What are your BEST living Practices?

Finally I decided on the layout for the weekly schedule. In other planners I have used hourly daily schedules. I decided though not to do that for this, but rather go along with a more to-do list style. Every day I make tons of to-do lists, and I place my hour by hour schedule in google calendar. I stopped using/paying attention to the hour schedule in the planners I was using, and I find that the google calendar is nicer because it sends me reminders of things I have scheduled to do each day. 

After deciding on the habit tracker, mood board, and goal board, I took a look at the monthly layout itself. It took a few tries, but I was able to get it just so so that I could have all the possible days of each month, even though each month has different weeks and number of days. I also added in a page for projects that I would work on during the month, and a grade tracker to see my monthly progress. 

After going over the bog picture of the year, I moved onto the monthly views. The things that I liked from the other planners were places for goals, mood boards. Similar to the yearly ones, I added in monthly ones for me to remember my bog picture on a smaller scale. I also added in a habit tracker so that I can change habits and see my progress.  

Still with keeping in the big picture, I wanted to have a place at the beginning of my planner for my school and exam schedule for each semester. I printed out 4 pages for each in the case where I am taking classes in the spring/summer and not just fall/winter.

After coming up with the mood board and goal page for the year, I focused on what else I wanted for my big picture. I travel a lot to and from Canada, and I have some large trips coming up this summer so I decided to add in a travel page to include my itinerary and a basic packing list. 

I started my planner with a mood board for the year, as well as goals/resolutions. I felt that it was a good way to start the year, keeping the big picture in mind for the year. I found that each month goes by so quick because I am just so busy and now a year flashes by before I can blink. It can be hard to stay focused when you forget your goals a month after making them.

I have spent the past few days looking at different planners. I have had a few different ones over the years and I will look at the very pretty ones online whenever I feel stressed and disorganized. With the various planners I've had, they've each had things that I've liked about them but not everything about them has been perfect for me. Also, they are very, very expensive. So, I decided to take the best things that apply to me for each planner I've liked and make my own planner. Over the next week and a bit I'll be working on this and posting pictures of my progress. I'm rather excited about it.

Over the next week, I'm going to be focusing on how I can design my time to meet my needs more efficiently. I am going to look at how I stay organized and how I plan to manage my time. I hope that from looking at the trends for what I prioritize, I'll be able to find more of a balance of time management.

Overall, I've learned how stressed I am. I don't really stick to my routine and my life is kinda all over the place. I need to feel organized and lately I haven't felt that. When that happens I feel out of control and then I start to get stressed to the point of sickness. I then shut down and waste time on Netflix and Amazon. My goals for the next section of my blog are going to be aware of my time, sticking to a routine, prioritizing tasks that have closer deadlines, and prioritizing physical and mental health. 

What do you prioritize? -> I tend to prioritize on spending time with friends and getting opportunities to live. I enjoy having experiences  and not being stuck behind a computer all day doing homework. I also, for the first semester have been prioritizing school and homework. I am determined to get a good grade! That's never really been something that is important to me until now, but I need to start thinking about my future and where I want to be. Grades and hard work are a part of that. What do you procrastinate? -> I have been procrastinating my other classes. My political science class takes up a lot of my focus and I am finding it hard to balance that and my other classes as well as socialization on the weekends. I am even procrastinating that this last week because I have had midterms in my other classes and I had to take a step back. My emotional state, when it is not good, then makes it so I tend to procrastinate my other duties because I don't have the emotion...

Are you often late or early? -> I am in between. If I'm late then it will be a few minutes but if I am early it's by a meer minute or two. I like to try to be early but the past week I've been more late to events that I need to get to than early. Is there a pattern? -> I have a pattern of busyness. I often feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get things done. This past week though, because I was working towards relaxing for the weekend, I had to get things done. I felt that especially Wednesday and Thursday I really had to be productive and I felt that if I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, that that was okay. I am learning that if I have a more laid back point of view on life and getting things done, then I feen more relaxed.

Tracking my time - I had another crazy day. I had work in the morning then I had to cancel my physical therapy appointment in order to finish a homework project on time. I then had class and was off to do more homework to get ready to relax over the long weekend. I had to run to the BYUSA office to take promotional pictures for an event that is coming up next month. Then I ran home to pack and do laundry for the weekend. After that was done I had the chance to breath for about an hour.  Then it was off to the movies to see Black Panther and it was AMAZING! But that was a last minute thing so I had to get everything done before that. Then it was off to bed at 2am. Another busy day. 

Tracking my time: I made to my classes today, then I took an exam which I did okay on. I went to a talk given by the Consul General of Canada for the Canadian Consulate in Denver Colorado. He talked about the importance of NAFTA and keeping good relations between Canada and the US. I had the opportunity to tour with him and some of his employees. It was a really cool opportunity. Then I ended up in the bottom of the SWKT for Political Science 328. I didn't stay nearly as long as I normally do, simply because I've had a long week. All in all, I feel like I've had a pretty full day.

