Balancing your Must-Do’s and Want-To’s
Original Post Date: October 4th, 2023
To keep a productive and efficient routine, it's key to balance your work and play. While your must-dos are essential, you can’t produce quality work without adding a little fun. Let’s get into 3 practices you can use to balance your must-dos and want-to’s.
Prioritize
Prioritization will be key to fitting in everything you need to in one day. Some describe it as finishing all of the most important tasks first. I agree with this definition to an extent. In addition to completing tasks like chapter notes or studying, hanging out with your best friends can also be a priority. Think of it this way. If you don’t take an hour to spend time with them, you’re more likely to burn out sooner. This burnout could lead to you inefficently completing tasks like homework. A question you can ask yourself to re-prioritize is: What’s most important to balancing my productivity and my wellness?
Don’t Procrastinate
One thing my anxiety won’t let me do is procrastinate, at least most of the time, and I’m so grateful. When I find myself in situations where I’m overwhelmed with approaching deadlines, there's almost no chance that I’ll get to do any of my want-tos. If I can get my must-dos done throughout the week, I like to take Saturdays to detach from my student responsibilities. I create a daily to-do list to make sure I'm staying on track with items that are due soon. It may help to create a reminder to be proactive. Take a sticky note and write what you'll reward yourself with if you get everything accomplished.
Say No
Think of a time that a friend asked to make a last-minute plan. Did you say yes, more importantly, did you want to say yes? As an ex-people pleaser, this trap has caught me so many times. I love spending time with my friends, it's one of the highlights of my day. On the other hand, alone time is glorious. It also allows me to finish my must-dos quicker because I can focus better. My extroverted personality leads me to overextend my time and bandwidth. I’ve had to consciously consider whether I wanted to be around others or if that was what felt right to do.
I hope that you can use these tips to better balance your routine and ultimately create the best daily schedule for you.
With love,
Allie
