This is the first post in what might be a series of new year’s resolutions, as I found out while writing it.
To put this post in perspective: I’m writing this at 23.25.
“You have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé” is a phrase I’ve seen fly across the web. Now, admittedly, I’m not 100% up to speed with what kinds of things Beyoncé does on an average day and I don’t know if she’s relaxed doing it. But I know that there’s not enough hours for me. Or, if we’re being honest: not enough productive hours.
I found an old notebook of mine from the glorious year of 2011 and to give you an idea of how much ambition I have in planning compared to how much I actually get done, here it is: a play by play of how I wanted to go about my day in 2011. If you’re a fan of expectations vs. reality, you’re gonna love this one!
So… can you guess which one is the one I’m sticking with right now? Yup, I was an ambitious little planner. If I’d sticked to that regimen I would’ve gotten nearly 9 hours every night. Could you imagine that? I can’t. I’m usually under 7.
Thing is, it’s not the day’s fault, it’s entirely my own. I don’t start feeling even remotely productive until 10 p.m. and by then it’s already too late to make it to bed by 10.15. I spend hours watching series (that I love and enjoy) when I could’ve spent that same time working ahead and not having to stress about things happening in the long term. Seeing this, by now at 0.15 on the morning of this post going up, made me realise it was time I revisited what I wanted to do with my time and what was realistic. I went to sleep (I’m hoping by writing this, I will) and started working in the morning.
When I got the idea for this post, initially I was gonna write about how there weren’t enough hours in a day and it was impossible for me to get anything done in that short timespan. However, then I checked the Cosmopolitan Snapchat story (I know, it’s a guilty pleasure) and I was confronted with an article about this exact subject.
The article talked of a book about time-management and it had boiled the content down to a small list of points to success:
- take your dreams seriously
- keep a time log
- ask yourself, “What exactly am I doing?”
- decide what’s important.
I’m not gonna copy-paste what they wrote on each subject because that would be plagiarism and I’m not about that, but you can probably guess what each point means and what it all comes down to… I’m wasting my time. I don’t need a time log to tell me that what I do when I’m home consists mostly of binge-watching series, keeping up with social media and just blankly staring at the wall. I’ve struggled with this for a really long time, as you can tell from my previous dream-schedule.
So, what am I gonna do about it? I’m gonna be more honest with myself. I know I don’t have a very long attention span, so I shouldn’t force myself into working 60 minutes shifts on things that don’t interest me, when I can barely munster 45 minutes of focus in school. Apart from that, I’m gonna make a more conscious effort to spend my time productively.
I made myself a new schedule, based on the things that I do and the things that I want to work on.
I need more sleep, so that was the most important point for me. Getting nearly 2 more hours every night will definitely change my life. I know how much I need them, so why not give myself what I deserve? I tried to limit my work shifts to 45 minutes, a period in which you can be productive and sort of keep your focus in the process, with 15 minute breaks to make sure I don’t get stuck in the same position for hours on end. At the end of the day I gave myself 10-30 minutes to read or write, to make sure I’m not glued to a screen right before bed. We’ll see where this leads me!
We’re off to a good start: I’m finishing this article during my free period, in which I would otherwise be doing nothing or playing fussball. Time management, let’s do this!
What are your first new year’s resolutions?
Love, Ruby
Ruby in the Sky 
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