Tracking My Time: I wasn't very productive today. I got a little bit of homework done but not nearly enough. It means I have far more to do tomorrow.

Tracking my time: Today it was hard to stay motivated. Today, my dad would have turned 55. He passed away in November of 2016 so about a year and a half ago now. I didn't want to do anything but things had to be done. I woke up early at 7am and did about an hour of homework. Then I crawled back into bed and ended up missing my first class. Managed to get myself showered and ready for my second class, but I was late. However, I got another 40 minutes of homework done. After my second class I skipped my third and called my mum to talk about my good memories with my dad. It was bitter sweet. I then went off to the ski hill with a friend. My dad was the one who too my brother and I skiing growing up in BC. I thought it would be a good, fun way to remember him. After hitting the slopes, I made it home in time for FHE where the turnout was low. I then took some time to myself. I drove up to the Provo temple, sat in my car, and had a good cry. Most of the time I forget to give myself time...

Tracking Time: I was very busy this Sunday, but then that seems to be the trend of my life. Church church starts at 9, so I woke up around 8:20 and scrambled to get ready in time before we had to leave. I got a new calling to me an FHE group leader, so this week I was sustained and set apart. I also found out that my co-chair is getting a new calling and won't be at my first FHE tomorrow night.  I felt very overwhelmed! I have a million things to do this week. When I feel that my to-do list is longer than I think possible to complete, I need to take a moment and grab a few deep breaths and remind myself not to overthink. Due to my Saturday not being very productive, I had quite a long lost of chores to complete. So, after church, I set about doing them. I was able to get my laundry done, and make, frost, and deliver cookies to the people in my FHE group so I could introduce myself. I also cleaned my room which was very needed. I had homework to do, but I opted to save the sabbath f...

Tracking my time:I went to work at 7:30am this morning then ventured up to IKEA after my shift with my friends for some much needed fun. We got up to no good among the aesthetically pleasing displays and I bought a rolling pin! It was a blast. The it was off to Barnes and Nobles for my friend to get an autograph from his favorite author. We waited around, which was our mistake because it took 3 hours. Then it was dinner and back to work for the closing shift. I got no homework done today, which means I'll have to do it tomorrow. I hate doing homework on Sundays, but today took an unexpected turn that ate up all my time. I need to be better about saying no to things when I have a ton to do.

Tracking my time: Today I am just as busy as yesterday. I didn't wake up until 9 this morning and managed to get some laundry on before heading off to classes. I had back to back classes I stopped for a bit of Jamba Juice before continuing my way to work. I had hoped to get some homework done this morning but because I slept in, I didn't have enough time. After work, I met up with a friend at the BYU Museum of Art. One of my friend's had told me of a super cool exhibit, so I felt I had to go. I could only stay for an hour. I am a photographer for the communications section of BYUSA. With Valentines day next week, there are a fair few romantic themed events happening. I volunteered to photograph the Girl's Choice dance that took place at the Springville Museum of Art. It is never a dull moment in that building with the beautiful Spanish architecture! Then it was back home before hitting the books. I have a fair bit to do, and I hope I'll be ready for my midterms next...

Tracking my time: Thursdays I work at 5:30am. I work at the Law Library at Brigham Young University and on weekdays, the library opens at 6am and closes at 12am. I worked from 5:30 to 9am then went to a physical therapy appointment. I drove to work this morning so I could make it to my PT appointment on time right after work. Normally, I feel like my PT appointments take forever and go on and on, but today, it went by pretty quickly. Overall it takes me about an hour and a half to meet with the physical therapist and then go through my exercises. I go for my shoulder, which I injured while white-water kayaking a few years ago. Right after PT I ran to McDonalds to grab breakfast/lunch as I'd forgotten to pack a breakfast for work last night. After grabbing my food, I ran back to work for out weekly training meeting. Every Thursday at 1:30pm I have a major assignment due for my Political Science class that focuses in statistical analysis. Each week, about 10-12 hours of my time goes ...

For a class assignment, I have been given the challenge to reflect on my day, according to questions that are in line with B.E.S.T. which refers to the four major elements of dance; body, energy, space, and time. For 28 days, I am going to focus on two questions that are based around the element of time. This area of my life is something that I find I need to work on. Between work, school, social life, and volunteering, I find myself often overwhelmed. I am going to focus on one questions that I think will help me improve my time management; what is your overall awareness of time? At the end of this project, I am going to reflect on the question how can you design your time to meet your needs more efficiently? I hope that through this experience, I will be able to become more aware of my time management.