How to beat procrastination and get motivated- 4 quick tips

Hi Readers,
Given that I have recently posted about sensitive, hard-hitting subjects this post will beat about a more light hearted subject...procrastination. As a law student this is something that I struggle with all the time. In this article I will give you my 4 top tips to beat procrastination. Of course these will not only work for law students although the examples of each tip I give will be aimed at law students. These tips are not limited to just students either, unfortunately procrastination is as big a problem for adults at work as it is students. Therefore I hope you find these tips useful and I would greatly appreciate any feedback at the bottom of this post, Twitter, Facebook or Google +.

1. Relaxation
The first and most important thing when combatting procrastination is to break the cycle of procrastinating--> panicking because you have not done any work--> feeling as though you are going  to fail--> procrastinating again. The first step to take is to slow your panicked thoughts down and relax. In order to do this you can try a number of things. 

My personal choice is meditation. You can search for a short guided meditation in YouTube or look for a meditation guide on google or an app to help you learn the art of meditation. I would recommend this 11 min quick motivational meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ub9kncj5J0
 
 

If meditation is not your cup of tea you could try exactly that... a nice cuppa. Go to your kitchen boil the kettle a take that time to slow your breathing and calm down to a point where you realise that you can complete the task that you need to finish. Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee or just a nice cool juice if its hot and allow yourself 15 mins in a quiet room to enjoy in preferably without a TV or music on in order to just take some time to slow your mind. 

Alternatively you may like to take 15 mins to do some yoga, go for a run/swim/ cycle or any other physical activity you may enjoy. The physical exercise will not only relax you but also distract you from your mental dilemma and allow you to take some time out. Warning: Do not spend more than 30 mins on your relaxing activity or else you risk getting carried away in the activity and forget your  work all together.

2. Positivity
Once you are relaxed focus on why your sitaution is not as bad as first thought. Perhaps look through old exam results or essay feedbacks if you are struggling with procrastination during exam season. Alternatively  look at the positive things you have done in your job if it is career procrastination that is bothering you whether that be a recent bonus, promotion or complimentary emails from your boss. 

If the exam/presentation/ piece of work you are struggling to complete is needed in order to help you achieve an ambition you may also like to watch a TV programme based on that ambition. For me this involves a few minutes of the new episode of Suits. In order to reinforce in my mind what I am working for and how much the work will be worth it in the end. 
 
Source : http://mettelray.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/suits-2x01/


3. Perspective 
Third is ensuring that your panic is only proportionate to your problem. Take 5 mins to realise that if you do fail it is not the end of the world. Remember all the times you have failed in your life. You were upset, disappointed, angry at yourself and felt let down. However, you got through those failures. You got knocked down but you got up you carried on and you came out just fine. Also remeber that failure is not always a bad thing. It can create opportunities to improve yourself, your career, your grades and your work. Some of the most sucessful people on the planet have failed. For example Winston Churchill was estranged from his political party because its members disagreed with his ideology, Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first TV job, Walt Disney was fired as a newspaper editor because he ' lacked imagination'. Therefore however bad your situation may be always ensure you keep hold of perspective and know that no matter what happens on your death bed this will not matter. 
 
 Source: http://www.bammel.org/blog/perspective

4. Goals
The final stage is setting goals. This can be writing down a 'To do' list, creating a timetable or just a simple folder of work that you can see fill up as you get closer to the end of the job at hand. Whichever system that works for you, all that matters is that you feel accomplished everytime you complete a short/ manageable portion of your work. 
 
 Source: http://crossfitlittleton.net/2013/09/15/tips-for-successful-goal-setting-and-achievement/

Final Note
The above does not mean that you have to do all 4 tips in order or even at all. It is designed to be a pick and mix list of ideas whereby you can design your procrastination beating strategy based on the nature of the work that you need to complete, the deadlines that you need to meet and the feelings you are experiencing at the time. Most of all remember my key quote:

"Winners never quit, quitters never win" Vince Lombardi

Is Jimmy Savile a psychopath?

Introduction
During my second year of my law degree I studied criminology as my elective module. My favourite criminological topic we covered was psychopaths. These are very interesting people who are commonly misdefined in many legal systems. In this article, I will consider what a psychopath is and whether Jimmy Savile could be considered a psychopath.

