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I planned every minute of my life for a week..and followed the plan – lessons learnt

04 Tuesday Aug 2020

Posted by mylittlechateau in Living Room - Happenings in life, The hobby Room- general interest topics

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challenge, motivation, personal plan, planning, reflection, Schedule making

It started with the weirdest thing ever, i wanted to see how good Grammarly the text editing tool was because i’m currently writing my dissertation and thought maybe it’ll be good to have some writing help. Which then led to this video about using Notion to how i study for 4 hours without breaks to a video about procastination. That Youtube rabbit hole be real people. Also i’ve been watching this Youtuber who loves to post videos with the word ‘productive’ in them. I was also very discouraged by how i was procastinating alot and wasting my time, I thought my time management methods of creating a to-do list was good enough but apparently it wasn’t working.

Here are some of the things that i need to work on at the moment

  1. my dissertation
  2. finding a job
  3. studying for my driving test
  4. finding a new home
  5. shedding off 1 year of body fat accumulation a.k.a exercise

Here is the schedule i made, yes they’re on receipt paper and yes there were changes made

So how much of the plan was i able to accomplish?

Day 1 – 100%

Day 2 – 85% -felt sick, distracted

Day 3 – 85% Insomnia the night before, feeling sick

Day 4 – 75% had a really bad back pain so i had a 2 hour nap

Day 5 – 60% I really didn’t want to do anything today, lack of motivation, only accomplished those things on my schedule that were ‘easy’

Day 6 – 60% still lack of motivation

Day 7 – 75% I had a really bad stomach ache but i did get in some unscheduled work done so that was a plus

Looking back on the days it looks like i had gotten ill or had some body ailment that did contribute to me not being able to fully follow my schedule which is an important point i want to make early on which is there can be a schedule but also give yourself grace if you don’t follow it to the dot. We are human and yes that can be an excuse but it’s also true, so be strict with yourself as much as you can but if you fall sick or are recovering from that illness whether it be physical or mental then don’t worry about achieving 100% of your schedule.

Did you get more done?

The first few days i did then this hyper productivity started taking a toil on me and i was getting tired and unmotivated. I didn’t plan enough breaks for myself and it felt a lot like it was all work work work. I guess the answer is yes and no? Anyway, here are a few things i learnt from this experience:

  1. Bye bye phone – I made it a point to hide my phone when i was in ‘work’ time. This really helped me concentrate as i wasn’t getting tempted to mindlessly scroll through instagram or facebook (those two apps are mysterious time suckers). I also put it on silent mode to prevent those tempting notifications.
  2. remember to plan breaks – human needs don’t count as breaks but breaks are so important to recharge and relax. Yes there is the need to work but we be human and need breaks too. Just try imagining yourself exercising for 8 hours straight, crazy right? Same thing here.
  3. plan your rewards – I find this really important because if there is no rewards then it feels like you’re tormenting yourself and this would create negative emotions towards your schedule and your work. This in turn can lead to procastination.
  4. It’s all in the details – yes i did put there that i will do my dissertation stuff from this time to this time but what am i doing exactly? Well this is what i mean by planning the details. Kudos to the Youtuber who can study for 8 hours each day, i got this idea from him (citing my sources) and it’s true, i don’t want to waste part of those hours figuring out what i need to do, i want to go in and get started immediately. This means that you’ll need a LOT of time to plan.
  5. put in time to plan – related to the previous point and also will relate to point 11 but what i mean here is actually schedule time to plan your plan
  6. I couldn’t get all 5 goals done in a day – and that’s because you have to decide how much time you’re going to spend for each of them. I put mine in priority order even though they are all important but my dissertation got the bulk of the time because that is literally my job right now, to write a dissertation.
  7. mix it up a bit – routine is what it is…routine. So since you’re going to be planning in advance you can shake things up a bit within reason of course
  8. relationships – This one was tough, i did feel like i was ignoring my husband for most of the time and there weren’t those random conversations we would have. When i took breaks i couldn’t expect him to take a break too especially when he was in the middle of work so this one is a tricky one. Still not sure how this will work because i believe you need to put in time for your relationships just like you put in time for everything else.
  9. Corrections – i wanted to be strict with making corrections because once you do one you’ll be tempted to do another and then before you know it there goes your plan. But through my corrections i learned about my energy levels, what leads to distraction which i have made a mental note for the future.
  10. give yourself extra time for those activities you can’t really limit time to – ex. devotion, eating, talking to people these are things you can’t put a time limit to and that’s okay.
  11. Don’t plan it all in one go – this is a but controversial but since it was my first time doing it i wanted to try a few days out first before i went on to complete planning the week. Also i was too tired to plan the whole week.

