"Time Mapping"
I find it both challenging and inspiring, the way I tend to view productivity. It is easy to give yourself a threshold of what can or cannot be done, and stick too much to that pre-set decision. However, I've been using self-fulfilling prophecies to my advantage (attempting to). I don't consider the way I think to be just "using a planner" or "having a schedule." Instead, I... time map!
I need to know how many hours each task will take, and know how many free hours I have in each day to fit in the "math" of when I can get things done. I have been realizing I am drawn to think in equations in more ways than I realize. On the surface, I'm not mathematical in what I enjoy or do, but in how I think and talk, there tends to be an algorithm I crave. It has been so helpful in the past couple of years to see neurodivergence not as a setback, but a set of needs. I do, genuinely, operate better in conditions with routine and predictability; I am motivated by the thought of working ahead, winning the race, getting things done. Conversely, this race-seeking occurs with procrastination - but if I set up my week as one full of time to be freed up, I can beat the clock before it even starts ticking!
So here I am in the library. I skipped all of my classes and am not going to work. I did wake up sick, but I knew I could feel better. Well... I thought I might. I ate lunch and now I feel a bit nauseous. But it is not that bad. Even if it was worse, I at least want to win the race right now, so I will keep running! My first finish-line in sight: an online exam and a semester project draft. They're both due next week, but I have shown myself that I could GAIN time - 13 hours total between the two - for the weekdays if I get these done during... or even BEFORE the weekend! See, simply writing out the days they are due and when I will work on them would not help as much as knowing there is a RESOURCE at hand - TIME! And I don't mean to sound all practical and objective. This truthfully is pushed by the desire to have free time to relax, to not think about how many hours I have left before 11:59 PM, to say yes and initiate spontaneous plans. I time map to accommodate accordingly to having space to have me time, to put discipline into my head that otherwise struggles to crave it.
HERE I GO!
-izzy