Millennial Crisis Ep. 1: Learning to be productive

I am, um, struggling. What's up? Hello. Good morning. Buenas dias. Today is Tuesday, and to be quite honest, I decided to film today because I am quite literally tired of my own bullshit. I am a At least I think I'm a millennial. I've heard people tell me that I'm like, that my age range is like Gen Z, like cusp of Gen Z to millennial like Gen X. We're just gonna say millennial. I'm a millennial. I am, um, struggling. I'm struggling, guys. I'm struggling. I'm tired of just like pretending that I have all of my ish together when I don't. And you know, honestly, the older I get, the more I realize that like, no one has their ish together. Like honestly, like I'll go in meetings with people in corporate that are like high up in corporate, and they'll tell me I still don't know what I'm doing. So that makes me feel a little bit better. But I thought, you know what, let's just, let's just go through this together. Why should I be struggling alone, to pretend like I have everything together, feeling behind in life, I just thought I would film this, make it a little series. I don't know how often I'm going to post these. I don't know how many of these I'm going to make. I, I don't know. Okay. And that's the whole point of this series of this video. And today, when I said I'm tired of my bullshit, what I mean is that I've been having a lot of trouble focusing. Like I've been having so much trouble being productive, getting anything done. Like, okay, yes, we're in a pandemic. Maybe that's why, but today I'm going to try to learn how to be as productive as possible. I'm very excited, actually, about this little series. And honestly, this sounds so cheesy, but like what honestly inspired me to do this series, this, this video, this series, was yesterday, December 21st was the Great Conjunction. And I saw this TikTok of this girl. And she was like, guys, it's the Great Conjunction on December 21st. And that means that all of your manifestations can come true. Okay, if you write them down. So I literally, last night, I wrote down all of my dreams. Okay, these are not like all of my dreams, because I have a lot of dreams. But like all my dreams for the coming year for 2021. I wrote down like two columns, the left column are all my dreams and goals. And then the right column are like how I would feel when I achieve that goal. When I was writing them down, I was like, dang, I have a lot of work to do changing that I need to do a lot of, I need to make a lot of good habits, I just have a lot of things that I need to still fix or habits that I need to form before I even think about getting to some of these goals. So today, I have quite a few things that I need to get done, actually. So as a product designer working in corporate, I have to look over some usability test videos, if you don't know what I mean, girl, don't even worry about it. And I've just really been struggling to focus on anything. Right now I do have some like productivity techniques that I use right now currently. So one of those, of course, is my bullet journal. I love my bullet journal. Some people say they like, they like making their bullet journal and they don't end up using it. Like, don't get me wrong. I don't use my bullet journal every day. So don't even feel bad about it. Like don't use your agenda every day. There's some days that you just like need to start get to work. So I'll put a picture here of my weekly spread this week that I'm using. I'm talking so much. I'm sorry. But I'm also reading this book called Atomic Habits. It's like cliche at this point because everyone has read the book, but he actually talks about the fact that you shouldn't set goals that you should set systems. Okay. That kind of blew my mind because your goals don't tell you how to achieve them. Your goal just says what you want, right? So like my goal today is to finish taking notes on six usability videos. Okay. That's my goal. But like, that's not telling me that doesn't tell me how I'm going to get that done. Okay. You see what I mean? My system might be to create an Excel document, take notes about what the users did. I'm sorry if you don't understand what I'm saying, because of product design, don't worry. But like essentially like how I'm going to achieve the goal of taking notes on all those videos. Apart from that, actually like sitting down to do it to execute that system is another piece of the puzzle. I decided actually, I'm going to make a coffee first. And then I'm going to come back upstairs and decide what kind of productivity technique I'm going to use to get my work done. Before we go downstairs to make coffee, I actually really wanted to show you my outfit because I took the time and energy to get ready today. So the world needs to see this. Okay, I'm wearing this really cute like square neck frilly sleeve top from Reformation. These jeans are to die for. They're so cute. So they have like a patch on the butt. They have like if you see the fly, it has like all these buttons, which I like love that detail. And then also it has another patch on the on the knee. So we are back at my desk and we got the coffees, the iced coffee. It's divine. Now it's time. It's time. The time that I've been dreading. I want to look up some different productivity techniques and like just pick one. I'm just going to pick one and I'm going to try it and see if it helps me feel more motivated, if it makes me more productive. Okay. The four best productivity methods in the world. Okay. It's a big claim. So let's see what it says. So there is getting things done. Okay. So it begins with a massive brain dump to clear the mind of all the conceivable tasks in your life. Once the tasks are all on paper, you can begin getting them done. Okay. So that's literally just like making a list, which I actually already have written down in my bullet journal. So, okay. That's one. The Pomodoro technique, which actually, I think I'm going to do this one today because I tried it once in college and it actually, I do remember it working pretty well. So if you're not familiar with the Pomodoro technique, essentially the way it works is you break a task up into 25 minute segments called Pomodoros. In between each Pomodoro, you take a five minute break. After four Pomodoros, you take a longer break. Okay. So just set a timer for 25 minutes, take a five minute break, 25 minutes of work, five minute break, 25 minutes of work, five minute break, 25 minutes of work, five