There are 24 hours in a day. TWENTY-FOUR hours. There are 7 days in a week. SEVEN days. That is a total of 168 hours in a week. Think back to last week. What did you do? Go to work? Go to school? Go to sleep? Play video games? Binge watched a show? If we treat our time like money, are we losing money or are we making money? I get asked a lot, how do I make the time to do so much? When do I sleep? Do I have any fun me time? Well I will let you in on a little secret called time management. How you organize your day is imperative. When you organize your day, you will actually see how much free time you actually have. For this blog on time management, I have decided to use my summer schedule as an example.
Every day, Monday through Friday, I go to a summer intensive acting program in the city from 8:30am to 6:30pm. This entails commuting from San Jose to San Francisco to get place to place. I chose to use public transportation to get back and forth because it is both cost and time effective. If I chose to drive everyday I would have to pay for gas, spend more time to get there, and worry about arriving on time more than I would, when taking public transportation. That being said, knowing your circumstances and making wise choices is imperative. Remember to always know the given circumstances and your alternatives. Using public transportation has allowed me to use an hour and a half to work. For example, I am typing this blog out right now. If I had chosen to listen to music and sleep, scroll through instagram, watched videos on my phone or play a game, you probably would not be reading this. Instead of looking at public transportation as something negative, look at it as your office on the go. I guarantee you, you will be able to complete so much work.
So I guess the next question is, ̈well, when do you eat?¨ So for breakfast, I personally have to grab something on the go, and never forget your water. I do get an hour lunch, where I am able to locate a sit down restaurant. Depending on what is on my to do list in my planner, I either use this time work or socialize. I do not make that decision unless I consult with that planner. If I think in my head, without looking at the planner, than mentally I think I am free to socialize and I can do whatever tasks later. Do not do that. That will make you forget, procrastinate, and/or stress later. So look at the planner. Being productive is okay. If your friends or acquaintances do not understand that, than why are you hanging with them?
This will lead to the next question, ¨If I am busy, when will I have ´me´ time.¨ Well I will tell you what I do again. If for any reason I feel overwhelmed, stressed, or tired, I look at all the things I need to accomplish and reorganize the list by priority (I am a Virgo, can you tell?). After that, I put the list away and breathe. If I need a walk, I walk it off. If I need something to calm my nerves, I inhale incense because I know it personally relaxes me. If I am somewhere where I can't burn incense, I carry around Palo Santo, because a whiff of that also relaxes me (without burning it). The most simple solution is to breathe. Sit down and breathe in and out deeply. The stress will leave your body. Now if I need a break mentally and need a day to myself, I open my planner and choose a weekday where I am not doing anything at all and I block it out. I treat that day as if its a day I have a very important meeting. That day is in fact so important because it helps you realign yourself. It allows you to take a break physically and mentally. Also, IT IS OKAY! I have learned, rather the hard way, if you are just work, work, and more work with little time for mental health, you will one day be reminded that you are a human. This reminder comes in so many different forms. This could be mentally where you are crying uncontrollably, or extremely depressed, or sleepy, or even grumpy. Physically you can get sick from a migraine, a cold, the flu, etc. You are HUMAN! Crazy, right?
Another question I get is sleep. A lot of people would look at my schedule and wonder if I even sleep. 98 percent of the time I get 6-8 hours. Shocking, I know. Quite frankly, I know I could do soooo much more during the night if I sacrifice sleep. But the quality of work will not be the best, and I know how I function with little to no sleep. The other 2 percent is if I have a shoot after class or my schedule for that day is really packed. The key to that though, is that I know I will have a couple of days after to get my full 6-8 hours because my pillow has booked me for those hours.
So how do you make your money? Well I have photoshoots, acting gigs, door dash, side gigs that I work into my schedule. Example. If I deliver for doordash for 2-3 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and a few hours during the weekends, I can make $200-$400 a week. The gigs I take, I also take into consideration. If it is not more than what I would make for door dashing that day, I turned it down. I still need a roof over my head and to eat, so yes, I have to be wise in my choices in work.
If you do each task a little at a time, with given deadlines, you are actually capable of completing your tasks. Now I am not saying this is the perfect plan for everybody, but these are the things I do with my time. I have so much free time in between things, (60 minutes is a lot of time if you look at it from a different perspective). And do not forget about weekends! It is okay to work and save play time for later. Trust me, your friends will understand. If they don't why are they your friends? I challenge you to take a look at your schedule, write a list, and to free your time from unnecessary entertainment for a week. Just to see how much you can get done.
Until Next Time, Stay Productive!
XOXO
Cristiana Alexis