A few weeks ago, I wrote about my
week at the LEAP leadership conference and all I’d learned. I mentioned a few
new skills I was excited to apply in my life, and hinted that I had some goals
to reach. Most of those goals are long-term, so I don’t have anything too
impressive to report yet. On the other hand, I’ll have you know I’ve been
holding myself accountable for my habits and time management and I’ve been
successful thus far!
I really am awful when it comes to
managing my time, and spending it wisely. The tasks that can wait I take care
of right away, and the urgent ones always seem to somehow get swept under the
rug…how does that happen?! I’ve always had a hard time with prioritizing. But,
ladies and gents, I’m showing some serious potential and improvement already.
And you can too with these simple steps!—Only joking, this isn’t an
infomercial, but I do want a brag a little bit, and if you so feel inclined,
maybe you’ll be inspired, if you will, as I was. Plus, school just started
around here so it’s totally appropriate and completely relevant.
That week at LEAP, some of the
coaches spoke to us about time management and showed us how they manage their
time. They all had schedules, to-do lists, and planners, from iPhone apps to
good ol’ pens and paper. So, as they suggested, I “copied genius” as I started
making lists and using my own planner this week. And I just may have gone a
little overboard.
I made a list of my short term
goals, which turned into a to-do list of sorts. On another sheet of paper, I
wrote two more lists: “Things That Will Help Me Achieve My Goals” and “Things
That Will NOT Help Me Achieve My Goals.” The first had everything I should be
doing to be on the right track. The latter had things I’m normally prone to
doing, but, because they will in no way help me reach my goals or get my tasks
done, I must no longer do.
While I’ve always found planners to
be extremely helpful and essential during the school year, I’ve never used one
during the summer. Until, you know, today. I got out my new weekly planner and
wrote down my work schedules and anything else I had going on. Most
importantly, I transferred my to-do list and short-term goals as appointments I
made for myself. Today, I finally did my laundry—three loads of it—because I
had it written in at 12 o’clock, in between other tasks and errands I had penciled
in. Some of you may laugh at the fact I had to schedule doing my laundry, but
let me just ask: who’s got clean socks? And who’s laughing now? That’s right.
This girl.
I also find it helpful—and now quite
automatic, habitual, and even subconscious—to write myself little comments of
encouragement in my planners. I can remember doing this in third grade, when I
got my first planner. I didn’t know what to write in the few lines given for
“notes”, so I would mindlessly scribble phrases like “You rock!” and “You got
this!” I guess it just stuck because I’ve done it on almost every page of every
planner I’ve had since.
These encouragements have, over the years, developed a personality of
their own—one might venture to say they’ve created an alter ego of mine? I
don’t know why, but these comments have evolved into inside jokes between me
and…me. You know when you find something funny, so you share it with someone
else and you’re cracking yourself up while the other person stares at you
blankly, not amused in the slightest? This sort of thing happens to me all too
often, sadly. As a result, I have a mental collection of phrases that, for
reasons unbeknownst even to me, I—and I alone—find hilarious. So I find these
random catchphrases inscribed within the margins of my planners, and oddly
enough, they actually do motivate me to write that paper, or study for that
test, or even do my laundry! I would include some examples, but as I explained,
nobody would find them amusing but me. So between the lines of my personal planner
they shall stay. But trust me, they’re good. They’re real good.
Always, Anna
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