minute break. No, no. 25 minutes of work the fourth time. And then you take a longer break, which I assume it can be like 15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes. Let's set the timer for 25 minutes. Oh wait. I was literally, I was trying to set a timer for 25 minutes on my calculator. Okay. Let's do this. We got this. Why am I nervous? I'm like nervous. That went by so fast. Woo. Okay. So my first 25 minutes are up. I, first of all, a lot happened in those 25 minutes. I was yelled at for having all my lights on in my room by my stepdad. So, um, and it was not bad. It was not bad. It actually went a lot better than I thought. I think it's like the act of having a timer on. It's like, I'm conscious of the fact that there's a timer and that I only have 25 minutes to get stuff done. I didn't really check my phone that much either. Like I would tap it to see like how much time I had left. If I felt like the time was running out, I would like quickly check and be like, okay, got five minutes. Okay. Got two minutes. I didn't check socials, which is great. I just saw the four advantages of the Pomodoro technique. So it's fourfold. Number one, work with time, not against it. Number two, eliminate burnout. Number three, manage distractions. Number four, create a work, a better work-life balance. Drawbacks are Pomodoro works well for micromanaging your workday, but it limits flexibility and interactivity. Some people find it too structured, preventing them from coping with the shifting demands of a high pressure multitasking job. Okay. So five minutes break is up. Going to do this for another 25 minutes. I'm not going to lie. I'm getting kind of hungry. After I finished my work, I'm going to go pick up my medication, my prescription from the pharmacy, just to get out and feel something. Should I go to Target? We'll see. We'll see. Okay. 25 minutes on the clock. Starting now. Just watching Zoey. Zoella. Zoey's hug. So I went downstairs, I grabbed my wrap, I ate it. It was delicioso. But overall thoughts on the Pomodoro method, I really like it. Honestly, I think I'm going to use it more if you're like to the point where you're just really struggling to focus, to just like, if you find yourself sitting down, getting ready to work and then you keep getting on your phone, but it kind of like puts a fire under your butt and you're like, okay, I have a timer going on. I can't let myself down. And you kind of gamify it a little bit. It's like you trying to prove to yourself that you can concentrate for just 25 minutes. Okay. When you think about it, 25 minutes is not that, not that long. It's so beautiful outside. I think I'm going to go now to pick up my prescription. And then I'm going to go to Target. That's what millennials do. We go to Target just to feel something, you know? I feel like someone's going to like, come back to their car and just see my camera on my dashboard. So I didn't find the heat protectant, which was like the main reason I even had the idea to come to Target. So that's great. Okay. Don't be nervous. You got to be confident. If you're going to like sit in your car and film yourself, you have to be confident doing it. Greta, pull it together. Um, so I actually, TikTok is like simultaneously ruining my life, but also making my life a lot better. I saw this TikTok of this lady saying, when you hit like your early, well, later, or your mid twenties. Okay. When you hit like 24, 25, you stop producing as much collagen. I'm not sure if that's like exactly true, but I believe her because I mean, I don't know. I believe her. So I literally found these collagen gummy rings. Um, again, people are passing by. I'm so nervous. Um, I found these collagen gummy rings by Ollie. You can't see them because my lighting sucks and I barely know how to use my own camera. Okay, guys, I have also seen these everywhere, but I got these mighty patches. They are essentially for blemishes. I also got, this was one thing that I did come here for and I did find the Pixi. Oh wait, lies. I came here for the Pixi glow tonic and I came out with the Pixi retinol tonic. Um, they did have the glow tonic, but I use it. I've used it like three times in a row now, like three bottles of the glow tonic. And I was like, Greta, expand your horizons. Let's try something new. It has retinol and smoothing toner. But I'm excited to try this out, the retinol tonic. So we will see. And then, and then this is like epitome of going to target and coming out with something you definitely do not need. I got a label maker. Okay. I got a label maker because I just like, I don't know, man, I feel like I could actually use this for my bullet journal to be honest. I don't see myself labeling anything right now, maybe in the future, maybe. Um, but I don't know. I thought this would be so cute for like one of my bullet journal spreads. I need to say something else. I was in line, right? I target to pay. And I finally got to the aisle, like to the checkout lane that they told me to go to. And the lady who was the cashier, she just like, I looked at her and I almost wanted to start crying because she was so happy. And this is like, my period is going to come soon. So maybe it's that, but like, she looked so happy and in a job that like, there's so many nasty, like rude customers. She was so like, she was so nice to me too. Like she made a comment about the label maker. She was like, Oh my gosh, like I've wanted one of these. And it just makes me so sad that there's people that are so rude to people who are literally allowing you to like, kind of maintain normalcy in the sense that like target is still open because of these cashiers, like because of these people working and just like seeing her make the most and be so happy and positive and sweet and like outgoing and have so much energy. I hope she knows that she's appreciated and that she made someone's day. She made my day. Anyways, that's like, Oh God, I'm sitting in the target parking lot, literally like about to cry. We are back. I'm home. I feel honestly, I feel rejuvenated, just like stepping out of the house for like an hour, 30 minutes, especially when you're just like in the same environment all the time. Like, I work in my room, I sleep in my room, I get ready in my room, I film in my room, I do everything in my room. You can like take a walk, just like get yourself a coffee. It helps a lot so much, honestly. But that's pretty much it for me. I got nothing else to give today. I'll see you very, very soon. Bye!