HOW DO I MANAGE MY TIME?

Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. an alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.

—Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper

I have a lot of questions about time that I don’t think I’ll ever find the answer to. Though, I’ve always believed that people made this up not to track the hours, days or years. It is made to deceive ourselves that we have our life together; that setting goals mean that we have things figured out; that we have things under control. We depend on it so much that it is now taking its toll. We gave this pressure to ourselves that we need this and that in a certain point in time to somehow validate our existence. Do not get me wrong, setting goals and achieving them is very fulfilling. I just hope that we don’t let a missed second be a missed chance on its entirety. It’s okay not to run with every tick of the clock. Do not run after time and do  not let it chase you either. Do things in your own pace. Just don’t slack too much then beat yourself up after realizing how much time you wasted.

I have thought of these when someone asked me on Curious Cat to post something about how I mange my time. I’m never good at planning and organizing myself. My mind is a clutter and so is everything that is me. But compared to my younger self, I think I’m a better version now.

I KEEP A JOURNAL

This should be done daily. I usually write the things I need to do the night prior.

I supposed to have work today, Saturday, but our building has some kind of maintenance going on so I wrote everything I must do this weekend. Yes, I write dates in Hangul because I find it cute. 😅😆 I know this doesn’t look that much but if you are actually doing freelance writing job, you’d know how it takes time to finish an article. Let alone a full study case paper.

I don’t add exact time frame because these are not due this weekend. I just have to see and finish what I can. No pressure!

On the first night of the month, I write down the blog posts I want or need to write. I set a standard of at least 10 but October has been tough, I fail. I also write the books I started but I still don’t have the chance to finish. A reminder that they are all waiting to be picked up again. A book finished means a new review. A new review is one of my favorites blog contents. I haven’t written down the movies I want to watch on the list. I was out of it lately. I can’t wait for November and make a new start. This is just basically how I do it.

I had a bullet journal last year but I’m using my Starbucks planner this year because of the coffee aesthetic. I will probably do BuJo again for 2018. I’m pumped just thinking of learning new things and how to properly do it. It can be very expensive, though. Please donate and buy me a coffee so I can save up. 🤣

I SET ALARMS AND REMINDERS

My phone beeps when it’s time for me to go to sleep. Of course, we all know it’s just me hoping that I can have at least 4h. It’s either I have 9 or 2. I don’t know what grey is.

I set alarms as if there’s no end. HAHAHAHA! I have a 9-6 day job. With the traffic we have, I need to leave home around 6:00 to make it at the office on time. Maybe you think 4:30 is too early to get up. It is! Of course, those first alarms are set to snooze. No shame.

I line up for a public transpo everyday. While waiting, I sometimes scroll through Twitter or watch Youtube videos. I always have a book in my bag, too. I read when I feel like it. On travel time, I doze in the UV Express. That’s how I catch up on sleep. It’s also the best time to listen to music. Do not forget your earphones. It’s a nightmare whenever I do. 😩

My 7:00 alarm is for Saturdays. I can leave at 8:00 and still make it at 9:00. It can take 45mins from home to work. It’s just really the traffic and the long queue. Do you see the injustice???

I’m also doing ghostwriting now at night. The 10:00PM alarm is for when I fell asleep as soon as I get home by 8:00. My article deadlines are always at midnight. That will give me 2h to write it. This is also one of the reasons why I can’t blog that much. I have a lot of pending write ups to work on. I hope in the next few days, I will get the hang of it and be good in managing my time then when it comes to writing.

I used to blog every night. Save it as drafts if I can’t finish it in one sitting. Or I binge write during my off or Holidays. I schedule post. Not anymore. I can’t wait to get back to that habit.

I DON’T HAVE FACEBOOK

You admit it or not, social media networking sites eat up most of your productivity. Especially Facebook. I deactivated 2 months ago. I keep my Messenger, though. My phone contacts is pretty scarce.

You may think 61 is too much. Nah. Those are just my colleagues, High School and College friends. I reach my online friends and relatives through SNS. No one texts that much anymore?

I reinstalled my Instagram but after posting 3 pictures, I hide and uninstalled it again. I have a fickle mind. I don’t know. I think it helps me redirect views. With the hashtags, I can have people check out my post and hopefully my blog site, too. But I don’t take much pictures now. I don’t think I’ll post often anyway. I don’t know. Heh.

I don’t know what to add anymore because that’s just basically how my normal day goes. Hahahaha! It only varies when I need to see friends and whatnot. I go out just occasionally. My life seems boring but I actually like staying indoors more.

I just fangirl in between; whether that’s over Bangtan and my other faves or watching a KDrama. It’s just really a matter of squeezing whatever you can in those spare time you have. It doesn’t matter if it’s just 15-30 minutes, you can already do so much in 5 minutes tops. (I can do my brows in less than 5 minutes lol)

You just really have to set your mind on something and commit to it.

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It’s 3:35am now and I’m going to sleep after posting this. I don’t know if this will help you somehow. 😟😂 We do different things in life. We have our own ways of dealing with them. I can’t pretend that I have my shits together because I don’t. My schedules are not always greatly followed. I still have a love and hate relationship with this time concept. I just hope that you can create moments that you can actually be proud of. Time is important but it is not everything. Do not let it take away your happiness and better choices. 

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*Pictures from featured image: A Fear | of Time Running Out