stop wasting time

“If there’s one idea, one concept, one notion to focus on for today, let it simply be this:

Initiate.

Don’t wait.

Take the first step.Make the first move.Get the ball rolling.

You’ll know what to do afterwards.“

(From newsletter by Brian Kim, http://www.briankim.net)

How true it is! Complaining about things, boredom, wasting time while doing absolutely nothing to change the situation is easy. But taking that small, first step isn’t so hard either. Just do it! :) I try to keep that small word in my mind all the time: INITIATE. It’s inspiring, and it is the only way towards change.

It just hit me. What the heck am I doing spending my days cleaning, cooking, choosing things after whether they’ll suit my CV, looking for a ‘respectable job’, hoping to get a nice flat soon? These are the things I’ll be doing for the rest of my life!
I am only 24, this is the time to have fun, dress crazy, challenge myself and explore the world! My mum has always said doing whatever you want, crazy thing, is fine til you’re 25, after that you’re ‘supposed’ to start thinking properly about your future. Ah well, I am not 25 yet (eh, 3 months to go…)

I woke up this morning with the panicy feeling that I am sleeping away my life!

It’s not that I sleep huge amounts (or maybe I do, 9-10 hours or so), it’s just that I go to bed late a lot of the time for almost no reason at all and by the time I get up, other people have lunch!! I am looking for a job at the moment, which means that, like when I was a student, I am in more or less total control of my schedule. And I hate it. Because it doesn’t work for me, not at the moment anyway, time just flies. On top of this, when I am awake I spend most of the time reading, applying for jobs, walking the dog and spending time with the boyfriend (which, a lot of the time means watching TV with him). It’s just way to much routine. I want excitement, new experiences, fun. But with very little money, little opportunity to go places (again, little money, plus no driving licence and few buses in the area) and few people to see (everyone else is working and busy), I don’t see how I can change things. Help!

I just had an epiphany. Well, sort of anyway.
I realised I have this vague picture of how I expect to be, do, look like etc, when ‘older’. But I’m not really doing anything to get there, and so, if I keep like this, that will never happen. Not even close! Well that’s a wake up call if any.
I need to get started, to develop real, measurable goals and a week-by-week plan to get there. All my ‘43things’ goal are great, but I need to define more exactly what I want so I know for sure when I’ve reached them. And I need to do it now! After all, I’m job searching at the moment, I’ve got plenty of free time on my hands as it is.

‘The Most Common Mistake People Make When Setting Goals’ according to Brad Bollenbach of the 30sleeps blog – they don’t make them measurable. And if they’re not measurable, they probably won’t happen, because you won’t know where to start and so you probably won’t start at all. Check out his blog (most entries are great, but this one really suit 43things):

http://30sleeps.com/blog/category/goals-goal-setting/page/9/

I’ve got some volunteer work! It’s soo great to get to do something, anything, out of the house again. It might not pay, it might not be more than a day or two a week but I don’t care…I get to speak to new people, help out a bit, learn new things, get to know the town I’m in a bit better. I’m so happy. Being jobless/helpless doesn’t suit me one bit. This is great. And if I can develop skills and experience that will get me closer to a job I really want to do, even better!!

I try all I can to get my motivation up to start writing on my essays. IF (and I say if, because it does not happen often) I actually start writing and/or taking notes motivation and interest suddenly increases insanely and I get loads done in next to no time. But then I lose concentration, start wasting time on the internet and other time-wasting things and suddenly I can’t get myself to do anything again…for days. ARGH! I even find myself thinking that cleaning the bathroom is a much more important and interesting task…what to do…?!

Help! Every day I plan to go to bed early to get up at a ‘normal’ time the next day (9-10) but I just can’t seem to do it. I’m just not tired at 11-12. Boyfriend stays up til 3 in the morning, I end up staying up til then too (or almost). I set several alarms for 9 or so, but still wake up at midday. Every single day. It is driving me crazy, I want to use my time!

Any advice? PLEASE! I need help.

What I really want to do is to ‘use my time better’ – but there’s much more people in this group ;)
It’s my last semester at uni, so I’ve got a bigger opportunity to plan my own time than I will probably ever have again…and still I spend so much time sleeping, eating and just relaxing. I want to do more. And I will. I don’t want to waste more time.