Time for another This + That feature, aka my random lifestyle ramblings and life updates.
New routines and time blocking
One of the very first challenges I had to tackle when my work situation has changed was that I needed to adjust my routines. I’m someone who greatly depends on and believes in the power of routines and habits. I need them because they give me a sense of control and ensure I can balance all aspects of my life.
Even though I worked a lot from home previously, going full-time freelancer still served me with some surprises. I thought that I’d have a lot more free time and it will be much easier to balance life, work, meetings, social things, blogging, and free time, but this turned out not to be the case – at least at first. I had more meetings, more work, different types of tasks I had to do, and it got so erratic that I began to feel anxious about the lack of routines and control.
I felt a mixture of time blocking, batching, and better organizing would be the ideal solution for me, but that required an important precondition: knowing exactly how much time certain tasks required. And let me tell you, a vague idea is definitely not the same as an exact answer. So for 2 weeks, I tracked most of my tasks and how long it took me to finish them. I tracked basically everything I could: different work tasks, individual social media scheduling, photography sessions, editing, cleaning, cooking, emailing, life admin works etc. It was a very interesting experiment, one I recommend to everyone who would like to get a better sense of where exactly those 24 hours are going in a day.
Based on that knowledge, I’m now able to better organize my days. Of course, I don’t want to go totally overboard, scheduling every single minute and also, some tasks cannot be totally estimated (this is especially true for creative tasks), but knowing exactly how much time I need for certain tasks makes it a lot easier to organize my life efficiently. Batching is also a key organizational tactic: I try to group similar tasks and do them at the same time. I also designate separate days, whenever I can, for administration, meetings, errands, home tasks etc.
I’m sure there are still areas for fine-tuning, but I feel a lot better and more efficient already.
Retinol experiments
Even though most skincare experts agree that the holy grail of anti-aging skincare ingredients is retinol and basically everyone over 25 should have at least a mild version of it in their routine, I’ve so far totally delayed it. Or, more precisely, I had a half-hearted attempt a couple of years ago, but it made my skin so dry, I abandoned it after two uses.
This time, I was committed to going further.
One of the reasons I delayed the retinol use was that out of all the skincare steps, this seemed the most complicated and came with the most side effects. But I did more research (I recommend reading the 3 following guides on retinol: 1, 2, 3 ) and decided it was time to start experimenting again.
When I came across this guide on The Ordinary’s new range of retinols, I decided to start with one of them, for many reasons:
- It’s cheap. My first failed retinol experiment cost me like a 100 dollars, so I wanted to find a budget-friendlier alternative.
- I’m obsessed with their Niacinamide serum, it became a staple of my skincare routine and really worked well for my skin.
- They seemed to have entry-level retinols that offered only mild irritation.
At the end, I settled on the Retinol 0,2 % in Squalane (it’s another favorite ingredient of mine that I hoped would balance the drying effects). This time, I started very conservatively, using it once a week for three weeks, before going up to a 2/week frequency.
First impressions after almost 2 months: After the first few uses, my skin indeed became drier. It had dry patches, accompanied by a windburn feeling and was a little sensitive. It was nothing dramatic though (probably because I started with the lowest amount), just slightly inconvenient. But this started to significantly change by the 3rd or 4th time I used it, as my skin gradually got used to retinol. I cannot share any long-term results yet (of course, as it can take months to work), but at least I made it through the first bad rounds.
My tips if you’re starting to use retinol:
+ Start slow, it’s a long-term game.
+ Don’t panic if there are side effects, it’s normal.
+ Use it 20-30 minutes after you washed your face. Any remaining water can increase the drying effects.
+ Use the serum and then follow it up with an oil to boost moisture.
+ Never, ever forget sunscreen the next day! Retinol products make the skin extra sensitive to UV rays.
Slow blogging updates
Figuring out my posting schedule has always been a challenge for me – a quite annoying challenge. As I wrote in this post, I’m a big proponent of slow blogging and would never ever sacrifice post quality (what I consider valuable) for quantity. So posting 4-5 times a week was never an option for me, which became clear quite quickly. Writing often takes a lot of time for me, exacerbated by the fact that English is not my 1st language. Even though I’m very comfortable with it, I mostly read, consume, and write in English, that doesn’t mean it’s easy and it very much depends on my state of mind. Sometimes the simplest words just totally elude me and writing is practically impossible. Other times it comes very easily.
Blogging is also just a hobby for me, so I need to handle this accordingly. And I also like to work ahead (1 month in advance is my comfort number), so I need to factor that in as well.
Related: How I organize my blogging life
So, while 4-5 times were out of the questions, I still had a hard time on settling on 2 or 3. There were 1 or 2 months when I regularly posted three times a week. But it didn’t seem sustainable and I put a lot of pressure on myself. So this year, so far I settled for two with an occasional extra if time permits. I’m not saying I’m opposed to posting more, I’ll gladly do that if life agrees, but for now, I’m comfortable with this. I feel a lot better, and interestingly, my reading numbers continue to climb even with the reduced frequency. Don’t try to pressure yourself into doing something you’re not comfortable with, it doesn’t guarantee success, but for sure guarantees a burnout.
I’m also taking other things slowly as well – like a newsletter. I know blogging experts would scorn me in unison for neglecting to build my email database, but so far, this is simply something I couldn’t find the time for. I definitely want to do a newsletter (preferably in the very near future), but as long as I don’t do my platform research, come up with a concept, and can schedule it into my time comfortably, I’m not going to start it – just for the sake of it. And I don’t feel bad or pressured – it happens, when it happens.
How do you cope with blogging pressure or organize your blogging life? I’d love to read about it (and all newsletter tips are most welcome).
SaveSave