What is a psychopath?
Unfortunately for criminologists there is no one uniform definition of a psychopath. In  his book
  The Mask of Sanity, Hervey Cleckley outlines 16 features of a psychopath. This was not designed to be a exhaustive list nor a list that the individual needs to satisfy completely in order to be classified as a psychopath. Here are Cleckley's 10 features of a psychopath taken from The Mask of Sanity:

1.Intelligent and superficially charming
2. No delusions or signs of abnormal thinking- hence the psychopath 'masks' his insanity
3. Absence of anxiety and ability to remain calm and communicative/ Ability to lie convinicingly and act insincerely
4. Irresponisble / impulsive attitude
6. Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior/ Poor judgment and failure to learn from experience.
7. Selfishness and egocentricity
8. Failure to  feel deep lasting emotions/ Lack of empathy 
 9.  Vulgarity, rudeness, quick mood shifts and possible enjoyment of pranks that others may deem 'too much'
10. An impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated sex life.

Was Jimmy Savile a psychopath?

 Intelligent and superficially charming
It is clear from Savile's ability to get away with such horrendous crimes for many decades that he must have been an intelligent man. His ability to charm his way into a position of power and Broadmoor shows his ability to calculate and carry out the best way to sexually abuse patients and get away with it. His charm is evident in any TV performance he gave and many victims have described his charm as one of the many reasons that no one believed them when they reported his crimes and in some cases his charm was the reason they trusted him to be in their hospital rooms/ dorms etc. This aticle evidences such an incident http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/26/jimmy-savile-institutions-victims-abuse.
 Savile's intelligence and charm got him into power at Broadmoor and enabled him to abuse numerous patient and perhaps, as is now alleged, corpses. http://ukpaedos-exposed.com/the-civil-servant-in-the-home-offices-pie-funding-inquiry-and-his-academic-articles-on-boy-love/councillorspolitical-party-affiliated/cover-ups/bbc-spent-more-than-22million-on-staff-gagging-pay-offs/esther-rantzen-was-she-ignorant-to-child-abuse/jimmy-saville-witch-hunt-or-paedophile/savile-broadmoor-necrophilia/
Therefore it is clear that Savile satisfies the first feature of a psychopath.

No delusions or signs of abnormal thinking- hence the psychopath 'masks' his insanity
 What is also clear from the Savile case is that not many people suspected that he was in any way insane. There are people who knew about his crimes however no one is making the claim that he was in anyway insane. There are no reports of delusions or abnormal thinking in terms of mental illness. Of course his thinking that it was acceptable to rape and abuse children and vulnerable adults and his suspected necrophillia is not in any way normal thinking. However, there does not appear to be any evidence to suggest that he was delusional. Therefore Savile satisfies this feature of a psychopath.

Absence of anxiety and ability to remain calm and communicative/ Ability to lie convinicingly and act insincerely
 It is clear from the copious amounts of TV footage of Savile that he maintained his ability to stay calm and captivate an audience even when there are children on stage with him who have claimed he had raped them hours before shooting for TV programmes. This article demonstrates Savile's ability to act normally and convince a school that it should allow him access to its pupils as he was treated as 'royalty' because he was a celebrity who the children thought would bring them 'cigarettes, sweets and records' http://www.featureworld.co.uk/recent-2012/storysold94-jimmy-savile-victim/ Therefore it is also clear that Savile satisfies this feauture of a psychopath

Irresponisble/ impulsive attitude 
 Given that Savile died having never been convicted of any of his alleged crimes it is clear that he was irresposible. He never admitted any crimes or took responibility for the victims he impregnanted or the child concieved. This article shows that he even went as far as to convince one 16 year old pregnant victim to convince doctors that she would comit suicide if she was denied an abortion
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2670444/Jimmy-Savile-abused-corpses-boasted-jewellery-glass-eyes-NHS-report-reveals-shocking-new-details-paedophiles-crimes.html.

