separate each topic, which can be reviewed easily after a long time.

On the other hand, if you can’t come up with overarching topics for your notes, then you’ll be left unsure about how to categorise each box, with little information in each.

The Mapping Method: This method works like a mind map, dividing your subtopics into branches from the main topic. This could be a good way to present important ideas and concepts visually.

Mapping allows you to make more than one connection between subtopics, which is beneficial if your points tie together. Also, creating branches allows you to add more information to your notes later on.

But it is easy to overcomplicate your mind map, and also doesn’t follow a chronological order that can help you digest this information.

These are just a few methods you could use to write down effective notes. Take time to experiment and modify these methods, so that you create an ideal system that strengthens your learning experience.

What are some note-taking strategies you can use before class, during class and after class?

Before class, it is useful to look over reading material to familiarise yourself with topics that will be discussed. This can be achieved by:

Completing reading assignments
Looking at the course syllabus/lecture presentation for that particular week
Reviewing notes from your previous class

During class, listen carefully to what’s being taught and write down relevant information that supports ideas being discussed. Keep your notes brief and concise by:

Focusing on the main points (which tend to be emphasised/repeated often)
Paraphrasing what you hear using your own words
Using abbreviations and symbols
Marking areas you find confusing so you can follow-up later

After class, it is important to look over your notes to make sure you clarify key terms and fill in any missing details for any complicated concepts. Organise your notes by:

Giving notes a title and date
Using highlighters and colours to emphasise certain ideas
Storing notes in one place

If you’re still struggling on a particular topic, feel free to email your lecturer or talk to other students, so that you can look back on your notes and grasp ideas that were discussed in class.

How to remember your notes?

When it comes to exam season, many students struggle to retain and recall the information they had noted down for their classes. Even when they look back on their notes, a lot of their understanding becomes lost over time.

The Forgetting Curve, theorised by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885, plots the relationship between memory and time remembered (in days).

He found that memory retention, which is at 100% when the information is initially learnt, drops rapidly to 40% after the first few days. This is because the rate of memory loss is rapid within the first few days of learning, but slows down after that.

So to retain information, repetition is key. Ideally, you would want to repeat information you have learnt within the first 24hrs to disrupt the rate of memory loss.

From then on, checking your notes in growing intervals can help you remember what you’ve learnt – this is why it is crucial to review your notes before and after class.

A picture containing text

Description automatically generated — Going back to look at your notes can really help your revision process.

Making effective notes is not something many students are taught about. But good note-taking can make a significant difference in the way you acquire and retain knowledge.

By understanding the processes that go behind taking notes, you will be able to recall information that will help you ace any upcoming exams!

Ceed is committed to helping students during their studies. If you would like more guidance when it comes to your learning, visit our website for more information!

The Positive Side Of Peer Pressure

Posted on 20 May 2021 - 2:01 pm by admin

Peer pressure seems to have a bad rep. And unjustly so.

The definition given by the APA Dictionary of Psychology: the influence exerted by a peer group on its individual members to fit in with or conform to the group’s norms and expectations.

We seem to derive an understanding of the term based on stories we hear of teenagers being peer pressured to try a cigarette, or skip class, or try alcohol for the first time.

Sure, peer pressure can at times persuade you towards negative influences, particularly when you are young – however, these influences are too often exaggerated.

The positive influences of peer pressure are actually a lot more prominent than realised and tend to be left unacknowledged.

What about the positive influence of your teacher encouraging you to study hard and achieve good grades?

Or the workout buddy that scolds you for not turning up to the gym as you promised?

Despite being subtle, peer pressure motivates us every day to do things that are beneficial to us.

Peer Pressure’s Influence On Teens

The teenage years can certainly be tough – you’re figuring out who you are and what you want in life, amongst the pressures of school work and raging hormones.

Peer pressure is particularly prevalent amongst teenagers, since this is the age group that tends to most be influenced by others. This is due to the desire to be accepted or valued by your peers, or to simply just ‘fit in’ at school.

According to a publication on peer pressure by Parent Further, 90% of those surveyed said that they had been influenced by peer pressure.

Whilst the negative connotations of the term seem to surround this age group, peer pressure can be used to its advantage, especially where it has the most influence.

Reasons Why Peer Pressure Isn’t All Bad

If surrounded by constructive influences, peer pressure can lead to these positive outcomes:

Inspires Positive Choices – When you are surrounded by influences that make positive choices, such as a friend who partakes in volunteering, or another who is dedicated to working hard at school, this in turn promotes positive expectations within yourself to replicate your peers.

