Did anyone feel unproductive this holiday season? Or was it just me? I had big goals I wanted to tackle during the holiday break, but quickly fell into couch potato mode. December 2020 was a hard month; besides COVID, academically for me. I was working long hours studying for finals, working on projects and preparing for presentations. It felt never ending. And on top of that, I was determined to get A's! When the school semester ended, I told myself I would take advantage of the holiday break and cross off some of the additional "work" I wanted to do to make my second semester easier. I wanted to be productive.
Do you think I did any of them? NO! I sat around watching endless amounts of movies, eating copious amounts of seasonal goodies, staying up late on social media and sleeping in late. I guess I was more burnt out than I thought, but through my lazy, hazy slothful stint, I had this constant feeling of disappointment with myself. I needed to put an end to it!
As January 2021 graced us with her presence, I felt this sense of hope and optimism flood over me. Once the holiday season was over, I made sure I got my butt back into gear. I shedded my cozy pyjama look and started dressing like a person who belonged to society, got back to eating healthier, set my alarm to wake up at a decent time and took advantage of the days to tackle projects I so lazily dismissed in the earlier weeks.
Today when my alarm sounded at 7:30am, I wiped the sleep away from my eyes and with determination I knew that "today is the day I am going to get my Hootsuite's Platform Certification!". I made sure I took it seriously, just like an actual school project. I ate a well rounded breakfast, I dressed in clothes that made me feel confident, I had my pen and paper ready for notes and moved my cellphone aside so I wasn't distracted. The first few hours were spent brushing up on the platform and taking mini quizzes, but as I got closer and closer to the exam, I was determined to take it once!
"Today is the day I am going to get my Hootsuite's Platform Certification!"
I took a deep break and shakily, clicked the start button for the exam and off I went. The whole time I was thinking to myself, "I'm sure I'm failing!", "Why is this so hard?", "Am I an idiot for finding this hard?". I was convinced I was going to have to do it again. I neared the end and anxiously clicked the score button...
"I'm sure I'm failing!"
OMG! I PASSED! And here I was thinking the whole time I was going to have to do it a few more times, but alas I passed and did quite well. I shot out of my seat and danced a happy dance. I fled to social media to share my new accomplishment and felt so proud of myself.
I wanted to share my story as it is important to know you don't have to be productive 24/7. Taking well deserved breaks are important to rebooting and realigning ourselves to be productive when we jump back into lots of work. I should not have been beating myself up during the holiday break for not tackling work, when for all I know, maybe the break was a blessing in disguise and that is why I was able to do so well in my first attempt.
There are going to be lots of moments in our lives where we can look back on and say, "why did I waste that time and not take advantage of it?". I am starting to believe that everything happens for a reason. As long as you have goals, dreams and ideas you are already one step ahead of the game. You just need to carve out time when you know you will be at your most productive. This way you have a much better chance of accomplishing your goals.
I would love to hear what some of your proudest goals and achievements have been this year so far or in past years. Feel free to leave them below or email me through my contact page, I love to connect and chat!
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