Many other reports also demonstrate that Savile was impulsive in that he had a tendency to show up unnanouced in order to abuse and groom his victims. This article demonstrates how he would appear in teenager's dorms and grope them and then the victims would be dismissed as troublemakers and liars who sold sex for cigarettes http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10844944 This shows that Savile had the irresponsible and impulsive attitude of a psychopath

 Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior/ Poor judgment and failure to learn from experience.
Given that Savile's alleged abuse spanned over more than a quarter of a century it is clear that he did not learn from or regret any of the crimes he commited. It seems certain that he justified his crude words and provocative behaviour as a love for young pretty women. Clearly an inadequate motivate and a mask for a truely dark desire to rape, assault and destroy children and vulnerable adults lives. The Huffington Post even reported Savile boasting about his ring made out of dead patients' false eyes. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/26/jimmy-saville-glass-eye-rings_n_5532464.html This shows Savile's severe lack of judgement and therefore demonstates his psychopathic tendencies

The 'eyeball ring' that Savile was referring to. Source:http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5716974/jimmy-savile-made-rings-from-glass-eyes-of-the-dead.html

Selfishness and egocentricity
 Savile's desire for fame, fortune and power in order to cover up his crimes shows his deep set selfishness. His ability to believe that he was entitled to perform such hideous crimes against such young/ vulnerable people shows that he really did believe that he was the centre of the universe and his 'needs' deserved to be met. Godley's research into Savile's psychological profile shows him to be a narcissistic evil predator who believed he was obsessed with his own self image and fame. The reasearch write up can be found by following this link http://thewritingowl.hubpages.com/hub/Narcissistic-Personality-Disorder-Paedophilia-and-Jimmy-Savile and is good evidence that Savile showed the egocentricity of a psychopath.

Failure to feel deep lasting emotions/Lack of empathy
Savile has now allegedly raped and abused up to 500 women and children. In the past few days it has also been alleged that he was a necrophile who molested and raped bodies in the Morgues of Leeds General Infirmary and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. If these accusations are true then this is the best way we can prove that Savile lacked empathy. The longevity of his crimes show that if he ever did feel any remorse it was fleeting and did not prevent him from continuing his life of rape and necrophilia. For more details on Savile's alleged crimes please read the live updates on this link and see for yourself hoe it demonstrates his psychopathy http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/sir%20jimmy%20savile

Vulgarity, rudeness, quick mood shifts and possible enjoyment of pranks that others may deem 'too much'
Perhaps most obviously Savile was noted for his vulger and rude remarks and this shows that he had this trait of a psychopath. Savile was reported as saying that he would give Amanda Holden an 'gynaecological problem' when he met her aged 19 at Leeds General Infirmary http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2470012/Amanda-Holden-Jimmy-Savile-lewd-comments-hospital.html

Savile also famously said that peadophile, Gary Glitter 'did nothing wrong' http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/01/jimmy-savile-claimed-paedophile-gary-glitter-did-nothing-wrong_n_1928119.html

These incidents and many more show that Savile was quick to change from a serious and charming personality to gain access to potential victims to a vulgar  predator who made inappropriate comments to women and children. It also suggests that despite no publication on pranks Savile may have enjoyed inappropriate pranks in the same way he seemed to thrive on making comments that make most people want to be sick. 
 
An impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated sex life.
Given the nature of Savile's alleged rape,  sexual assualt and necrophila charges it is clear that his sex life was everything but normal and so he satisfies this feature of a psychopath. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/celebrity-news/late-tv-star-jimmy-savile-faces-new-necrophilia-allegations/article19346640/

Conclusion
Based on the above analysis of the alleged crimes of Jimmy Savile it is clear that he can be labelled a psychopath. My aim for this article was to decipher how we as members of the public should approach the media reports on Savile and also help us to understand him. We need to understand the crimes of Savile in order to understand how to prevent them. The first way to do this is decide what type of criminal he was, a psychopath. The next steps we can take to understand Jimmy Savile ways are expertly decribed by Oliver James in his article for The Guardian published yesterday (26th June) http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/inside-the-mind-of-jimmy-savile

The dark side of the World Cup in Brazil

What has been going on in Brazil?
Other than a thrilling World Cup, this summer in Brazil there have been countless stories of football fans buying hard drugs from the children in Brazil's favelas and media reports about children being used as prostitutes for fans who wish to have sex with underage children. On the face of it this should be an issue for the government of Brazil but with the world cup FIFA have become entagled in this human rigts mess because it was the FIFA board who voted to hold the World Cup in Brazil despite the human rights concerns.

