So one thing I'm really good at doing is running myself ragged at work. I let it get in the way of everything, and give myself little time to breathe or recharge. It lasts for about a month or so, but when I hit my breaking point I end up very unproductive for weeks after. I'm in the recovery mode of that breakdown right now, with only a week before I'm on a flight for Boston for our National Meeting. Needless to say, this is a time where I really need to be on my game.

Over the weekend I had drill and spent most of yesterday sitting around waiting to shoot my weapon on the range. I had my phone with me and decided to download a book (because I have all of this Apple credit). I got one titled "What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast" by Laura Vanderkam. I got through it really quickly, and felt pretty energized about revamping my mornings. She mentioned her other book, "168 Hours" along the way, and I ended up downloading that one right after I finished the first.

I think she has a really great outlook on time management, and made me rethink the way I handle mine. Making time for things like working out, relaxing, and spending time with the BF are really important. Making better use of my time at work is even more important. The best takeaway I gained from it is that there is no such thing as "not having enough time." We all have the same amount of time. We choose what is important enough to be included in our schedule. There are no excuses.

The good news is that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to "what is important." Paying our bills is obviously important. It's not necessarily a bad thing if we want to prioritize one thing over another. The idea is to keep our core competencies and goals in mind when budgeting our time. And we do budget our time, whether we think of it that way or not.

I'm in the process of not only budgeting my money right now, but also trying to rethink how I approach time management, and where I need to budget those precious minutes.

I will be the first to admit that I spend a lot of my time wasting time on the internet. I check my email likely a hundred times a day. I know I'm not all that productive in the evenings, that I have very little energy because I don't give myself breaks, and I should be working out regularly because it increases my energy levels and relieves stress. So we're going to work on all that.

She suggests getting up at 6am at the latest. I cannot do that. haha. I mean, I can do that. But we'll see how I operate when waking up at 7am first. We're going to use babysteps here.

I'm going to try scheduling time to do the social media thing. No more creeping on Facebook for several hours. Not checking my email more than 3 times a day. I created a schedule for the week, covering all 168 hours (split into half hours). I'm going to work out every morning (though only totaling 4 hours for the week). I'm also going to do 2 30-min yoga sessions.

The last important choice I made was to incorporate some relaxation time every few hours of my workday. I'm hoping that making these changes will increase my productivity at work and release some of the pressure on my brain and body.

So let's hope it all works out!

As for money updates: Very low-spend weekend. Didn't spend anything Friday night or all day yesterday. Could have went off post last night, but I was exhausted and just wanted to relax in my room. On my way home this morning I stopped to get gas: $20.04. That's all I've spent on that this week. I also grabbed a coffee for a dollar, and paid for me and BF's lunch at Dunkin Donuts, $11.

My car started making these scraping noises as I was braking. I'm pretty sure that means I'm replacing my brake pads and rotors here very soon. I need an oil change as well. Thankfully I don't have any amount of distance to drive til next month. The 2-minute drive to the train station is nothing. So I'll be waiting at least a couple of weeks to get that taken care of. I may just wait it out til the beginning of next month. We shall see.

Tonight I plan on cooking at home, doing some cleaning, laundry, and getting prepared for the week ahead. It's my weekly icrecream date day with the BF, but he'll pay for that (particularly if I cook!). I'll be grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'll also be making out my grocery list. Think I may watch a movie or something tonight, but I'm planning on getting to bed early. Want to get a good start tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great weekend!