This calendar exercise allowed me to better understand where my time is spent in a two week window. Currently, I create a hour by hour calendar for each day on a white board and write out each hour and plot out my exact assignments for that day, along with breaks and personal projects I can work on. However, when I actually label each exact event in a digital calendar event, I could realistically visualize where my time has been spent for an entire 24 hour period, vs a traditional 9-5 workday I currently log. For example, during this semester, on days I end class at 5PM, I would take a 15minute break and then eat dinner with my brother, which on average usually takes 45 minutes. Then logging a calendar's time after dinner was difficult for me as I realize that after dinner, I mainly go into relax mode, when I should actually set more strict times to relax. Here's what I mean: After 5:15 when I complete my school/work/personal tasks in a given day and I eat dinner, my timeline is not as strict as it is in the day especially when I have an open evening such as on Wednesday when I complete class and work at 5PM.
All of a sudden I realized that I have more free time than I realize. Sometimes I think a TV episode on an evening with my brother might turn into 1.5 or 2 episodes, equating to about an hour to an hour and a half. This can be sliced to maybe half an episode or just 1 shorter session to allow myself some more personal time in the evenings to get ahead on some more personal or school projects, even if I don't have the same level of energy in the mornings or afternoons. Thus, especially on days where I have a free evening such as Sundays, Mondays and Wednesday's, my time is sporadically spent on either relaxing or other errand's. I should instead of this, as this project demonstrated, set out much clearer times and a structure in my evenings.
Another thing I learned: my good habits such as journaling, and playing guitar is not done every night, and does not have an exact set time to complete. By setting a designated time in the evenings to shower, then journal, then guitar and relax (all "linked" together) beginning at 7PM on my free evenings, I can thus put less effort into creating a time slot for each individual item - because now they are all occur at 7PM sequentially. Now, this after these habits are given the 7-8PM timeslot, it thus creates a 2 hour window available (8PM - 10PM). Thus, I found a free time slot that likely is currently being slipped into another task or activity (such as relaxing or watching TV) that I may be able to utilize in a more efficient way that better suits my needs and goals (such as currently, publishing my first blog post).
Additionally, the more I looked and worked at this calendar, the more applicable and personal I made it. I now understand how important it is to utilize my evenings more efficiently - and to, like my mornings and study times, set an exact time to do my good habits (such as to shower/journal/guitar at 7-8PM every free night). On nights where I have a class that ends at 9:30, I shower/relax/and read afterwards. This way I can get an earlier bedtime rather than let that bedtime flex until 11:00-11:30 depending on what I may be doing. This way I can set clearer mental notes to signal to the brain that I am heading to bed, rather than quickly trying to fall asleep after a long days work. This way I can better carve out my relax and work times to make time for what's truly important in my life.
