Every week I create a schedule for myself of things that need to be completed. And nine times out of ten, the majority of it doesn’t get done.
Before I start the day, I have a cup of coffee and review everything on my calendar. On average this is what my schedule looks like: complete projects for day-job, continue to write freelance work and personal work, take care of things around my home, raise my son, feed my cats, quality time with my husband, and set aside quiet/personal time. Some weeks are more jam-packed then others but you get the gist of it. And as I said, sometimes not everything on the list gets done.
I use to get pissed when I didn’t accomplish everything.
Once the end of the week rolls around and I see that I didn’t put my attention on every single item, I’d lose it. I would yell at myself for not knowing how to manage my time or for being lazy. And of course, I’d feel like a big failure because I was all about the hustler mentality. But it didn’t take for me to see that falling into a negative spiral wasn’t helping. Instead, I took a step back and realized that in order for me to complete my list of tasks – I needed to get real with myself.
I’m not perfect – not in the slightest. So why am hard on me for not being perfect? I had to understand that no matter how much time I spent creating my organized task list, life will have other plans. You can plan for the perfect day and still life will come strolling by and say “Nah girl not today. Your attention is needed here.”
We have to expect errors.
We need to make room for the unpredictable, for failures, for those “off” days. It took me a while to understand that life can have moments where things don’t go according to plan and to expect it. Expect the hiccups and the re-routes and just go with the flow. In understanding that our days might consist of errors here and there, it lightens the load. It reminds us that we’re imperfect humans trying to live the best way we can. To not put so much pressure on ourselves all the time.
That doesn’t mean we can’t try to be better humans or that we have to give up on everything. But it does let us know that if things don’t turn out the way we planned, we can shake it off and try again. There will always be another chance for us to get ourselves together. Errors have a way for us to get real with ourselves and ask if these important tasks are worth it.
If it matters to you, you’ll keep showing up.
I like to also look at off days or errors as somewhat of a motivator. If something falls behind in your life, you start to question if it’s worth it. Is this thing really that important or do I think it’s important? Is it worth it to keep going? Or is this something that I can put on hold for now?
For me I know hands down my son is the number one priority in my life which means that maybe some tasks around my home might fall behind. I might leave some dirty dishes or forget to make dinner one night. I know I can always try to manage my time tomorrow and see if things get better or if life will just come in and flip everything. But instead of getting upset, I just take a breath and continue living. I take one step at a time and realize that as long as I still get up and keep trying, I really can’t lose.
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Til next time homies,
Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash