Tag Archives: Change

Productivity

SCHEDULES AND ROUTINES🍅

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Take a pick my dear Sunday team- Coffee, tea or water?


In my last blog article I preached about my mini life reset I carried out in April. My main goal was to get a grip of myself and become disciplined enough to be active with my interests rather than mourn about how unproductive I was being and how lazy I was growing. It was about little steps away from my comfort zone.

In that post I stressed on my plans of designing a schedule and routine and hoped to share the process with you if I actually do it. Well, I did it!

Schedule baby

DESIGNING A schedule can seem like a lot of work at first but the key to overcoming that is not doing too much.

I made a simple paper and digital list of the activities I’ll love to do each day no matter how little and if that list of yours looks like a railway you might want to reconsider.
In that list I included the following activities in order of which came first:

Drink water
Study/school work
Bible reading
Financial book read
Planning and checking notifications
lunch
Read my current novel
Make dinner
Watch evening soap opera
Bath
Spanish lesson
journaling

Let me already mention that I had breaks between these activities. It wasn’t a do or die robotic program.

TIME BLOCKS🍅


I DECIDED my wake time should be 04:00a.m so I can study for two hours before the whole family was awake- that’ll be such a distraction.
Well you must have guessed right: I snoozed my alarm more than I woke up. That was just too early for goodness sake we are on a break, the whole world.
When I was tired of deceiving myself I moved my wake time to 05:00 a.m.
This time it was better, I felt better in the mornings. But it was still difficult.

PRESENTLY


SOON ENOUGH my body made a decision for us: it decided to no longer hear the alarm. I could no longer hear my alarm when it rang. Instead it woke my mom up every day at 05:00a.m. I felt bad.


When a schedule is obviously not working, it is okay to make adjustments. You should keep trying out schedules and routines till you find the one that suits the moment or season you’re in. If there’s one thing I know now, it’ll be the fact that you can’t have the same schedule and routine for so long… things change. Do not be afraid or ashamed of tweaking and adjusting your schedules and routines.

Tweak it till it fits

Adjusting is healthy

I created a digital document where I wrote about some days when my schedule was successful and when it was a total wreck.

We should be able to pick efficiency over extended work. Instead of doing too much and being so inefficient it will be better to do the little things and do them effectively DAILY.


After deceiving and torturing myself for weeks I decided one morning to just do what I can whatever time I woke up. Not minding the time, indeed my goal was to choose commitment daily and not to become the neighborhood rooster.
That was the best decision I took last week and this past week was really calm and effective. I noticed I was usually awake somewhere between 6:30 a.m. – 07:00 a.m. And that was the end of my morning disappointments.

ANY CHALLENGE?


Definitely. When staying in a house with your parents and siblings plans are meant to change most times. Most times you’ll need to leave your work and focus on errands or helping siblings. Yes, this has affected my routine most days but like I said before: your schedule or routine shouldn’t be untouchable. You should not feel bad for tweaking this list. Just make sure you’re choosing to commit daily no matter how little the time.
So currently whenever I wake up I choose my commitments no matter the time of the day.
My schedules did suffer daily but my evening routine became my source of content. It was the most consistent and effective; I never missed a day in studying Spanish. So that’s my pride… I keep tweaking the blocks that fail.

POMODORO🍅


Oh dear tomato unit. I represent my pomodoro time blocks with tomato emojis. Pomodoro technique is simply setting a stop watch for work and another for a break: I use 25 minutes for work and 5 minutes for a break and the cycle goes on and on.

As for Spanish lesson; it’s scheduled at 10:00p.m. Monday to Saturday for 1 hour.

On Sundays I welcome breaks from commitments and tend to writing. Did I mention my Photoshop course I scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:00p.m.?


Side note: 🍅Praying has recently become the sweetest way for me to start my day.
🍅 I ditched school work for two weeks. Don’t be like me. But I’m happier this way.
🍅 I’m starting a new finance book because I finished the other one i.e. “Increasing your financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki”

Schedules and routines are just guidelines not mountains…

This article has gotten too long… bye now x
Take it easy… baby steps.

Productivity, Timely Series

Life Reset At Eighteen!

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I am holding up for a LIFE RESET AT 18.

First, I’ll love to scream this, “I’m back!”. This writer is resurrected, I pray.

