Stacking Priorities
It’s become systematic, but I’ve subconsciously and out of necessity had to prioritise my time. There are needs and musts; they drive stacking priorities.
‘I go to bed every night saying I feel very productive. Instinctively, without a calendar or block scheduling — I’m doing all my tasks and waiting on others rather than juggling a to-do list. Seamless synergy.’
Today, I actually have a set of priorties — something I’ve been without for the majority of this year.
Foolishly pursuing side projects to not warrant getting bored led to more procrastination than productivity.
I have not go a to-do list.
I have not got a schedule.
I have things to do.
But no order — or don’t I?
Somehow, since I started my internship a month ago, I’ve managed to prioritise and utilise all my waking hours.
I usually spend 15–17 hours awake each day.
Normally all of that time is spent working, commuting, eating or phone-usage (as well as general necessities to function as a human).
I haven’t prioritised the gym or healthy living and wrongly, might I add.
I tried to change that on Sunday, inevitably when I went to the gym I pushed myself too hard and felt the strain for consecutive days afterwards.
I’m going for a 15–20 minute jog after I write this blog to freshen the mind and the body.
Anyway, I’ve had QMGS priorities and dissertation work nagging away at me.
I normally return to anywhere between 7 and 16 emails in my account which have been left unanswered while I work my ‘day job’.
My ‘day job’ takes up around 10.5–12 hours of my day through commuting and working.
I use quotations because it’s temporary.
However, I think it’s been integral to prioritising.
Just like societies and their governments trying to efficiently utilise space through mixed-used zones.
I’m doing that with my time.
Where I can, where I get a seat on the train or tube — I take out my laptop and transcribe.
The interview I’m transcribing right now is 40 minutes in length.
That should take anywhere between 3 and 5 hours to do.
I spend at least 3 hours commuting every day. The majority of the time I do get a seat on the train. That’s 40 minutes so 1 hour 20 minutes each day.
It’s silly not to try to use that time.
I do have this nagging feeling to read the morning and evening paper before transcribing because I want to be aware of the world around me before I stick on my noise-cancelling headphones and focus.
I’ve made a 15 minute dent in that interview transcript and I will endeavour to do more on the train tomorrow morning.
When I come home; I change clothes, eat dinner, write the blog and attend to emails and QMGS responsibilities that I couldn’t do over email during the day.
Systematically, I slip into bed at around 11pm ready for my 6:50am wake-up call.
Sometimes the time gets away from me, but it’s only to get all the tasks done.
It’s been interesting to feel busy but not excessively stressed.
Previous weeks have been more stressful — maybe because I wasn’t prioritising well enough.
Now I feel in control.
I have an exciting weekend to look forward to, filled with some more hard work but a lot of fun.
This newfound productivity will inevitably not last long, but while it does, I’ll try to figure out what exactly it is that makes it work so well.
Maybe it’s the lack of time to do anything else?
Maybe it’s the urgency of the QMGS and dissertation things?
Who knows.
But I’m happy.
Now, time for a jog where I hope to not injure myself while trying to be healthy.
Stacking priorities.