Beat Society - an inspirational post, draft for my English controlled assessment

Society is messed up. We are all so superficial, we worry less about what our family thinks of us and more about what our “friends” think. We will spend our time finding trends to follow and things that we “can’t live without”, taking compromising ‘selfies’ and making sure we constantly look our best, rather than investing our time in worthwhile things like spending time with our family and building lasting relationships. As a generation we tend to believe that the respect of our peers and strangers is more important than the respect of our families and teachers.

Everybody wants to be popular, but the word has lost its true meaning. In reference to a person it means “generally liked and admired”. Think about the 'popular' people in your school or workplace. They aren’t the kind, funny and smart people that you would think might be “generally liked and admired”, they are the beautiful, superficial people who push people down to raise their social status. People don’t like them; they want to be liked by them.

If society is a mountain, those people are at the top. There are people all the way up the mountain trying to reach the summit. Think about where you are on that mountain. Are you trying to get to the top? Or are you comfortable with where you are and you’re just chilling?
Sometimes the kings and queens who reside on the top of the mountain will throw a rope down, this could be a remark like “Isn’t that girl so ugly? She totally needs to lose weight.” Or a question like “How far have you gone with a girl?” some people will jump right on the rope in the hope of being hauled up the mountain a little, even if they have to shove their friends out of the way. This is what is truly sad about society. Most people are so desperate for popularity, even the ones who say they don’t care, that they will drop everything to get there, even their only friends.

Another way of looking at it is that the popular people are in this bubble and everyone else is outside it. Some people don’t even notice the bubble, they don’t see the popular people as being superior; some people notice the bubble but are indifferent, they just go on with their lives; and some people are constantly trying to get into the bubble, much to the annoyance of those within.
What these desperate people don’t see is what hard work being popular is, once you are accepted it's like running on a never ending treadmill trying to catch up, shoving everyone else out of the way and never really truly being yourself. Sounds great, huh?

Sometimes it feels like you are being shunned by the world, but if it feels like that, you are surrounding yourself with the wrong people. Make sure you are surrounding yourself with people as opposed to ideals and high standards. You need to make your own standards; they are the only ones you can live up to while still being yourself.
Do little things to build up the big things: call your friend, play cards with your brother, help your mom make dinner. These are the things that will still matter in ten years’ time, whether you were ‘popular’ in school won’t. When you're on your death bed what will you want, your diploma and your sports car or your family and your loved ones? If you spend too much time worrying about the superficial things in life you’ll lose the important things. Smile. Be positive. Being on the outside is okay, in fact, being on the outside is the best place to be.

Self-Discipline

Any remaining followers: OMG. YOU'RE ALIVE? GUYS, SHE'S FREAKING ALIVE! THIS IS A FREAKING MIRACLE.

I hear you, I hear you, I know it's been a long time but I hope that maybe the title will indicate why I'm writing this now. I re-discovered the phrase 'self-discipline' while procrastinating doing my History homework (I didn't miss the irony). I read this article http://www.uncommonhelp.me/articles/self-discipline-techniques/ which is fairly uninteresting and nothing spectacular but I needed inspiration and a spark was enough. Since Saturday I have been a perfect human. Well... I have been a self-disciplined human. After I read this article I tidied my room, which I had been halfheartedly doing all day (it was 16:30), and when I say tidy I mean tidy. My room is immaculate. It's pretty beautiful really.
Then I sat down and did my History essay. I brushed my teeth (for two whole minutes as well) and went to bed. I woke up yesterday and the self-discipline continued. I rewarded myself after finishing planning for the last stretch of my English controlled assessment by watching a film (About Time, super duper worth watching). After I watched the film I started on my next task, doing my MyMaths homework.
Being self-disciplined is a truly beautiful thing. I went for a run this morning guys. A run. At 6:30 AM. Be proud, guys, be freaking proud.
SOOO... I know what you're all thinking "Georgia, how do I become as perfectly wonderful as you?"
Well here are some tips I have for you, after exactly 2 and a bit days of being perfe- self-disciplined:

1. It's the little things that matter. You may think that it's important for you to go on your run or do that huge essay but what will really make a difference, and make self-discipline a habit is putting your mug in the dishwasher rather than leaving it on your desk where you drank it and not leaving your clothes lying around but actually folding them away right after you take them off. It's the little actions that make a habit.
2. No excuses. Don't listen to those measly excuses your brain is making up just do that thing you're putting off. Now.
3. Be honest with yourself and others. "Oh I'm not going to go on my run today because it's kind of muddy and my trainers are new, plus it's starting to get dark and cold and I can feel a cold coming on and-" "No. You're not going on a run because you're lazy and you can't be bothered. You're not going on a run because you're unfit, but guess what? You're never going to get fit if you stay on Tumblr all day." Sometimes the truth is hard to take, be brutal if necessary.
4. Record the things you need to do. I have a whiteboard on the back of my bedroom door which I never really used until now, I put the 'big' things that I need to do on it (e.g. Maths homework or tidy your room). At the top instead of To Do: I've written You are going to:. I think this is just more positive, I also have tried to personalise it "your media homework" because it's more of a personal instruction; this is what works for me so obviously do what suits you.
   I also haven't written the stuff that is part of my daily routine (e.g. showering or going for a run) because that's basically giving yourself a task for the sake of crossing it off.
   Notice how I wrote 'need' in italics earlier, this is because I have two to-do lists. One of them on my whiteboard for things that I have to do, things with external deadlines or implications if they are not done; then, on my phone I have a free app called "Do It Tomorrow" (if you don't do the tasks on the day you write them, they just get transferred to the next day) which I use for the things I'd like to do when I get a chance. My current list includes:
   -Write Self-Discipline blog post
   -Visit Darcey's Tumblr
   -Make booklet for 'money-managing'
   -Listen to Another Love
   -Listen to First Day of My Life
   I only put things on this list if I can't do them right then, either because I physically can't or because I'm in the middle of a task.
5. Reward yourself. That's right, make a list of things you want to do (small things like watching a film or an episode of something) and do one of them once you've finished your tasks. I try to stick to three 'big' tasks per reward. A reward is nice because otherwise you'd be working non-stop and life would be suckish.

Anyway, I'm no expert on self-discipline but these are things I've worked out and things I've read about so I hope they help you out if you're struggling with procrastination and laziness. I apologize for my hiatus from Blogger recently but I will be posting at least once a week from now on.

Love you loads <3
Georgia