Recently I’ve noticed that I am not operating to my full potential when it comes to productivity. So there are some small changes that I’ve decided to implement in an attempt to change this.
At the moment I am trying to read a non-fiction book as well as a fiction book so that I can learn something new alongside reading for entertainment. However, not long after starting my non-fic book, I decided that it wasn’t super interesting. I still want to read it, but I’ve had to rethink how I go about it.
I’ve decided that the best way to get through it is to read one chapter each day. This means that I’m reading between about 17 and 28 pages per day. Boring things are more tolerable in small doses. Lol. So I should complete this first non-fiction book within eleven days. Therefore, if I miss a day, then I have to read more the following day in order to catch up.
Another small change that I would like to inhabit is to tidy my bedroom, and maintain a tidy environment. I have never been a particularly tidy person, and sometimes my mental health prevents me from having any willingness to do anything about it.
However, I have been noticing that when my room is messy I’m less likely to sit at my desk, and more likely to sit on my bed, which often results in a nap. So I need to spend an hour or so tidying my bedroom properly, and then schedule in maybe ten to fifteen minutes each evening to tidy up my space. This way it shouldn’t get out of hand again.
A second part of maintaining a tidy bedroom is staying on top of my laundry. The problem is that I own enough clothes to not need to do too many washes in a week. But then I get an over-flowing laundry basket, which just gets in the way. I really need to get in the habit of staying on top of it, which can be a problem when I live with three other people who each need to do their own laundry. We don’t really have the space to have it all hanging up to dry.
The final change is one that I probably mention in every other post is my sleeping habits. Over Christmas I was doing the early shift at work, which meant that I had to get up at 0500 five mornings per week. I was discussing this with my mother the other day, and we both agreed that I had much better mental health during that time. Unfortunately I am not able to do early shifts at work for most of the year. Nevertheless, waking up earlier in the mornings could potentially make a big difference to my mood and the management of my mental health.
The biggest difficulty with this isn’t my habit for staying in bed late, nor my habit for napping during the day. The problem is that most of the time I have to do the closing shift at work, so most nights I don’t get home until 2030, and at least one night I don’t get home until after 2200. This means that it’s difficult for me to get to bed early and therefore get a decent night sleep, which makes it nearly impossible to wake up even at 0800.
So I think I will need to take some time to think over this last change, because I think waking up early can make the most significant change out of all of these habits.
In the short term, I am going to be trying to encourage myself to read more, and tidy my bedroom frequently. I may struggle with getting up early, but it’s something I can work towards, although it would probably be convenient to get a job that allows early morning.
Bobbi's Quest to Self-Improvement 