Now, 2019 is a special year for me, it’s the year I finally graduate! I have a couple more assignments and then I am free from the grasp of Open University. I can still remember the excitement in 2014 when I received my first set of textbooks and bought lots of new stationary. I wrote in the most perfect cursive script you had ever seen. My beautiful Papermate Comfortmate Black Pen (comfort is what I opt for in most aspects of my life) flowing with ink onto my Pukka Pad Jotta. Perfectly sized letters, perfectly spaced words… until you got to the second page and by that point my hand was hurting a little bit and my writing starts to look like a 5-year olds.
Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed my degree, but it is time
I moved onto a new chapter. So, 1 dissertation and a final assignment to
complete and then I’ll be a fully-fledged graduate. Maybe I’ll even put the
letters after my name when I sign off e-mails, texts, Facebook statuses – I EARNED
IT, OK!?
A lady who isn't me having a lot of fun with a post-it note.
Anyway, the real reason for this post was to talk about
productivity and routine. I really needed to knuckle down this year and get shit
done. The first thing I did was alter my sleeping routine, much to the delight
of Paul. I always thought I would focus better in the morning whilst I still
have all my energy, so I downloaded an app called Alarmy. This app allows you
to set different types of alarms, ones where you have to shake your phone to
turn it off, ones where you have to solve mathematical questions to turn it off
(I couldn’t even solve them when I was wide awake) and the one that I use,
where you have to take a picture of a certain place in the house.
I opted for the sink in the bathroom, which meant I had to
get up and out of bed, for fear of Paul kicking me out, and take the snapshot to turn the alarm off.
This has really helped me get up straight away without hitting the snooze
button. Don't get me wrong there have been times where I have climbed back
into bed, but I’ve seen a huge improvement. I started to get up at 5:30am
everyday and once I had done this for a week it was so much easier and I found
I got so much more done. There is something about being awake before everyone else
which is peaceful and just allows me to focus a lot more.
Another app I use is called Forest, now the idea is pretty
simple, but effective. You choose how long you want to focus for, from 10
minutes to 2 hours and press “plant”. Whenever you then try to go on your phone
a notification comes up saying “Go back to your forest immediately to prevent the
tree from dying”. Now I’m the type of girl who will catch a spider in a glass
and release it back into the wild. If you think for one second, I’m going to
let a pixelised tree die by my hand, then you are sorely mistaken. You don’t
just have to use this for studying either, you can also use it for when you want to
clean the house without distractions or you want to stop yourself from going on
social media so much and scrolling aimlessly. It’s an effective app (and free!)
to keep you focused.
Lastly, I’ve also started to exercise more and I find my workout to be more effective when I’m with other people, whether that be with my PT, a friend or even with
a Z-list celebrity whilst following their workout DVD. I don’t know what’s
gotten into me, but I’m starting to enjoy being achy the next day after a
workout, it makes me feel like I’ve worked harder. So that's it from me for now, I've got some exciting things planned for this year that I'm hoping to document. If anyone has any tips for staying productive, let me know as I need all the help I can get!
Lucy x
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