One of my favourite things to do is watch morning routines and productivity videos on YouTube. You know, the ones where they wake up at 5am, go for a run, do some wellness Yoga, make the healthiest breakfast you ever saw, do a full 10 step skincare routine, before settling down with some pink matcha coffee on their aesthetic desk.
Yea, that’s not very realistic but you can call it my guilty pleasure. My days are never like that though and I can bet a lot of us have our fair share of less than perfect days. Most times, I have 101 deadlines and a thousand things calling for my attention. I also recently happen to have come into probably the most hectic time of my life. Trying to balance a thesis, a career transition, a move and all my jobs at once. I sleep a total of 4 hours a day in bouts of 2 hours each time. I forget to eat; my hair is a mess and I make sure to wear the same pair of black pants trousers every day, so I don’t have to decide what to wear. I just pray every day that I don’t run into some high school classmate I haven’t seen in a decade. Even though my typical day is not as organized as the YouTube videos I enjoy watching, I am glad to say that I am in a generally very productive season of my life. It’s important to mention because I haven’t always felt like this. So, in the spirit of the season, I decided to share a few things that are keeping me even more anchored.
Envision the finish line
Whatever it is you are juggling will have its end in sight. It might be closer or farther, but it will come. It was seeming like my program would never end and now I am just about a week to the end of it. Envision what it would feel like when you complete that task, the feeling of fulfillment when you see the reward of your hard work. That feeling and imagination is enough to spur you on.
Celebrate small successes
We get sucked up waiting for the big breaks that we forget to celebrate the small wins. Celebrate completing a task, finishing an essay, and sending out a proposal. There’s nothing wrong with patting yourself on the back occasionally. It makes you excited and motivated for the next small milestone.
Take care of your health and hygiene
Stress is a disease. It may not be infectious like a flu or as obvious as a fever, but it can creep up on you before you know it and it can lead to a burnout. It may be a lot to juggle but remember to drink water, set an alarm to remind you to eat and try to find time to sleep. I may be preaching to the choir as I am guilty of some neglect to my health, so I do try to remind myself of these things.
One thing some people tend to neglect when stressed is hygiene. We really underestimate the power of a shower. I could be feeling terrible but taking a shower just wakes me up and makes me feel motivated to start my tasks.