My Holiday Game Plan: How It Started vs. How It Ended
I made a mind-map plan for what I wanted to do during the break, and it was a game changer.
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I’m Fionna, a product manager, YouTuber and late-night FM DJ.
Every Sunday I share a story on what inspires me to be creative and musings that week. I’m fascinated by design, technology, people, languages, and the idea that I can use them to reinvent myself.
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How it Started
14 days, no alarm clocks, no deadlines, and not even video calls. Sweeeeet? But we’re in lockdown, and the Timmies near me are closed. #CanadianReference
Cue contingency plan.
This is my chance to be free. Uninterrupted time to do w-h-a-t-e-v-e-r I like!
I knew I wanted to make something before the 2020 ends, but couldn’t pin point what. I jotted some ideas on paper, but they got disorganized quickly. So I thought I’d try creating a mind-map. I picked learning, hobbies and self care (good thing that 2020 made us be more aware of this) as the initial categories, then unloaded all the things I wanted to do all year but didn’t get to. Here’s a peek.
If you prefer a more festive version, I sprinkled some Christmas magic ☃️:
Geez, who reads about work stuff during vacation? 🤓
I know… and I actually toned down my initial list to reflect the priorities that I’d like to have after watching Ali Abdaal’s “20 Life Lessons I Learned in 2020” video. He pointed out that 97% of the podcasts he subscribes to are entrepreneurship/technology related and only 2 were about health and relationships. It’s ironic because the most important things in life are health and relationships above things like entrepreneurship.
“The healthy person has 1000 wishes, the sick person only has one”.
So I reshaped my “information diet” to include activities that would nurture my health and bring me joy, even if they didn’t seem “productive” by my standard.
How it Ended
From reading this post or what I call it, “freeform writing”, you can probably guess that this game plan was a success.
I didn’t do everything which was expected. It’s important to me that I made an effort to crack the surface, so the next time I’m not approaching it cold. Even the act of referring back to the plan during the break or marking it at the end, I noticed how my mindset changed or how I viewed problems differently because of the new experiences I had.
Takeaways
I’m an auditory and visual learner. I should think twice before buying a physical book again. Though I did find myself taking more notes when reading a book or watching a MasterClass compared to listening to an audiobook. Probably because I’m using my laptop for the first two and was multi-tasking for the last.
MasterClass is my best discovery in 2020. I took 6 classes this past 2 weeks, and 15 this year. The topics are extremely diverse and the production quality is impeccable. There’s so much to talk about, I will write a separate post on my favorites.
I still lose track of time when I’m designing things. I would not get tired of fixing that 5px and forget to eat. I should do this more often.
Making a plan the day before my vacation set me up for success. As cliché as it sounds, “A job started is a job half done”. Even though the days felt like any other day in 2020, I had a purpose and a plan to get up and do something besides eating.
The things I did outside of my plan could be more enjoyable than the ones I didn’t start. I didn’t set a strict timeline for when I should finish what, but I went out of my way to get those done, I see that as a sign for re-adjustment.
Where I’m going with this
The goal was to spend a block of uninterrupted time for something I find valuable. The method was nerdy but effective. Hey! I added a Christmas tree. The outcome turned out to be vastly enriching and fulfilling. I think a mind map like this is perfect for planning bigger projects, I might convert this template in Notion where I can incorporate some of these elements for daily use. Stay tuned for the update ;)
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Game-changers that I'm grateful for
📔 Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products: why you can’t stop scrolling
🖱 Logitech MX Ergo Wireless Mouse: there’s no going back
🎒 Elecom camera backpack: easiest access to cameras, durable and not hideous
📝 Elecom Paper-like iPad screen protector: elevates the iPad exp
🏋️♀️ Chin Up Bar: was able to do my first chin up with this
💪 Resistance Bands: flex anywhere
🇫🇷 每日法语听力: annihilates all other French learning apps
🎁 Airless Pump Bottles: all skincare products should be packaged in these
🧴 CeraVe Moisturizing Cream: you will regret buying La Mer~