Higher self-esteem – A student being told by their teachers that they are capable of achieving A grades will start to believe their capability, and will feel more motivated in studying towards this goal. A gym-goer being assigned a workout partner will feel motivated to keep up, remain competitive and stay motivated towards their workout goals. Positive reinforcement from a group or peer setting has demonstrated to be most effective in supporting and motivating your beliefs, leading to higher self-esteem and more of a can-do attitude.

Picking Up Healthy Habits – Friends who make healthy choices for themselves encourages you to do the same, making you healthier and happier!

Moral Support – Positive peer pressure keeps you accountable through support and encouragement, making you more likely to achieve your goals.

Let Ceed act as your peer to promote positive influence in your life, so that you stay on track and achieve your goals!

Why Tracking Your Progress Is Important

Posted on 20 April 2021 - 11:59 am by admin

Setting aside that largest and most important assignment to the last minute, whether it be in the workplace or at school, doesn’t sound like a biggie when you are keeping yourself occupied with other small, mundane tasks. You’re still being productive with your time, right?

Wrong. Due date looms and you’re scrambling to complete that assignment, relinquishing the fact that you clearly underestimated the time and effort needed to finish it.

Staying committed to what matters most can be difficult when presented with a variety of tedious tasks throughout the day.

But, how can you change this?

Small tasks that can be easily ticked off the to-do list give us that immediate but temporary buzz of satisfaction, and the pleasure of this tends to signal that we are being productive (which is not necessarily true!).

Don’t get us wrong, small wins are certainly motivating and shouldn’t be discredited – however, completion bias – where the brain specifically seeks the hit of dopamine one gets from completing a task – can deter us from striving for the completion of larger, more important tasks.

Smaller, quicker tasks to complete = more frequent doses of dopamine, and so the completion bias tends to nudge us towards easy-to-complete tasks, leaving the larger and more difficult tasks missing a tick off from the to-do list.

So how do you not let the completion bias deter you from important, meaningful work?

You should set out a method that acknowledges your progress.

“Most of us make advances small and large every single day, but we fail to notice them because we lack a method for acknowledging our progress. This is a huge loss.”
Teresa Amabile

Plan Your Progress To Stay Purposeful

“It’s important to know your priorities… that may sound obvious but it’s amazing how many people don’t identify their top three to five priorities — or fail to change how they structure their workdays when priorities change”
Gino and Staats

Making plans and tracking progress is incredibly important for productivity.

Acknowledging both what you have done (progress) and what you are doing (plan) enables you to reflect on your effort and to have more insight into the value you are creating. This naturally makes you more purposeful and mindful about the work you do.

When you don’t set in place methods for tracking progress, you lose the ability to set meaningful, effective goals – your days instead end up being filled with meaningless work.

Minimising context-switching of the brain with smaller tasks and being more thoughtful in what one does correlates with an increase in the completion of higher utility tasks and allows one to dive deeper in the notion of ‘quality over quantity’ – deterring us from the cons of the completion bias.

Ways To Keep Track Of Your Progress

Break up large tasks into smaller chunks: By doing this, you can reek in the frequent buzz of satisfaction achieved from completing smaller chunks which can act as massive motivators and push you towards fully completing the large task.

Establish regular and consistent reviews: Installing weekly or monthly reviews to reflect on the busy work life can help ensure that “what matters most” is kept top of mind. Highs and lows of the workweek can be contemplated to ensure that improvements are made in the future.

Set smaller daily quotas: Finishing the day with 80% of the work still ahead of you can be disheartening – start each day with a brand new daily quota that can be achieved as a forward motion.

Use Ceed to track progress on specific goals and projects: Ceed can help you achieve your long-term goals by supporting you on a day-to-day basis. Through the app, Ceed checks up on you every day to make sure you stay focused on your personal goals and desired habits.

Ultimately, staying committed to what matters most relies on the valuable insight of your progress, where one can plan the development of purposeful work. Without this methodology, completion bias can detain us from working on large, important tasks and instead propel us towards smaller, easy-to-complete tasks.

Benefits Of Smaller Classrooms: Applying Coaching Principles

Posted on 16 April 2021 - 12:18 am by admin

Classrooms at school have boomed to their largest size for nearly 20 years. Recent data suggests that the average class size is 24.6, yet hundreds of thousands of children are being taught in classes of more than 30 students. How can a student expect to learn effectively in this environment?

Whilst there is an incentive for policy-makers to increase class sizes in order to control spending on education, the drawbacks on individual learning are prominent.

The major reason why a smaller classroom is beneficial? Teachers can take on the role of a coach which facilitates personal development and specialised learning techniques for the student.

Teaching vs Coaching – What’s The Difference?

It is important to understand that there is a difference between teaching and coaching in the classroom.

The line between the two is created by the relationship the teacher has with the student.

Teaching is the imparting of new knowledge onto someone who is in the position to learn, or is instructing someone as to how to do something.

