This time next week I will have officially completed my first day at my paying side hustle. I decided some time go that I really needed a second, part-time job aside from blogging. Because let’s be real, blogging sounds like a fabulous way to make money but you can ask any blogger that’s HONEST and they will tell you its not as easy as it sounds. It takes time to write, to find good things to write about, and then to gather a following and somehow create revenue. It’s rarely an over-night success. And I have been HORRIBLE about consistently writing (oops, sorry!) which does not equal dollar signs. I didn’t exactly start this blog thinking it would be something that brought me a great income though. I just enjoyed it!

But my life got even more stressful and hard and bogged down and insert reasons/excuses that can go on for days. I stopped writing. I allowed myself to be swept away at my day job to the point of exhaustion and hating my world.

I wish I was exaggerating when I say I worked a 25+ hr shift. I worked 165 hrs in a two week span.

And I hated myself for it in the end. I hated my job for a while there too. Even the fun things that I have always enjoyed about it were soul-sucking.

Worst of all, my credit score sucked, I owed the whole world money and it was never getting any better. or so I thought and felt. I had been spending the previous few years trying to slowly but surely get myself out of the hole, while helping take care of my sick grandmother. I had been in a better house and neighborhood for almost a year at this point but I was still struggling to get a leg up on my life. So I decided it was time to get a second job again.

It took the better part of 4 months to finally get a chance to apply at Stitch Fix after missing TWO opportunists with the company due to my stupid self not getting the ball rolling on applications before they closed again. i interviewed within the month (rare for them) and was offered the job but had to wait about a month longer before my start date. I’ll talk about that after it hits next Tuesday.

Which leads me to my new attempt to get Sh** Done.

Yup.

I went there. Cursing has become more normal inside of my mind but I really do try to minimize it here.

Anyways.

I am not the kind of personality that does well with To-Do lists. They over-whelm me and I never feel that I complete them. I had to do something to ensure that I get tasks done around my home or in my personal life even. I can’t always focus on work and I need to be motivated. But i can’t do all of the 15,000 things that instantly fill my mind.

But I can do five. I can handle five. And if I can’t do ALL five, it won’t hurt my heart to see a small little list not complete like it would to see a giant one with only one-three things checked off.

The way my agenda is set up made this easy. On the weekly view, the top part is a list and the bottom is by times. I use the bottom half for while I’m at work, but the top? Its usually blank. NOT ANYMORE! LOOK AT THIS!!!

Now, again, I know myself pretty well. I will bog myself down with tasks and leave out a social life. I fixed that in my Daily Five by INCLUDING things like “Family Time” or “Yoga with Kels” and even the things I do at my church. And I limited them to small accomplishments when it came to my house.

“Empty One Box from (insert area)”

“Make Dinner”

“Remove 6 items from closet to give away”

By limiting my list to easy and less time consuming tasks, there’s a WAY better chance that I will actually do them.

Y’all, be kind to yourselves. I have been beating myself up for YEARS about how I cannot EVER get caught up. I can’t do this, or that and why the heck am I turning 30 and STILL CAN”T PAY ALL MY BILLS ON TIME?! Seriously. I know I’m not the only one who feels like this. I would kick my friends’ butts if they talked about themselves the way I talk to myself. I would be so upset and telling them all the fabulous things about them that I know to be true.

We need to be better about treating ourselves with grace and kindness.

So I will try my Daily Five. And I am going to celebrate each one I check off. Hold me to that please!

~Manic