Tag: tricks

Mondays are Trash

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I will be the first to admit it: Mondays are garbage. You spend a whole weekend doing all of your favorite activities only to be met by your way to early alarm clock on Monday and dragging yourself out of bed to repeat the dreaded work cycle.

I do it every single week, too. I wish I could say that I had the financial stability and freedom to not have to go to my 9-5 every week, but I do. I’m working on reaching that path to financial freedom, but until then, my Monday alarm is my enemy and we honestly should have a duel.

How do you deal with it? There are tools to help every person out there to make the screeching time box next to your bed more manageable and I’ve collected a handful below:

Create a Monday morning you’ll look forward to.

Whether that’s setting out your clothes the night before, presetting your coffee pot and putting your journal out to write or making some banana bread for breakfast, creating and establishing a routine can help bring your brain into focus and be more ready for the work day.

For me, I always I try to preset the morning coffee. My partner was a saint this morning and made it this morning when I completely forgot to. I also try to hop in the shower right away to wake my eyes and brain up. I find I’m usually more functional when I’ve cleaned up before getting the day rolling. But knowing that routine helps get me on track to start a good week.

Get yourself going with your favorite motivational podcast.

Or not a motivational podcast. Maybe not a podcast at all. Maybe it’s some rage tunes or Queen or some light lofi beats. Whatever it is that makes you happy to listen to to get your state of mind right for the new week.

I’m a big fan of Hozier on the car ride in, but I also try to listen to a podcast for my gain. What I mean by that is that if I’m going to be working my 9-5 for a company (which I very much enjoy doing don’t get me wrong), I’m going to use my personal time for me and my growth. Currently I’m listening to Financial Feminist on Spotify. I highly recommend to any person who is new to investments and financial savings.

PERFECT time for a quick journal session.

Again, taking your time for you. Be selfish with your you-time! Don’t sit there and answer emails before your clock starts or responding to coworkers business inquiries. That’s what the 9-5 timeframe is for. You are still a good employee if you aren’t a slave to your company every moment of the day.

Before and after your shift is time for YOU and what YOU want out of it. Monday morning is a great time for a mental check-in and refocus. My personal journaling method is intentional journaling, but whatever works for you is what works!

Do NOT miss your coffee or go-to morning drink

We all know the morning drink isn’t for our safety, but for everyone else’s. If my partner hadn’t made that pot of coffee for us this morning, there is no telling my level of destruction. Better safe than sorry, especially on a Monday.

Breakfast. Eat, you hooligans.

Seriously, what is it with people not eating in the morning? I don’t get it. Eating breakfast improves your metabolism and gives you brain food that makes the rest of your meals more sustainable throughout the day. Eat something you like.

And a bonus tip here: HYDRATE. We all need the water as much as the morning caffeination. Bring your water bottle with you! Water can help with the morning brain fog.

Balance your checkbooks and your calendars.

Don’t really feel like the emotional check in is where you’re at? That’s okay! Then go pay your bills that are due this week and check your calendar for your personal upcoming events. Maybe you can squeeze a beach day in after work this week. Personal care also comes in the form of keeping your finances and calendar in check.

Mondays are a rough time. The alarm, the upcoming work week, all of it. Use that personal time to help yourself however you need it. We can’t just stop working because we have bills to pay. But we can optimize our personal time to benefit ourselves. We invest so much in our work, why not in ourselves too?

What are things you do to make your Mondays better? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Maybe try a few out!! Share in the comments below or feel free to write me an email. You know where to find me.

Until Next Time,

Dana

Your Definition of Failure Doesn’t Matter to Me.

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If your first job after college doesn’t pertain to your degree you just received, you have failed. If you don’t get that promotion at work, you have failed. If you didn’t accomplish everything on your three page to do list at work AND at home AND at that extra-curricular activity you do to get out of the house so you don’t become a hermit for life, you have FAILED. Everyone is going to talk about you. Everyone is going to talk. The fact that you’re not posting an update on Facebook on that job you tried for that you said you really really loved shows that you didn’t get it and now everyone is judging you. You. Are. Failing.

Can you feel your levels of anxiety increasing while reading that? Can you feel your own self disappointment rising in an upward trajectory that is currently competing with the height of Mt. Everest?

If it’s not? Well, you’re doing better than the rest of us. Because the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of us out there that feel the pressure of the outside universe to perform with a level of perfection that is unattainable. And even though we know it’s unattainable, we still try to please everyone. Sometimes even when it’s something we don’t want.

