I’ve been very happy lately. It’s not all that often that I’m actually in a bad mood, but lately, I’ve been in a really good one. Tonight, after a 12-14 hour work day, I jumped in my car, let the front windows down, threw in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco), turned up the volume, and couldn’t stop smiling. I’m not sure if it was just the music or if it was a combination of that, the nice breeze of cool air, and the fact that I was practically done for the day.

My days have been incredibly productive lately. I have multiple spurts of solid focus where I accomplish a ton of important tasks in a short amount of time. I’m going to have to attribute it to my daily schedule and my drive for success. I developed a plan for what I want to accomplish daily. I have a certain amount of minutes dedicated each day to each of these core things. I try not to deviate too much. Each of these things are stored online and I record, daily, how much time I spend on them. This plan keeps me focused, with most of my time doing productive things (watching TV is most definitely one of them, BTW).

This plan of mine may sound like I’m scheduling my life away. I know I can’t do that. I’m not the type who really likes to stick to schedules. That’s why it’s not a strict schedule for me. It’s certainly not this: Portuguese study from 19:00-19:45, Monday through Sunday. No, no way. It’s more like this: 45 minutes of Portuguese a day. Strive to meet that goal. If I go over, great! If I don’t get it, no problem, but try to hit it for at least a couple of minutes every day. So no, I’m not scheduling my life away, and it’s actually been having a really nice positive effect. I’m happier because I’m getting a lot more accomplished – things that I enjoy doing.