Hurray to you all like me looking forward to a life reset as you turn big 18 [and those anticipating 18].
Age eighteen is society’s golden age, most of us “day old eighteens” are busy trying to pull the best outfit, the best party and share the most gorgeous images straight out of the studio. Nice one.


If you are a control and productivity fanatic like me, well, you are definitely not alone. Welcome. Here’s a ghost cup of coffee, tea [or any refreshment you love] sit back, relax, I will just roll over a fresh canvas and we can start this reset art.


Why am I looking forward to a life reset?


You see, big eighteen is society’s grand license to more expectations and it’s not easy to skip on the demands pilling up from yourself to do better.
No pressure. I’m not pressuring myself or expecting myself to figure everything out, no. I just did a good reflection and saw some flaws in my character that I’m paying for with my fulfillment as a young person.


This is my personal way of giving myself another chance to start all over again with all the qualities I took for granted: actions, boldness, consistency, discipline, commitment, systems, and so on. If I don’t declare a reset I’ll feel uneasy and like I’m just trying to mend old failures but what I want is a new person trying to be better as an individual… bringing to life with baby steps all the characteristics and disposition I’ll love to see in myself.
It would not be hasty; it will not be perfect [though I love the idea of perfect]. It will be struggling to choose commitment daily as much as I can. It will be doing the work rather than just making endless lists.
Your turn. What is your why?

How am I carrying out this reset?

My photo before 12:00am
  • WRITING X JOURNALING


For the past 10 days before my birthday, I tried putting down in a digital notepad [keep notes] all my reflections and thoughts I had about the coming big 18 and ending 17. This helped me with a glimpse of clarity in what I think I did wrong, did right and what I will love to change; then came a list of things I’ll want to do.
So:
I created a random document in my phone called “life reset” and dropped an idea of what I’ll like to do whenever the idea came and after a while I tried considering and organizing the events.

  • DECLUTTER
From google


Believe me this was a big deal to me. I am yet to see some of the results but there is peace in knowing you have less around you. It makes sense that as you try to RESET, you take out things that you don’t use anymore or you are no longer acquainted with. It ushers in that sense of freshness and newness. Try not to go overboard with this or analyze this too much. Try not to remove things that you’ll regret, just remove whatever you know is not necessary.

Here is what I did:

I deleted contacts that I didn’t use frequently and those I had second thoughts about; I wrote them down in the contact form at the back of my journal just in case the need for them arises. Believe me I wanted to remove so much more than I already did but some acquaintances need to stay even though communication is not frequent example course mates, and people that think they know you but don’t.
I deleted videos, images, messages, apps, files, SONGS. I love music; so much. But I knew I had to let go of those songs I’m so quick to next when they start playing. What is the use of having a long list of songs when you’re always skipping a lot [I can always download again when I finally miss them]. This felt hard at first but after then, I felt really good.

I know I will still do more of decluttering because of the fresh feeling it holds. I’m looking forward to library and wardrobe declutter once I am ready for thrift shopping.
The act of decluttering did set that vibe of a rest… The mood was ignited. That’s pretty much it [for me at least]

  • BIG CHANGE


I FINALLY came up with what all this was about. Why? Why do I want to change? Goals and tasks are based on a central desire. Choosing that desire automatically puts you through your goals when systems are created. Mine was:


▪️Reducing procrastination as much as possible.
▪️Growing discipline
▪️Taking more actions more than I make lists and goals. That is, being less passive and more active.

And the plan here was to stick with taking baby steps DAILY until I sink into autopilot.

  • SHEDULES AND ROUTINES


OKAY, I am still in the process of creating a functioning, realistic and productive schedule and building it into a routine. My goal for this routine is:

to know what to do and realize the time for actions, not necessary living an adventure-free routine life. No, just scheduling my activities and guarding those times least I neglect my commitments.


I have certainly asked myself, are you ready to commit? And I try to say to myself, that no matter how small and mundane these tasks may seem, it is not here to give me glory but to help mould my character as a young adult.

I am yet to establish these routines but I hope it goes well and I HOPE to stay committed daily and I won’t feel to make adjustments if any time block fails.
I am going to adopt the pomodoro method of getting this done [tomato unit 🍅] and soon enough I’ll have feedbacks. Also, I’ll be scheduling specific tasks for specific time blocks.

