Heya, Weekend Experiences community! I couldn't remember the last time I joined Weekend Engagement writing prompt; it's really been a while. I am usually thrilled by the topics week on week but then put it on the side until Monday comes and I'm too late for it already. Gladly, today I have more than enough time to pen this entry. Topics presented are interesting but what really caught my attention is The time savers topic. This will be very brief but sweet!
A day in a life of a hyper-productive citizen
“Seriously? Do you have time for all that?”
My friends and colleagues would exclaim when I tell them what my usual daily routine looks like. As far as I can remember, I've lived this kind of life for the longest time.
Here goes!
Not an morning person so I’m usually up by 7 AM give or take and without wasting any second I allot two minutes to fix my bed. I don't know about you but I have this belief that the moment I fix my bed, I've determined my day's success rate. Fixing my bed and ensuring I come home to a clean and organized room is kind of a reward for myself after a long day's work. Pretty sure no one wants to come home to a cluttered, stinky room after a busy and presumable, a stressful day at work. Count me in!
After fixing my bed, I do a quick but powerful 15 to 20-minute exercise either core, arm, leg or power yoga. While cooling down for the next 15 minutes, I either read a chapter or two or do a 10-minute guided meditation. Then shower, work and a lot of work for the next 8-9 hours. I usually go out of the office right when the sun's about to settle down and go for a sunset jog that would normally last not more than 35 minutes. I go back to the office, write my articles for Hive or finished my tasks at work, whichever is scheduled for that day. I go dine out with friends and colleagues every now and then, too. When I come home, just like any normal yuppie I dig into Netflix's Korean drama list and relax for the next 30 minutes or so. Get a restful 7-8 hour of sleep and back at it again.
In the weekend, my schedule's a bit different; work is replaced by painting, cooking, baking, cleaning the house and babysitting my 6-month old niece. Also, I am the President of two non-profit organizations (outside of work); one is a profession-based organization and the other is an interest-based organization. At work, I lead seven (7) young professionals and ensure things are up and running day in day out. So yeah, not busy at all!
What's the secret?
Now that I think about it, my friends and colleagues do have a point.
“Seriously? Do you have time for all that?” I asked myself
How did I manage to fit in all that I'm supposed to deliver in a single day? There are so many techniques/hacks that are useful and have been working well for me but my superpower boils down to one word: planning.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking about what you should do next?
What should I write about in my next post?
What should I wear today?
What’s the best dish to cook for the family for tonight’s dinner?
And before you know it, you wasted a goddamn five or ten minutes or worse an entire hour just by thinking “What’s next?” And don't get me started because as one tries to think of what to do next, one gets distracted by this and that and an hour becomes an entire rotten day filled with unanswered What's next?
I've been a victim for a couple of times and when I realized this will be the end of me, I knew I had to deal with it one way or the other. So my perfectionist self grabbed a bullet journal and started planning, planning and planning. I don't mind sitting for an entire afternoon thinking about what I intend to do for the next day, next week or next month. I write all of them in my bullet journal. I won't be going into the details of how a bullet journal works and how you can start your own. You can checkout the old articles I wrote here as well as here for the deets. And of course, if you have questions, I'll be more than glad to assist you.
At times, thinking what to do next and even deciding if you're going to do a certain thing or not takes more time than actually executing it. Have you experienced that in the past? In my case, I devised a way that once a month I sit down and do the thinking and deciding once and for all. And the rest of the days, I just grab my bullet journal and do as I'm told. Perfect! I've eliminated my mortal enemy: thinking every step of the way. It's like I'm in autopilot but way better than that because I could do more given my limited time. I've decided ahead what are my month's highlights and therefore I could prioritize ahead of time.
As they say, there's no one-size-fits-all approach in most things in life including saving time for better things but I sincerely hope this helps you one way or the other and gives you the freedom I am now enjoying; a life free from the chronic burnout every hustling yuppies might fall into.
There's a balanced life out there where you can do what you want, whenever you want without stressing over anything, but it requires disciple (a lot of it actually) and if you're lazy to even get started, that kind of life is far beyond your reach. But if you decide you want it now, you're never too late to make it to the cut. 😉
Have a blessed Easter weekend yall!
Cover photo was created using Canva