Speaker 1: When I was in high school, I was the procrastination queen. I would stay up late playing video games for hours and hours and then leave literally everything to the last minute and end up pulling all-nighters to finish assignments and study for exams. When I was at university, I was still the procrastination queen and this time no one forced me to stick to a schedule so I could sleep all day and catch up on lecture recordings all night.

Speaker 2: I got a bad feeling about this.

Speaker 1: This study strategy worked for me until it didn't. I did end up failing some assignments at uni, but alas, I got there in the end. I graduated somehow. I'm now employed full-time as a software engineer so I never have to study again. That's a lie. Turns out studying doesn't end at uni, so that leads me to where I am now. I have an exam coming up. It's to get a certification with Microsoft for one of their cloud technologies and there's a lot of concepts in data engineering which I'm learning for the first time. Now, unlike high school and university, I can no longer be the procrastination queen. 1. My employer is paying for this exam, so if I fail, that does not look good. 2. I work full-time now, Monday to Friday. I can't pull all-nighters or I will die. 3. I just want to be a better person and like a more productive member of society. Also, this cycle of procrastinating and then cramming to the last minute is not good for my mental health. How does one actually study? How do you not procrastinate? How do you write a study schedule and stick to it? How do you study while working a full-time job? Let's figure it out. I need help. Step 1. Break it down. Step 2. Schedule study time. Step 3. Just do it. Just do it. Okay, it looks like I'm being productive here, but I'm literally just copying down a list of study topics of what's going to be on the exam. And I guess it's good to break down the different topics you have to study for the exam, but I never actually referenced this piece of paper once in the week that followed this. So maybe it wasn't the best way to spend my time. I feel sweaty. Is this stress? So at this point, I'm scheduling my time and trying to kind of allot time for studying into my day. I guess I'm doing a really rough attempt at calendar blocking. I'm basically allocating myself some time to study every single day, or nearly every single day. And days that I'm working from home, I'm allocating studying in the morning, which is a lot and something I never do. I really like my sleep. So, uh, good luck. That took me so much longer than I thought it would. I don't think there's ever been a single point in my entire life, like my entire history of existence, where I have woken up and the first thing I've done for the day is study. And now I've put together a plan that involves me studying for one, two, three, four, eight different mornings. But hey, just because you've never done something before doesn't mean you're not capable of it. It's a challenge. Also, tricking myself into studying by making it into a video. You know, if I'm like, oh, I'm going to film myself studying in the morning. I'm not, I'm not like feeling crappy about the fact that I have to study. I'm feeling excited because I'm making a video. Hmm? Hmm? Big brain. It's currently 10pm Sunday, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning.

Speaker 2: I've been pressing snooze for an hour and a half. Happy Monday. What will I have for breakfast today? I should really wake up and just go straight to washing my face because that's like the way to wake up. Rather than waking up and spending an hour and a half in bed on my phone.

Speaker 3: My eyes are watering and I now have a runny nose. Hey fever, help. I wasted so much time this morning on my phone and just not getting out of bed. So I'm just going to do a little bit of studying, like skim reading a lot of this stuff. Like skim reading a lot of the theory.

Speaker 1: Okay, just reading theory is not it. There's a reason math was my favourite subject in school. I did really well when I get to work through like practice exercises and do hands-on things. So I guess that's how I learn best. And just sitting here trying to read through random documentation is painful.

Speaker 4: Well, one morning of studying done and then just cut to the next scene of me doing practice questions.

Speaker 1: It's the next day. It's like when life gets chaotic, I feel like studying is the first thing I de-prioritize. Like work, I get paid for. Gym is good for my mental health. And then other stuff happening and I just never end up disciplining myself and making myself study. And I don't have any time this morning to study because I slept in so late. And then tonight I won't have much time because I'm on the Gold Coast at the moment and I have to drive back home to Brisbane. I just need to stop being so hard on myself. Like I was inspired to make this video because I've watched lots of other YouTube videos like this or I watched one recently about this girl. I'll put her channel here. She's so cool.

Speaker 4: Sorry if you can hear that.

Speaker 1: And she studies three mornings a week and has been doing that for so many months while working full-time. I was just so inspired by her mindset and dedication and discipline to do that. And I was like, you know, I have an exam coming up. I'm capable of doing that. Just set your mind to it. And then day two and I've already failed to stick to my schedule. Anyway, sorry. You don't want a bum in your face, do you? I'll talk to you later. Hopefully I'll be doing more studying at some point. Bye-bye. I probably shouldn't be filming myself while driving. Oh hey, another time lapse. I'm not actually studying here or at least I'm kind of studying but not for the exam. So at this point, it's like Thursday night. We've skipped a few days. I didn't get much done. And I'm actually catching up on like my nine to five work but in the evening. And basically it's because I've been learning a new tool, Power BI, which isn't really software engineering. It's more like business analyst stuff. But it's always cool to learn new tools. And because I'm new to it, I was kind of taking a bit of time in the evening to play around with the stuff I was doing in that. So I guess this was still studying. Just uh... But I'm definitely falling behind on the exam study. So now it's Friday night and my lovely boyfriend is practicing some mixing on the decks. So it's a bit of a party up in here. So what a perfect time to do some practice questions on an exam. Ultimate work-life balance. Good morning. It's now Saturday. A whole week has passed and I've studied twice. But hey, that's okay. I made a study plan. I couldn't stick to it. This is realistic, right? We don't have to stress. It's Saturday morning. I have time now. Let's do some study. But first we need to wake up. Does anyone else like to pretend they're a bartender when they're making a protein shake? That's one espresso martini coming up. What should I have for lunch today? Should we get changed? Okay, filming this was fun. But now I've got to actually do work. Time lapse time. I'm taking a practice test online. And it's always a fun experience to realize how little you actually know. Drink your water. Stay hydrated. So I got 40% on this practice test. But that makes sense given I haven't actually been studying very much. So the idea is now that I can see everywhere I got wrong, I can hypothetically study those areas. And the next time I do a practice test, be a bit better. Side note. Does anyone else feel like since they finished school and are working and don't actually use a pen and paper much anymore, their handwriting has gone to shit? It just feels so chaotically messy. But maybe that's just part of the process. Life is chaotic. Life is chaotic. Don't mind that toilet paper. I ran out of tissues and I still have a runny nose. Is it hay fever? Maybe I'm just allergic to studying. Wouldn't that be a shame? How do people study for like eight hours? Like my brain is dead after like one. Why am I sitting on the floor? I just thought the lighting was better here. Let's not question it. So studying is hard. Last Sunday, I did the thing where I put together like a rough study guide. And in my iPad, I was like drawing out which days of the week I was going to study. There's so many videos on YouTube that like romanticize studying and romanticize the grind and the hustle. But if you're like me and you work nine to five and then you go to the gym after work and then you have dinner. By the end of the night, you just want to sit on the couch and watch some Netflix. And that's okay. Like all these content creators that create all this awesome content that is really motivational and inspirational. And like it's great and it works for them. But sometimes it sets like unrealistic expectations for people. And I don't know, maybe by me making this video, I can kind of help normalize not needing to be perfect and not needing to grind. Obviously, I still do have an exam coming up that I do need to practice for and I just failed a practice exam. So I do need to study, but at my own pace. I'll get there. Eventually. So what exactly is the secret to studying while also working full time? I have yet to figure it out, but I do admire everyone who does it. Unfortunately, I couldn't expect myself to unlearn like a decade of bad study habits in a week. I still have this exam coming up. Will I end up cramming everything in the few days before? Probably. But hey, I'm working on it. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next video.