Conclusions

Because i had so many ‘major’ things to do this scheduling every minute of my life thing took its toll on me. When you have so many things to juggle you get tired and slip up so i wouldn’t do this in the long term if i had so many things going on. We aren’t made to multitask, seriously. I think we humans do way much better when we concentrate our efforts at one thing at a time but alas this is life. I know that sounds self-contradictory but what i’m trying to say is don’t have so many big “to-do” things when you do this, maybe three might work? Overall, the concept of creating a schedule was good and i actually liked that i knew what i was going to be doing and see myself do it. I still have to work on making realistic to do lists and schedules, also need to create more breaks and better rewards for myself to motivate myself. At the end of the day don’t forget to show yourself some love too okay, only do this to help yourself be more organized, if it is causing you anxiety and stress then it defeats the purpose.

Why I workout

21 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by mylittlechateau in Living Room - Happenings in life

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exercise, life, motivation

Hello, life has been hard these couple of months, I just looked at an old draft that i never completed writing in October 2017 and realised that the unhappiness that i have been experiencing has been the same since then. I wanted to write about working out, not because i want to brag about how good i am, but i want to talk about how it has been a source of strength not just physically but also mentally. Below are screenshots of the days i’ve completed a workout, the beginning ones are grey but they still mean i did a workout on that day.

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A little background to what i mean by “life has been hard”, in 2017 it was more about whether or not i should quit, i knew teaching wasn’t for me, but i didn’t know what i wanted to do next, so i guess i stayed. Job security, yada yada. In 2018, i started off the year crazy. I had overloaded and taken up sociology. So i was literally preparing for three different subjects. Also, i was given a difficult class and i was also teaching tuition after work. Lets just say, it’s amazing how i had time to remember it was my birthday. I look back now and wonder why i did that to myself. End of background information.

Seeing that i was unhappy starting in october, it’s interesting how despite all that i still stuck to working out. I’m really good at putting things off, but somehow this stuck on for 6 months. This made me think a little, and i realised that i liked working out, it gave me a sense of accomplishment when work was just rubbish. Also, that was when i saw that i was really packing on the pounds and i was determined to loose it. It got serious when i decided to invest in a yoga mat. That thing was expensive (because i bought it at an expensive store, not off Lazada) so that was also a motivation to “use” it. Then i bought a workout program because i learnt that there is a method to this thing and i really needed some guidance. Things were getting serious but i was learning a lot about exercise and keeping healthy. It also helps that i do these workouts at home, no gym. It helps because bringing yourself to the gym and back home really gives me the opportunity to make excuses. Once it’s at home, i don’t have any, and i will complete the workout and then shower and do my own thing. It’s real convenient. Fitness Blender’s calender and workout complete button is also a good motivator as it rewards you for doing something, it’s the “instant” (after you complete the workout) gratification you get and you know you deserve it. Kudos to them, they’re the ones that i’ve been using to get workout plans and keep track of things.

Life went on, it stayed mostly the same but in terms of my body, i was seeing changes. I could see the weight come off, i also felt more energised during the day. I guess what i’m trying to say is that, i’m still unhappy because i’m in a job that i should have quit, but i also am able to find some confidence through exercise. Because at the end of the day, having completed a workout means i’ve accomplished something, it means that there is something that i can do right, and that is my little form of happiness. Plus it helps me keep fit and loose weight, so that’s always good. I’m trying hard to see the good in life these days.

Also, i’m not saying that everyone should take up exercise (but it’s really good though) find something that makes you happy that’s not a person or something that could bring harm to your health and wellbeing.

General info: fitness blender is free, i do a mix of cardio, strength and HIIT workouts.

Weekly Reading List (Feb 2-7th)

02 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by mylittlechateau in The hobby Room- general interest topics

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Tags

business, motivation, reading list, science, travel

It’s that time of the week again, btw i was thinking, if anyone out there is reading this list, interested in an email instead? My interests include business, books, museums, arts, history. If you think that’ll be cool comment please!

Museums

26 weird museums to visit for the ultimate American road trip

Motivational

4 steps to changing your life in 66 days

Business

Doing good work matters more than your personal brand

10 of the most controversial productivity tips that actually work

How to clean up your social media during a job search

Interview

11 tech free tips for a stress-free video interview

Science

How to Make Your Willpower Stronger — According to Science

Travel

52 places to go in 2015

 

Weekly Reading list (Jan 26th -Feb 1)

26 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by mylittlechateau in The hobby Room- general interest topics

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Tags

business, food, motivation, reading list

Business

Are Entrepreneur’s brains wired differently? 

Why Your Boss Wants to Hear “Let Me Try”

Make Your Lunch Hour Work for You

Food

Top 20 best foods in Melacca

Motivation

7 Science-Backed Secrets for Achieving Success in Life

Advice

12 ways successful people deal with toxic people

 

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