Exanples of the stories in Brazil include :

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/world-cup-child-prostitution_n_5474716.html#- The Huffington post on children selling sex for a packet of cigarettes

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/international_law_news/2013/fall/soccer_samba_and_sex_preventing_human_trafficking_attending_brazils_world_cup_and_olympics.html- The American Bar Association legal news article on preventing human trafficking at the Brazilian World Cup and Olympics

http://www.mnnonline.org/news/2014-world-cup-cause-human-trafficking-spike/- Katy Hearth's article on why the World Cup could cause a spike in Human Trafficking levels

What happens to the fans who are caught engaging in these illegal acts?
There is a prominent legal issue here in that those fans who engage in illegal activities in Brazil are not arrested and tried in Brazil but are deported back to their country of origin. This is a major problem for the Brazilian victims because it means that Brazilian law is not clamping down on sex and drug trafficking because it is the countries where the fans are from that are punishing their citizen's for committing the crimes of drug use or rape (rape because despite the fact the prostitutes are consenting to the sexual acts they are not of an age to consent to having any kind of sexual contact)

Should FIFA take any responsibility?
Although this is not just a Brazilian problem the drugs and sex gangs in the World Cup reports are Brazilian and so primarily it is for Brazil to combat their own legal issues. However, given that FIFA knew of the situation before the World Cup they shoud take some responsibility for thedevastating results that being involved in the sex and drugs trade has on the children and adults involved. FIFA have been adversely affected by statistics that show that had Brazil not been given the World Cup then the money they have spent on the tournament could have paid for Brazil's welfare bill twice over or more. This would mean that many of those involved in human trafficking and the drugs trade would not need to be involved as they would no longer be living in povery stricken flavelas and could instead live in safer and more protected accomodation. Again it should be stressed that FIFA are not responisible for their crimes but there is an outcry for FIFA to acknowlege that football in general should not be treating such Human Rights issues as an unfortuantely inevitability for making football a global game.

What should FIFA be doing?
In reality, there is not a great deal that FIFA can do. My argument is that they should be creating stricter criteria that host nations have to meet in order to host a World  Cup including adequate Human Rights protection for both natives and fans and good control of local sex and drug related crime. No one is expecting Brazil to have no drugs or sex crime but what should be expected is an effective legal and policing system that means that the World Cup will not increase exploitation of children or adults.

Picture Source: www.catwlac.org- see this site for ways in which you can help support the movement against sex trafficking in Brazil

The media's role in the situation
There is evidence to suggest that the figures based on trafficking before and after the world cup are inaccurate. Similar scares started before both the German World Cup of 2006 and the South African World Cup 2010. In her article for AlJazeera (link below) Sonja Dolinsek explains that in  Germany it was shown by the Federal criminal Office that only 5 incidents of trafficking were related to the World Cup

For Sonja's article follow: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/201465123438956286

In reality this shows us that although FIFA should be careful to investigate World Cup hosts they cannot be held responsible for the trafficking situation in Brazil. The media may misrepresent the cases of trafficking related crime during the World Cup in order to create animosity towards FIFA and create some accountability for a failing Brazilian criminal law system. That is not wise, when it comes down to it, it is Brazil's responsibility. As nationals of other states we should be concerned with ensuring our citizens are not buying drugs are having illegal sex in Brazil.

Conclusion

All in all we should remember the World Cup is about bringing the beautiful game yo the masses and encouraging harmony through global appreciation of one sport. The media should learn from the mistakes of the past and hopefully during this world cup will distinguish between football based issues and legal issues that should rightfully be left to the Brazilian government.

Image Source: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-love-the-beautiful-game/- my sentiments exactly

#yesallwomen

The Santa Barbara shootings

Just last month a British born man Elliot Rodger's stabbed his 3 people, 2 ex flatmates  and their friend. He then shot and killed 3 people who he targeted at random and injured 7 more people in Santa Barbara USA. The tragedy was a result of months of planning on Rodgers' part and multiple failures by the US authorities to prevent a man whom they knew to be mentally unstable and dangerous from committing such a henious crime. Elliot had created nemerous YouTube videos whereby he expressed anger and despair and being rejected by multiple women. He then went on to post an online misogynistic manifesto of over 140 pages in which he explained that women were evil and sorority girls should be killed because they rejected him. ABC News reported that at the time Rogers' was being treated by a number of different therapists who knew he was mentally unstable. Yet despite this as the shootings took place Rodgers' parents were out frantically trying to find their son who they had warned authorities could be dangerous. This lead to a Twitter trend known as #yesallwomen where women around the globe posted examples of misogynist behaviour that they had suffered from beatings and rapes down to everyday sexist remarks.