Be sure to watch youtube videos, ask question to both trusted people and google [yet guard your choices]. Get to know how others are pulling through. All these will open you to new ideas you’ll love to test.

  • BOOKS

IN ALL you do, never neglect reading books. Make it a frequent task as much as you can. As for me:
I will be exploring classic novels and financial books, I pray and I will try to take aesthetically pleasing photos of which ever I engage in [for the gram and my eyes].

Try as much as possible to explore new genres of books as this might open you to new interests or ideas.

  • LANGUAGE


YES I will be learning a new language and I think you should. I am doing this clearly from my love of accents, polyglots and playing characters. They say passion is not enough so I have gone to google and searched up,

“Why it is important that I learn a second language”.

There you have it. As for me, my first pick is Spanish for a second language. So please remind me I am a becoming student of Spanish, gracias. I am about to buy a cheap Spanish lesson notebook which I’ll be using for this long journey. And I hope to make a future blog post on my progress and process under the category productivity and growth. Speaking of categories…

  • THE BIBLE
  • I have not been reading my Bible and that has to change. Whether it was born from my reflection or from God’s will… It remains beautiful

I have not been reading my Bible and that has to change. Whether it was born from my reflection or from God’s will… It remains beautiful. Recently I kept wondering why I am a fanatic for romance and for love in general, love displayed in life overall. I concluded that I might just be in love with love itself… Within a moment of epiphany I realized that God is love and Jesus must be real. I realized that it could be Jesus himself showing me the beauty of love: who he is himself and why I should love. I choose faith, I choose to love him because he loved me first… And I’m reading the Bible to learn how to love, to change into all those qualities I admire. I choose to grow in love

  • CATEGORIES

I HAVE temporarily categorized my actions and focus into the following: productivity, language, school, reading, socials, spiritual, photography, and looks. It’s not fixed, things can change, and this will help me organize my actions, mobile space and information.

TYPYING ALL these now just showed me how much I am planning on committing to. This would SURELY not be easy because I am a respectable, high ranked, professional procrastinator and planner without major actions. But then again, that’s it. That’s what I desperately want to change.

I hope to share my progress via my instagram account and brush that one a bit as I am a lover of aesthetically pleasing photos.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic my plan of purchasing a camera and learning editing has been suspended till further notice.


I HOPE to keep up with school work and study my bible frequently. All these, I wish to DO, key word, DO.
It’s been a long chat, I forgot to refill your cup of tea [or whatever you may be drinking], forgive my manners. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you on my birthday and new age.

Above all, I pray I don’t sleep out of my commitments for I will deeply break my heart and accountability all over again.
And like I said before, Baby steps, that’s just what it is.

Blossom

X

Welcomes

About : ) Hi from the other side

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Hola Ha!

Journals.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word journals…

Xavier had a hard time dealing with his breakup, he wrote an entry. He wouldn’t forget the way she walked away, letters describing all the words he couldn’t say and all in lined papers.
Spongebob really did great today, the Bikini Bottom is all rainbows. He writes an entry, he wouldn’t forget this day.
Joanna just had her first kiss, sure, she writes an entry. Words describing the heart beat only her could feel, bellyache or red butterflies…

Ashley is crying at 02 AM. Edwin missed his flight. Margaret gave birth to a girl and Josh fell off his bike. Rukki is praying, Chizaram is going to start a business, Olivia is starting a new book, Ife wants to travel and me, I’m just hanging around waiting for the next wave.

Catching and Releasing, unwinding, recording our existence, dancing to our rythme. What’s existence without memories…

First times and last times… heart beats and cold hands. Epiphany and dilemma. Adrenaline and Dopamine. More than ten Thousand neurons cutting across a single brain causing flashes of actions as the legs tries to find its place in the societal ladder.

The Purple Journal tells you all the things you already know, things you already learnt and felt yet this journal solves a problem.
As humans forgetting is innate and just like all the rainy nights when these persons go back to their journal hidden in the wooden shelves and remember what was once unforgettable, the purple journal is also your tiny reminder of the words you didn’t say….

A reminder of everything you called weird and irrelevant.

The purple journal is here to remind you of some feelings, thoughts and experiences you might have just forgotten….

So turn these pages with me, will you?