‘OMFG!’ Dealing with ‘adult’ responsibilities can get soooo frustrating! Maybe it’s just me, although I kind of doubt that it is. Who here feels like there is NO time in the day to do anything at all! For those of you who can’t see me I am raising both of my hands cause I legit have no idea what happens to my time. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m aware that I waste time laying around in my bed in the morning playing around on my phone. I also know that I invest way too much time into scrolling through social media apps and other random apps such as Amazon. I’m sure if I sat down and did some math, I would be ashamed of how much time I waste on activities that technically accomplish nothing. On that same note though I also know that I can’t work all the time or my own mental health state will fizz out. It’s such a delicate balancing act!
This brings me to the main topic of frustration today, doing ‘adult’ stuff. By this I mean the little annoying errands that I started hating as a teenager, such as taking out the trash, doing laundry, doing the dishes, and getting rid of old clutter that is never used or not needed anymore. Which reminds me, as I’m writing this there is dishes to be put away and a bag of trash that is glaring at me to be taken out. So, give me like 10 minutes and I’ll be right back!
Wow! I know I said I would be back in 10 minutes but that just did not happen. It was more like a week. I will not lie I got distracted by work, general life happenings and my own thoughts and feelings. I am back now and I can triumphantly report that I did get a few tasks completed. Go me! In all honesty this happens all the time. I will sit down to do a task only to get distracted by all the other tasks that are taking up mental space in my brain. That or I get 1000% distracted by social media, Netflix, audio book/podcast, or a video game. Life is FULL of distractions!
I have tried making lists and sometimes that helps and other times the list just sits there and grows longer. There are times when I start a task, half complete it and then watch from a distance as the task glares at me for leaving it half completed and laying there. Also, phone reminders, yes, they occasionally work but it is almost too easy to swipe away the notification into never ever will I see it again land. That being said I have come to accept that I function and live in a state of semi-chaos.
Functionality for me is defined as being able to get up and go about my day. Fairly simple, nothing to complicated about that. Granted I won’t lie sometimes my day definitely starts later than I would like simply because I don’t always wake up wanting to leap out of my bed and start my day. Yes, I love what I do but sometimes life just feels too fast. I find myself on those mornings being okay with taking a little extra time to slow down my day because I know I need it and that’s okay. My overall day consists of a few simple actions, once completed I can comfortably say I’ve had a successful day. These simple actions are: waking up, exercise, shower, brush teeth, eat, do ‘adulting’ tasks, go to work, eat, stretch, go to bed. If I complete those, I consider it a good day and anything extra outside of those tasks makes it feel like a super productive day.
Real talk though, everyone’s day will look different because it will be based around your experiences and priorities. Creating a short list of tasks that you can complete each day that is a set standard for a good day can help change your perspective. Sure, the tasks might seem simple and easy enough that anyone can complete but that’s the point. By creating easy day to day routine tasks, it sets you up for success. It’s way easier to convince yourself to complete just one more task when you already feel like you have completed so much throughout the day.
Other techniques to try to help you accomplish tasks throughout your day:
Seek out small tasks/things that bring you joy. Start a daily gratitude journal to practice keeping a positive mindset. Use these small gratitude’s and enjoyable tasks to help keep yourself fueled to do more.
Write your daily, weekly and monthly goals down! Most importantly put them in a place where you will see them each and every day. Seeing your goals on paper and broken down into smaller more manageable parts can help fuel you to take small steps towards accomplishing those goals. Remember you don’t’ have to accomplish all of your goals at once. Each small step you accomplish towards your overall goals is still one step in the right direction!
Break your goals down! No one learns to run a marathon overnight. Set realistic daily goals that help you take small steps towards your larger goal. For example, if I were preparing for a marathon I might start with jogging a minute my first day and then continue to add a minute each day until I have worked my way up! Each minute I accomplish is one step closer to being able to run that marathon. If I hadn’t broken down that goal, I may never have found the courage or motivation to even start.
Set aside chunks of time to get it done! Set aside an hour or two to power through the hard tasks that you want to accomplish that day. This can help you to work more quickly and efficiently to accomplish these tasks in the time you set aside for yourself.
Give yourself a break! If you are constantly running at 100 miles a minute you are eventually going to run out of gas. You wouldn’t let your car run out of gas, so why treat yourself any different? If you allow yourself to run on E all the time you only increase the amount of stress and tiredness you experience on a daily basis. These two factors will only hinder your ability to achieve your goals. Scheduling chunks of time for hobbies and using those vacation days allow you to stay refreshed and refueled!