pick a date
Here's how I operate when it comes to doing things. I plan them, I do them, I review them. I've said this before. What I want to emphasize is the doing part. I've been on a tirade about how starting is the hardest part. The plan is the start. Then, you need to keep it moving. How do you do this? Pick a date. Make time for the thing. Open your got dang calendar and your ToDo list. See the things on your ToDo list? Give them space in your calendar. Rather, give them time. Take your obligations into account. Give yourself the clarity. The next hardest part is actually doing the thing when you said you were going to. I've got a nasty habit of putting things in my calendar and continually pushing them back and around. THAT'S OKAY. Objects in motion stay in motion. Even projective objects. Or things that aren't quite objects yet, but are beyond the physical.
The real goal here isn't necessarily to achieve everything you put in your calendar exactly when you put them in. The goal is to get in the habit of using your calendar to give yourself a sense of direction. A little bit of certainty can go a long way. Especially in an infinitely uncertain universe. Look, there are infinitely many things that could happen at any given moment. That's A LOT for our little squishy pea-brains to handle. But carving from 1:45pm - 5pm? Okay. That's certainly something I want to do. Will it actually happen? Here's the cool part; I GET TO DECIDE.
See, I look forward and backwards. I not only time block, I also track everything I do. I've categorized everything I tend to do. Even that. Whatever it was you were thinking of when I said everything. I have a category for uncategorized. Suck on them apples. I've broken it into 10 categories, including uncategorized. Having a definite number of baskets to put your apples adds another layer of certainty.
Here are my categories:
? - uncategorized
WVY - anything music related, content creation, making artworks, visualizers, music videos, performing, rehearsing, stuff like that. Music.
NYKY - anything painting, carving, gaming, blogging, and vlogging related. Every other art.
NW&C - anything labor-related, building stuff, landscaping, cleaning, it's the work stuff.
AKA - anything business-related, making spreadsheets, updating websites, uploading content, monitoring analytics, the backend stuff.
ZZZ - sleep. Duh.
TV - anything entertainment-related, scrolling, tv, gaming (without recording). Think mindless entertainment.
BRAIN - anything that educates me, classes, reading, intentional meditation, writing (not for a blog), maybe even chess lesson (though I've been putting that in my life category).
FLEX - anything exercise-related, going for a walk, running, working out, martial arts, exercise.
I - anything life-related, therapy, errands, talking to a lover, lying in bed (not sleeping), doing stuff with friends or family, eating, pooping, showering, life stuff.
Having that uncategorized catch-all is necessary, not just for this, but having a catch-all in most regards is useful. However, it must be kept in check. There is really only one thing I put in there at the moment, (if you're a family member or my crush, skip to the next paragraph) self-fornication >:]. Yikes. Did I really just say that out loud? Even sex would fall under "I". I do this to show myself how much of my time it takes up. Admittedly, it's pretty depressing. In the last 30 days, 6 hours and 13 minutes. Granted that is only 1% of my time. But considering I have been able to get a whole handful of songs finished in roughly the same amount of time, it definitely could've been spent differently. HOWEVER, I enjoy it. So it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
In comparison, I've spent roughly 98 hours mindlessly watching entertainment. 14% of my time. That's, on average, 3 hours a day. Imagine what I'd get if I took one of those hours and spent it exercising and another working on my art. Having some entertainment is alright, but 14%? Definitely something worth taking into account. That being said, I will be making an effort to change that. It's a simple trade: don't scroll, stare at the ceiling, hell, even sleeping is alright. Funny enough, I spent a solid 15 minutes just staring at the ceiling today... Maybe I start counting that as meditation time.
I like to be aware of myself. Even if it means facing some not-so-great truths. This is the review stage of my process. Now for the adjustments. A new goal is to get my entertainment down to under 10% of my time. My plan to do that? Don't scroll first thing in the morning. Read instead of scrolling. Focus on my passions. It's strange that I feel a sorrow wash over me: ah man, I don't get to scroll? How about I set a timer? I can scroll as long as the timer. Then do something else. It can't possibly be that hard. Right? Right???
<2
~Nyk
