Tuesday Afternoon

As you may know, this week is all about time management, time tracking, and maximizing my efficiency to meet my goals!

What you may not know is some of the behind the scenes stuff that goes into my weekly themes/goals.

You see, this whole practice of doing this to squeeze in more stuff comes from a place. A place of trying to chase dreams and also maintain a decent reality. So, in trying to do more, I have been tracking my time and trying to make more use of my time.

Making more use of my time is key, I have found, and the thing I want us to talk about today has to do with a trick I have been using to get the most out of my day.

While running errands

Well I posted my (last) blog in the PM. On accident.In an Uber running errands but I wanted to update and make that note- details later. Ugh.

(Editing note, I don’t really cover it much here, but I tweeted about it, follow me on social media, @abbigrasso basically I accidentally clicked PM not AM when scheduling the blog Monday night.)

Late Tuesday night

It’s late and I have to go to sleep so I’m going to go to bed now so I can wake up semi early and get this blog sorted.

Wednesday Morning

It’s Wednesday morning and I am trying to get moving so I can get ahead on my day. I woke up at a decent time today, 6:30, so if I don’t dawdle too much over reading other blog posts and Medium posts, I may be able to get the blog finished today and up this morning- within a few hours of when I normally schedule it.

In my daily Blog I normally will write about my day to day thoughts and ideas, with any fun lessons and morals included. I generally finish writing these before bed, edit them, add photos, and then try and wind down for bed. I do this every weeknight, with a goal of publishing one blog per week day, with optional weekend posts. Yesterday (when writing the blog you are currently reading), I actually had a cool idea I was trying to talk about, which is what I am going to try to return to. 

Everyday I do something to get me closer to my goals. I try to find at least one thing to get me closer to where I am going. 

Some days, that is working on my writing. Some days that is spending time on continuing my education as a writer. Some days it is chores, major project rule chores that will make my life better overall.

My goals aren’t always directly related to my professional goals, but they do help them. It is understanding the correlation between future artistic success and keeping my home clean. 

For example: I know I create better in a clean space. Clutter is fine but I like it to be clean and tidy. Maybe a candle lit. Just nice. I write best in this type of space, and I am also able to creatively think and work on many different projects, in this type of environment. Taking a day to make my office area cleaner and more organized, is in fact not only a method of self care, but a method of getting me closer to my goals.
It’s not all cleaning projects, mind you. 

For example, at least five times a week the thing is committing to writing in the blog. I consistently hit over 500 words, frequently over 1,000.

This not only helps me build my skills as a writer, and continue to develop my habit of writing everyday. 

Blogging forced me to find an app I could not only write notes on, but could keep track of ideas, plot points, and best of all, the app syncs with my devices. Work computer, personal computer, any of our laptops…my phone, if I get a new tablet soon, as I plan on, this app works on it too. 

No, this isn’t a sponsored blog post, and no, I’m not going to advertise for this app- but if you need help with writing on the go, comment below or DM me on social media, and I’ll tell you the app name.

Every day I do at least one thing that gets me closer to the future I want. Not just professionally, but in my every day life, how I want it to look. I’ve mentioned, many blogs ago, that all of this time tracking and management is meant to get me to the life I want, and this making a choice every day and doing a thing every day that gets me closer to that, goes into that too. Be it working out, getting up early, drinking 100 ounces of water, following a good skin routine…all of it goes into me having the life I want. 

It also, as it beautifully turns out, helps me write and create better, just like keeping my home clean, so, all in all, these steps I take every day are incredibly helpful. 

The downside comes when I have errands to do, namely unexpected and unplanned errands, that alters the course of your evening routine. Yesterday, I still did things that help me towards my future, but I did get delayed, so now I am trying to do several things to make things better for my future self- even if that future self is just the Abbi later in the day.

So, now I am in a mad rush to catch up from last night and get back on course for today. 
I’m going to pause here and get dressed, then come back to try and finish this blog up and with any luck, schedule it. I may not include pictures on this one, so I can post it faster. I’ll decide after I get ready. 

Later Wednesday Morning

Well, I got to work six minutes late, so safe to say, that did NOT work. So, I will be brief and wrap this up.

Every day I try to do things to help me get to my future. I do something that helps future Abbi, and gets me closer to the future I want, and am actively working for.
It makes me much more aware of the time I am using, and motivates me to use my time more wisely. It has been very helpful when I’m scrolling mindlessly through social media, versus taking in content that can help me better my craft. I use this mindfulness to not spend too much time relaxing and lounging, even when tired. I know myself, and my time management, well enough to know that unless I have plans, the second I get home on Friday, I am going to be in a pretty “but first, relax” mode, until Saturday evening, when I get restless and want to get productive.

This happens every week, so now I plan for it, and I push myself to not relax as much during the week. Come Friday, I “loaf out” for 24 hours. I am aware of my time, and I use my time. I make sure that every day, I do something that builds my future. I may not do much off the couch come Friday after work, but I either spend it writing, or I spend it with my friends, which always helps put me in a better head space. Every time I hang out with my friend Amber, for instance, I am not only motivated to write, I am inspired to do so.

This, by the way, informs a future blog I will be doing in this time management themed week, about using your time, and making sure the energies around you are worth the time.

So, make sure you check back tomorrow for the next blog in this themed week, I have to get some work done to get back on track.

Happy Wednesday, and as always, please don’t call it hump day.