There's always more to do

A conundrum I’ve been grappling with lately: if I get done early with the day’s schedules, should I take a break until the next day, or attack what’s to come and keep piling it on?

On a theoretical level, I think it’s healthy to take a breather, especially after I’ve already executed everything on the day’s docket. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of the well-earned leisure time? Go on; open up Youtube and drown myself in automotive-related videos. Rinse and repeat when tomorrow arrives.

The problem is that often during those downtime, the utter lack of productivity leaves me with a sense of anxiety. Perhaps my daily checklist isn’t rigorous enough, and that’s the reason I even have time leftover to begin with. Or perhaps I should get a head start on the following day’s schedules: the faster I finish, the more I can do and learn.

I’ve become so preoccupied with maximizing learning that I can’t allow myself to have satisfactory moments of mindless activity. That’s now how it’s suppose to work! I set goals for what’s to be accomplished for the day, and when those are done, that should be it: no fretting, no anxiety of inadequacy.

Think back to school days: when I got done with the night’s homework, I didn’t yearn for more or agonize over whether or not it was enough; I was only ecstatic at being able to turn on the Playstation for some Grand Theft Auto action. As far as I was concerned, the goal of homework wasn’t to reinforce learning (even though it did), but rather it was to finish as quickly as possible so that I can have free time to play games.

Why can’t I replicate that now? When I get done with the day’s task I feel like I should be doing more instead. Already studied Korean for an hour? How about another more: I’m need to study again the next day anyways, so might as well get ahead on it.

Perhaps that’s the price to pay for progression; I understand taking breaks are important, but these days I absolutely detest idle time. It’ll be a rough road, but I think I need to gradually reacclimate myself with the notion of being perfectly fine with not doing anything productive.

Shudders.

The many faces of San Francisco Chinatown.

Productivity hack: daily checklist

Keeping a daily checklist of enriching must-do items is a good tactic to keep motivated and not waste time. Especially if you posit the list as I do: something to complete before the fun and mindless things like watching Youtube shows. Like doing homework before play or eating broccoli before dessert, putting the hard stuff first and have something sweet at the end is highly conducive to good productivity. 

For example my daily checklist consists of the following: 

• Read whatever book I'm currently on for one hour.
• Study Korean for at least two hours.
• Practice driving in Gran Turismo Sport for half an hour.
• Write something on the blog. 

As you can see the tasks all revolve around learning and self-improvement. I believe it's crucial to do such activities so to avoid regression as a person. I do them everyday (and on the seventh day I rest). 

Indeed it's simple and short but checking things off on a list is a great mental framework to keep me focused and not stray to frivolous time-sucks like social media. I can do leisure stuff only after I've finished the tasks for today, so I'd better get moving quickly on the work if I want to spend a decent amount of time enjoying the latest Star Wars fandom wars on twitter.

The San Francisco outsiders imagine it to be.