11/28/15So the holidays are upon us, and I am sure many of you are like me and are a bit stressed thinking about the month ahead. Don’t get me wrong Christmas is my favorite time of the year, I love the music, the decorations and just the happiness that seems to radiate this time of the year. However, with Christmas break fast approaching there are projects and papers needing to be completed, not to mention the daunting thoughts of finals and all the studying needed for them. Along with having so much to do I have also started procrastinating more, which does not help. This is when I created the Productivity/Happiness project. Now the name may confuse you, but my ultimate goal was to become happier by being less stressed and making time for the things I wanted to get done. This is accomplished through being more productive, and if you are in a similar position to me and want to become more productive you can follow the steps I am.
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So I have already created two other blog posts this year that are similar to this one in some ways. I made a post back in August on how to be happy, and I made another post a few weeks ago on how to be productive. I tie in a few things from these posts, so if you want more inspiration for productivity or how to be happier go to those. Now I find what stresses me out the most are the little things thatI need to get done, because often there are a lot of them, and I am worried I will forget some. However, I also get stressed out by trying to remember everything especially when it comes to upcoming projects and for things that I don’t need to do this second, but I need to get done later today or even next week. There are two things I suggest and that is keeping a planner and scheduling out your day. Even if you already do these things, evaluate how you can do them better, because believe me I use my planner all the time, but if there comes a point where I am really stressed I don’t use it as much as I should, so it is always good to remind yourself to write things down and really use your planner.
I am also a big fan of to do lists, I put everything all down on one page, and it will be anything form taking a shower, to telling my mom about something, to working on a project. Getting what is in your head and putting it down on paper can really help destress. You can also just get a blank piece of paper, and just write down everything that is in your mind. This is very helpful right before you get to bed so you aren’t sitting up all night thinking of things to remember. Now these are all just general tips, and they play a part in my project, but they aren’t the only things. Having a routine is so useful because it can get little tasks out of the way, and help you not forget the little tasks you need to do daily.
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My Happiness project is centered around routine, since I don’t really have one while in college since everyday is a bit different. Having a routine helps me make time for what is important and what I want to do while also maximizing productivity, especially in the morning. I started with a blank week at a glance page from a calendar I have, but you can easily make your own and set it up how you want. I wrote everything I wanted to get done in the morning in orange, everything I wanted to do before I went to bed in purple, and everything to do during the day in black. It is a very simple design, but it really helped. My morning have the least amount of structure regularly since I just sit around on my computer, but part of my happiness project is starting to wake up at 6:30 and start getting things done. I am a morning person so I can think better in the morning as it is, but it is also just great to be able to wake up early and have a lot accomplished before you even really start your day. My typical everyday morning routine included washing my face, working out, and Duolingo ( a language program to help me keep up with learning French). My typical night routine included showering, washing my face, and cleaning my room. There are all pretty basic tasks, but having them on a to do list that I can cross off makes me feel more productive, and when I feel productive I usually want to just keep getting stuff done. This is sort of the basis for my happiness project, and I plan on continuing this until Christmas break, or whenever the stress of school leaves.
The final part of my happiness project is something I do a lot and you will know this is you have been reading a while. When I have a lot going on in my life, and I know I have lot to do it helps me to see the upcoming weeks all on one page with everything I need to do on it. Now you could just use your planner, but I really like creating a custom calendar for each situation because usually each time I am dealign with different things, and I want organize things a certain way. It is also a way to organize your planner if recently it has become a place of chaos. This time I made a 7 week calendar going from the week I started to the week of Christmas. I can now see everything that is going on over the next month all at once, and it really helps me to visualize what I need to do when. I color coded different items: pink (school), orange (due date/exam), blue (social), purple (other non-school), black (other school related), and green highlighted is very important. I also made a to do list for each week which holds reminders of what to do throughout the week. This is to help me keep track of what projects to work on when, and helps me balance out the stressful weeks and the non stressful ones. Even just doing this regardless of whether I look at it or not helps bring my stress down since I everything is in one place and I don't need to keep so much in my head. Of course I am going to look at it especially when I know I have work to do, but I just am unmotivated since I can only think of the pointless stuff to be doing. This helps me see what I should be doing to that I am not in tears by finals week. Now having my life so organized and less stress can help give me time to do things that I want to start incorporating into my life more, but when I am stressed I never can find the time to do, such as working out, devoting extra time for prayer, and focusing on eating healthy. Having less stress clutter in my brain helps leave room for other things that I want to occupy my mind and time with. It may just sound crazy to some people, but that is the core reason behind this happiness project. It is corralling the chaos to make time for the important things. Now if you want some tips on forming habits and making routines, here is a short video that I find really helpful and honestly this whole channel is really helpful. It is by Lavendaire and I discovered her this month when looking at different videos for the Konmari method and her channel has quickly become one of my favorites. I am sure you will see more of her videos in my posts in the upcoming months.