Today is a different kind of Monday Musing because I’m writing it at 9 in the morning. Some would call this unprecedented. I’m inclined to agree. I’ve never written one of these this early because I was too busy being in school and preparing for the day, but it’s summertime baby!
As you know, I’ve been thinking and prepping the past couple of weeks to try and determine what I wanted from this summer and then how to make the most of this summer. Yesterday, I put the final touches on my plan by making a daily schedule for myself to follow. I’m a whole three hours in on the first day, and I’ve already shifted from it, but that’s not a bad thing! I refuse to let it be!
My Summer Schedule
Here’s a look at how I’ve doled out my days. As you can see, I’ve made it so nothing has the power to get too overwhelming, and I have plenty of wiggle room. Still, I wanted to give myself dedicated work time so days don’t slip past without me realizing. Without further ado,
Summer Daily Schedule
6:15 Wake up and Morning Ritual
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Check in on tasks and plan day
8:15 Go for a walk if you don’t know what to work on/Exercise
9:00 Learn ___________ (depending on day)
10:30 30-minute reading break
11:00 Language Practice
11:30 Edit
12:00 Lunch/Break (I gave myself a big break like I had in school hehe)
2:00 Learn _______
3:30 30-minute reading break
4:00 Work on CFP
5:30 “Work” day over
———-Break———-
9:00 Write 30 minutes
10:30 Begin Nightly Ritual
Even after being in this routine for just a few hours, I see there are things I want to change. I want to be a little more stringent and add maybe 1.5 hours more of specific work time. I also want to change my “Learn” sessions into work sessions because I think that’s more accurate, or maybe 30 minutes of learning for an hour and a half of work, something like that. If I’m too lenient with my time, I may not to use it as wisely.
On Wednesdays, I plan to go on field trips/Artist Dates with myself, and I’m really looking forward to them already.
Writing
I’m in a bit of a writing slump, and I think it’s all fear based. I don’t feel like I can move forward from my NaNo novel because it’s not good. I don’t want to deal with the idea that I made something bad, so instead I’m trying to research it away (I’ve scheduled myself to read 5 different books on writng over the summer months) or ignore it. The fact of the matter is that to get over the slump, I just need to write. I need to revisit my novel and give it the excitement and care I had in October and early November. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.
Reading
I’m feeling some type of way about my reading too. I know I’m reading too much at once, but I can’t stop. I don’t know how to properly shut them down without actually finishing them. Usually this falls into it’s own section but I need to write it out to truly see what I’ve done to myself. Right now, I’m reading:
Building a Second Brain – really enjoying and want to take it slower, but I think I’ll aim to read a chapter a day until I’m done which means I could finish in four days.
Daring and the Duke – It’s romance and fiction. I always need something like this going
Finding Me – Viola Davis’s memoir. I’m reading with my mom and listening to it, so it goes pretty quickly but I want to keep pace with my mom.
The Merciless Ones – this was supposed to be my OxFam Challenge book for May, a fantasy, but I keep putting it down for other books.
Siddhartha – like above, but it was for April, a classic. I know if I just picked it up I could finish it relatively quickly, but I just keep opting for other books instead. It’s interesting but doesn’t entice me as much as I want it to.
Tiny Beautiful Things – a buddy read. My friends and I all got it at different times, and now my loan is almost up, so I don’t know where I’m gonna go with this one.
Books I should be reading:
Broke Millennial – this is a reread for me and a buddy read with my sister. I’m so excited to read this with her, and I really liked this book, but I know I want to do a YouTube review video of this books which means I should take notes while I’m reading which means I should finish Building a Second Brain so I can have a good note-taking strategy… Do you see what my brain does?
Boundless – an arc that’s since been published, so I’m behind
The Wife App – ugh same as above
Untitled book – Something I’m beta reading but the turnaround time is so quick and I’m kicking myself for volunteering to read this woman’s book. It’s romance, so I feel like I should finish Daring and the Duke first.
I’m so annoyed with myself because I’ve made something I love pretty overwhelming this month.
Travel
“I should be shaking my a** on a yacht…in Dubai!” That tik tok sound has been playing over and over in my head recently, and it’s true. I should be traveling right now instead of being cooped up in my house. I want to go somewhere, but I’m trying to get my visa sorted before I can go anywhere. I’m being forced to save money which is a good thing, but I’d much rather be exploring someplace new.
I had the bright idea to explore Thailand with my younger sister this summer. I asked her if she’d be interested in meeting me there, and to my surprise she said she’d make the trip. However, when we got deeper into the weeds of planning, the trip started to look more expensive than I initially thought and less realistic. I then had the bright idea to meet her in Spain because she’ll be finishing a dance program in Italy. It sounded good, but ultimately I think it’ll be more costly than Thailand. I’m trying to make a Thailand trip work for us, but we shall see.
YouTube
I’m feeling extremely proud of myself in my YouTube endeavors. I uploaded a video ON TIME today! The consistency I crave is so close I can taste it. I also took some time to make a YouTube schedule that I can hopefully stick to. I want to make it look a little different slash better, but I need to improve my Notion skills first.
Please check out my latest videos and subscribe if you haven’t yet!
Speaking of Notion…
I’m reading (and finding a ton of value from) Building a Second Brain. I think it tackles my biggest issue to making things happen which is getting rid of all the things bouncing around in my brain so I can CONCENTRATE. Even writing Monday Musings is an effort to get things down so I can think things through. I want to make Notion my home base for my ideas and life planning. To do that, I need it to be set up the way I want it set up. I see tons of nice dash boards and homepages, but none of them look exactly how I want it to look for me. I’ve downloaded quite a few for inspiration. Let’s hope I can tackle this behemoth.
Money
I need to be careful with my money as I’m going to go a month without a paycheck. I don’t want to leverage credit cards or feel stressed about my money in a couple of months, so I’m trying not to be as spendy. That becomes more difficult when I want to go out of the house and do work, but my only option is the library. While I’ve had some good working sessions there, I like to switch up my spaces and be able to have a little snack while I work. The library is not very conducive to that.
I also want to bring back Briana’s Money, but I haven’t exactly put forth a proper plan for that yet. I wanted to launch in the second half of the year, but that’s not looking like a huge possibility.
SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR?!?!?!
Writing that last paragraph made me realize we are just days away from the second half of the year. I can’t believe July is already upon us, June flew by. Now I’ll have to add planning a Q3, second half of the year retreat to my plans for today.
This just might be the longest Monday Musing I’ve written. I obviously needed this early morning debrief.
Until next time!
Briana
P.S. Here’s what I’m currently…
Reading: See above, you can’t miss it.
Watching: Lots of YouTube videos. Mostly Bangkok travel vlogs, but I’ve stumbled on a few creators I’ve really been enjoying (Juan Marcel and Rhylan, Life with Vetta, Mamahuhu, and Laureen Uy) as well as my usual go to people (The Jesstination, Big Kid Monica, Jess Travels, and Aleese Lightyear) just to name a few. I used to be really into YouTube in high school and middle school but then stopped really watching in favor of TV, but it’s nice to be back and be able to learn from others as well.
Listening to: Daring and the Duke audiobook, My Discover Weekly which is wanting to annoy me.
Playing: Breath of the Wild, I started over for the third (or fourth or fifth) time last week, but the last time I played was in August, so I wanted to start fresh.
Thinking about: Whether or not I should start a newsletter. Whether I not I should get a new phone or a drone (or both?). Love.