But you want to know something else? There are not bunches of people out there watching you fail either. More likely than not, they’re waiting to celebrate your successes. If they are waiting for you to fail, then I’m not sure they’re worth sharing successes with.

For a really long time, I believed I was constantly failing and that the culmination of those failures would amount to nothingness in my life. But the more I exist and learn, the more I see that failure is more like a course correction rather than a shipwreck.

If I take a look at where I was and where I thought I was going ten years ago versus where I am now?I was supposed to be a super successful director with two books written and a secluded house in the woods. I was supposed to not have to think about money by now and attend major events and create a non profit. By these standards I have failed tremendously because I have not achieved a single one.

And the me today is proud of it! Why? Because I have a stable job that lets me leave work at work with flexible hours and good benefits. Because I live with my partner who loves me like I’ve never experienced love before. Because the roof over my head is stable and there’s food on my table. Because my hobbies bring me joy and I get to share that with others. You see, my perspective on fulfillment and success has changed. My fulfillment is not sourced from work- it’s sourced from life, from love, from experience. If I can only be fulfilled by checking off boxes on a list, then I’ll never see what’s outside that list.

I guess what I’m getting at in my musings today is that it’s okay to change. It’s okay for perspective to change and for what to matter in your life to change. It’s okay to need the rigidity of a list to keep you on track towards a major goal if that’s what makes you happy. It’s also okay to let it go and see where the world takes you.

The important thing is that you set those definitions yourself and not to let others define them for you. Then they aren’t your goals you’re after. And then it has become not your life.

What are you after? What are your goals? Take time to reflect on that over your morning coffee and your own musings. Taking that time for yourself is important. I hope you have a great day!

Until Next Time,

Dana

My Bullet Journal

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I was a procrastination queen for years. No matter what I did, I would put everything off until the last minute. I’d do it eventually and it would be completed on time and done well, but it would take forever. Why was I like this? I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t like being forced to do things or because I’d rather read a book than finish that 10 page paper. The answer still remains unclear. But then my sister introduced me to this thing called “the bullet journal” a few months back. At first I thought it was kind of dumb. Why not get a planner? Why not put it in your phone? Why not do literally anything but this journal? It will take forever to set up and that will just trigger my procrastination. But Layne used her big sister powers and pressured me to make one until I caved.

I owe Layne an apology. Just a second:

Layne, I’m sorry. You were right. Yes, write that one down for the history books. I admit that you were completely right about the bullet journal. It is amazing.

Bullet journal 3

Okay I’m back. OH MY GOD. I am obsessed. I have never been so organized and prepared in my life. For those that don’t know what the bullet journal is, it’s an organization system designed so you can track any and all of your latest projects and events. Basically, the bullet journal consists of four major components: Index, the Future Log (or the Year in Review), the Monthly Log, and the Daily Log. These four components come together so you can maintain every single aspect of your life all in one journal and not in multiple planners or notebooks. You can see more about it in this video that the creator of the bullet journal made here.

I have kept up with mine and I can’t stop. Every morning I sit down for breakfast and plan my day using the bullet journal. I have trackers for assignments, bills and other miscellaneous goals. The best part about this system is I have complete control over how I organize it. I can use whatever notebook, designs and concepts I want. I can make it as decorative or as simple as I want it to be.

Bullet Journal2

Yes, I’ll admit it. It does take some time to set up, but I’m proud of it and I want to keep up with it! I get my tasks done with less stress and I have been accomplishing my goals at a steady rate instead of the night before. My favorite parts of my bullet journal are my trackers and future log. The trackers provide a lot of structure and give a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project. The future log allows me to put all of my future dates in one place so I don’t double book myself.

If you’re nervous about starting a bullet journal because you don’t know where to start, there’s also a whole community of people who bullet journal where you can share ideas so you literally can’t run out of ideas! All you have to do is type in “bullet journal” to your google search, pinterest, facebook, instagram or pretty much any other social media site out there. I’ve made a Pinterest board that is slowly growing full of Bullet Journal pins if you want to check it out: https://www.pinterest.com/mybrightcorner/bullet-journal/. There’s also a website that the founder created to help beginners start their journals and seasoned journalers keep themselves in check with it.

So if you see me in person and we get onto the subject of bullet journals? I will fawn over mine like a grandma does to their grandchild at Christmas. And I’m just not sorry about it. 🙂

Basically what I’m saying is y’all need a bullet journal in your lives. What do you use to plan out your lives? Are you bullet journal obsessed like me or do you have another approach? Let me know in the comments!

 

Until Next Time,

Dana Qualy