stack days- schedule tip that got me "creative thinking" back, maybe it can help you too!

I have been taking a lot of tips about "getting more done in less time", Including the topics we talked about in class. I have noticed that it's all about disciplining yourself and putting in micro changes into your schedule that can change your workflow. I needed to only better time management skills, but more intentional time to do the things I don't want to do like go grocery shopping balanced with the important tasks.

 I recently came across an idea of "stack days" that I thought could be really helpful for anyone like me with a tight schedule who needs time to think through my projects and execute them in a timely manor.

and this is how they work:

They compared it to an airplane. That it takes A LOT of energy for it to get going and get up in the air, but once it is up there that's the easy part. Once they reach the altitude they were aiming for the put the plan in auto pilot and cruise.

The idea is that if you keep landing you are going to have to keep taking off to get going again. If you are already up in the air you should keep going and only land once.

for example:

I need to go to the grocery store, run to the post office, print out my project at VCU. Normally I may do those all in separate trips, but the idea is that you are already "flying" so you complete the tasks at hand so that you don't have to re-go out. If you are constant about making sure you are "cruising at altitude" and getting things done when you're already flying then it could save you thousands of hours of your life over the next few years.

so my schedule for sunday right now looks like this

+pick up materials for school work from AC moore
+shipping off cards at the post office + Shipping out film from past 2 weeks a the post office (since I knew I would have to go anyways for the cards)
+grocery shopping


so instead of running errands on different days of the week, if you have one thing on Sunday for instance at noon the idea is that you would plan everything else around that errand. Being strict is important because if not you are just waiting time taking off and landing over and over. This one small change in my life helped me regain inspiration and allowed me to have "thinking time" for my art.

I know that so many people are in the same position as me (or if you aren't i'm sure you will be in a few years when you are a practicing artist or whatever you decide to be) and I hope this little tip helped someone else like it helped me!