Time Management

Time management and planning is not my strong point. It comes down to the fact that I am way too hard on myself most of the time - I'm very aware of this but still I can't seem to stop it, I think it will just take time and experience. I was talking to Jas the other day about my worries and she asked me if i was ever proud of myself or congratulated myself - bit of a wake up call realising that no not really most of time? I think I maybe just care so much and feel really lucky to be able to study and hopeful make a career out of what I love and so my brain feels a pressure to make it happen and work hard and prove it to myself and my family that i can do it? - but maybe this sometimes actual sucks the joy and love out of it?

So when it comes to making to do lists, I'm a maker of very unrealistic to-do-lists. Which is a problem. It also means I'm drowning and surrounded in them. But the process of writing to do lists calms me down and I really enjoy (?) actually writing them and trying to organise my head, but sticking to them is another kettle of slippery fish.

Things that don't work for me:

- digital planning and calendars - I enjoy and need the meditative process of actually physically pen to paper writing and do list (and even more so the crossing out of it)

- sticking to a working day - as much as I would love to, I can't seem to stick to working say 9-5, even though this would be much healthier, I need to plan my working day around what works for me

- having weekends off - I don't stick to a traditional working week and have the weekends off because at the moment, maybe I'll have a productive all systems go day on a Sunday, but then I'm not in the mood and need to relax on say a Thursday. I'm lucky to be able to do this being at uni, but after graduation I'm going to try and change this to give myself some structure.


Things that do work for me:

- organising my day in the order that I work best - I've learned that I am most productive and creative in the evenings. So I try and split my day up into: Wake - yoga - shower - breakfast - read - blogging/life admin/writing etc - lunch. And then after those writing bits and life admin things are shelved neatly away from floating around in my brain I can crack on with the creative side of things until bed time.

- physical to do lists - I love writing out my plans by hand. I also like having them in a diary/planner so that I can look back and congratulate myself on difficult things I've crossed off.

- splitting up my tasks - something that helps me a lot is getting a big sheet of paper and writing down what I need to do in very small little nibbles. The satisfaction of crossing them off keeps me motivated. eg: lunch? tick. paint a sketchbook page? tick. scanned it? tick.


Things I'm working on:

- realistic planning  - there's no point in trying to write a book in a day is there really. It just becomes a vicious cycle of being annoyed I didn't achieve what I wanted to and feeling disheartened. Much better to set myself realistic and doable goals to keep the cogs smoothly and slowly running along without burn out

- healthy bed time  - since coming back home to warrington since coronavirus, I've gotten so much better at having a healthier routine which I'm proud of myself for.

- down time when I need down time  - learning that when I'm not having a good day to recognise this and give myself the day to unwind and maybe do something less taxing like reading or watching a relevant film - still productive but in a less intense way.

- replying - when I have bad anxious periods I'm unable to open messages let alone reply to them. This can lead to me having not replied for weeks which is a really bad habit. I'm trying to work on this by allotting time where I reply to people all at once, I'll need to get better at this and coping with this if I want to work freelance where emails are very important to keep on top of.

- congratulating and giving myself credit - self explanatory I'm working on it !


Sorry this has turned into a big of a self deprecating rant. I'm working on these problems, and I think after some down time after submission and some time to focus on myself, I will feel a lot better, and hopefully can look back on this project and feel proud of myself for what I achieved and not annoyed at what I didn't manage to