Moral panic fuelled by the media 

Although #yesallwomen is a great movement and worthy of note the Rodger case is far more complex than the media has made out. Yes, Rodger was a misogynist but the media has tried to create a moral panic whereby all sexist behaviour is deemed to be dangerous to a grave degree. Of course in 2014 women should be seen as equal to men but the reality is they are not. This does not mean however that all men who hold misogynist views are dangerous. Rodger's case was the exception not the rule! For Rodger, mental instability, failure by the state to help him, the opportunity to commit a crime and the availability of a gun and vehicle to commit the crimes meant that his misogyny resulted in the deaths of himself and 6 innocent victims and the injury of 7 other innocents.

State failure
What we should be looking at is the state's failure to protect innocent victims from a man they knew could be dangerous. The focus should be on holding the relevent people to account and getting justice for the victims and their families not creating moral panic whereby women in particular are lead to believe that all misogynists are like Rodger. That is not to say that there is not an issue. I was horrified to read of women who walk home with their keys between their fingers in case a man attacks them in the street. This simply should not be happening in 2014. Whilst the Roger case is a good spring board to launch the problem of misogyny back into the public interest we should not lose perspective. If the young children of today are to grow up in a safer world yes we need to teach girls how to protect themselves and raise boys to respect girls and each other, however we must also fight for justice and the right to hold the public authorities who could have stopped Rodger to account.

Rodger is still getting what he wants even from beyond the grave

Whilst the public have a right to know about the case at hand it is also worth noting that Rodger should not be getting this much press. From his manifesto, videos and actions it is clear that he wanted to be famous, perhaps even more so he wanted to be infamous. He certainly has achieved this objective. I have mentioned his name in order to inform you not to from now on. This is because unfortunately in this world we live in for every 1000 people that are disgusted by Rodger's actions one person may hold him as a misogynist hero and so we should be wary enough of how we talk and write about the case to know that all of this press is not what he deserves. More to the point making Rodger a celebrity rubs salt in the wounds of the innocent victims of the shootings and their families who have to live with the loss of their loved ones and the knowledge that now Rodger is dead too no one is likely to be held to account.

Some lessons?
By all means continue to post and talk about #yesallwomen and ensure that this worthy cause is kept in the spot light. But be careful with what you read don't let the media drag you into a sensationalized sense of panic. See Rodger as the lonely but guilty troubled man he was and not as a hero of misogyny. Finally do not lose faith in humanity, take heart from the millions of people who are brave enough to post their experiences on #yesallwomen and respect and help those who are trying to make a difference. In short remain positive but keep your eyes open to media trickery.

Curiosity is everything

Hello and welcome to my blog... or should that be journey?
Journey I guess, I say that because it took me a while to get here. My name is Kelly Thornton, I am about to start my final year at law school in London and I have decided to write a law based blog. I am aware that law based blog makes people run for the hills. Hear me out. My blog Legal Luminance will explore not only legal issues which will be of interest to lawyers and law students but also the general public. I will look at issues wider than law and aim to write about legal and non-legal issues that both affect and interest me and my readers. I decided to start a blog in order to document how my legal knowledge and writing  skills develop in an attempt to track my progress from novice blogger to hopefully legal journalist or possibly barrister. That is why this is and will be a journey. For the past few months I have been reading around current affairs and legal issues in an attempt  to find a niche in the blogging market. This will by no means be your average legal blog full of cases and legal terminology that the lay person and perhaps most lawyers do not even fully understand. I want to create a place where people young and old, legally trained and not can openly discuss and critique the law, media and court decisions of today. I will aim to get across both sides to every argument and include as many alternative interpretations as possible. At the heart of it  my real reason for doing this is to illuminate in you the curiosity I have in me. In an oppresive world of stereotypes and state power the desire to know and learn and opine about important and contreversial topics is rare and very much sought after.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I hope you decide to read more of my material soon.
K