It is merely presenting knowledge by taking charge of the interaction.

Coaching uses purpose-led techniques in the classroom to really understand and guide the student with individual attention to understand his/her educational needs and create change.

Coaching presents knowledge by levelling the interaction to a humanistic connection. Through conversations lead by support and guidance, coaches extract mindful answers so that they can observe how and what the students learn. Coaches can then re-evaluate the teaching approach to provide a more refined experience for the student.

Coaches Can’t Coach The Masses

A teacher can impart knowledge and present information onto the masses, however this presentation is unmodified on a personal stance to give preference to any student.

Coaching is centred around the student, and so teacher’s cannot adopt coaching principles in a larger classroom where it becomes hard for that individual to divide his or her attention and guide each student individually.

Therefore, teachers can only apply coaching principles in smaller classrooms.

The Benefits Of Coaching A Smaller Classroom

“Coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance.”

– Atul Gawande, Personal Best, The New Yorker

Here are some reasons as to why a student can benefit from learning in a smaller classroom, where teachers can apply coaching principles:

More attention from the teacher: In a smaller classroom, teachers will have more of an opportunity to get to know each of their students better, can assess the best way in which they work and guide them towards improving on their weaknesses.

More efficient learning: Teachers can assess the student’s particular needs and can develop a teaching approach that facilitates more efficient learning for the individual. This in turn results in better academic results.

More feedback: Teachers will have more time to individualize the class’ feedback, where students can reflect on their progress and make the required changes to improve on their weaknesses.

More confidence: In a smaller size classroom, students feel more confident to participate, helping to strengthen the engagement and relationship between the student and teacher.

Ultimately, a smaller classroom enables teachers to apply coaching principles, whereby every student receives an individualised learning experience through personal communication and support.

This in turn results in more efficient learning and better academic results.

With Ceed, we provide everyone within your educational institution a coaching experience so that they become better learners and teachers.

Why Managers Should Move Towards The Role Of A Coach

Posted on 12 April 2021 - 10:46 am by admin

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented disruption and uncertainty in the workplace, and managers simply cannot be expected to have all the answers during this unforeseen crisis.

Command-and-control practices of management seem increasingly archaic and don’t function in the modern era. A management style that bases its success principles on what worked best in the past can no longer be used as a guide to what will work best in the future.

Therefore, managers need to adjust their leadership style to a more flexible and adaptive model that facilitates problem-solving in a constantly changing environment.

The best way to adjust? Managers should begin to adhere to a coaching model that puts the well-being and support of employees at centre-heart.

What Is Command-And-Control?

Command-and-control is an authoritative style of leadership where instructions are given through a top-down approach that adhere to procedural standards of the organisation – these standards have been developed in order to reproduce the businesses’ previous successes.

Whilst there are benefits to this approach such as standardising products and services, facilitating quality control and achieving goals quickly, the draw-backs are much more prevalent on lower level employees.

Command-and-control management limits the autonomy of employees to come up with creative and innovative ideas, contributing to frustration and a lack of motivation in a hierarchical system.

It also contributes to slower responses when faced with challenges, since the management style is based on rigidity and regularity that limits the ability to adapt quickly.

Therefore, companies should no longer base their leadership style on command-and-control due to lack of creative input and motivation from employees.

Instead, managers should move towards the role of a coach.

A Manager As A Coach

To cope with the ever changing realities of modern times, companies are moving towards a management style that encourages employee input and innovation – a people-centred coaching style.

Communication and collaboration is a vital component of a coaching style of leadership, in which managers give encouragement, support and guidance rather than instructions.

The Benefits Of A Coaching Style Of Management:

More Efficient Workforce: Research shows that coaching leads to better engagement, higher productivity, and enhanced customer service.

Build Morale: Abolishing a rigid system of hierarchy and instead allowing for communication and collaboration flourish throughout the company builds morale and enables every member to feel included and valued – this in turn leads to a lower turnover rate of staff.

Increased Innovation: Alongside the manager’s support and guidance, control is relinquished to employees so that workers have more scope for their creative input heard and taken on board.

Quicker Shared Solutions: As problems arise for the company, a collaboration of many minds of workers will result in quicker problem solving and more efficient solutions.

Increased Collaboration: Employees of all levels are granted the opportunity to discuss problems and bounce ideas off of one another, building trust across departments.

Ultimately, the pandemic has brought and will continue to bring drastic change in the way we work, and consequently companies have embarked on a major process of organisational change.

This organisational change must adopt a continuous form of on-the-job development, and the best way they can do this is by adopting a coaching style of leadership.

Ceed can provide the toolkit for managers to succeed in their coaching leadership, helping improve productivity and motivation within your business.

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