Monthly Review: May 2016

I never got around to publishing April's review because May was a really hectic month. Still, this is something I would like to continue doing so here's a reflection of May.

The Numbers

The change here is relative to April (unpublished)

• Productivity pulse of 54 (162.15 hours logged) (-12)
• Average of 6h 58m of sleep each night (+1.9%)
• Average calories of 2,466 (-15.8%)
• Average steps: 7,349/day (-19.1%)
• Money spent: 97.3% of income (171% increase)
• Books read: 0 (+0)
• Blog posts written: 0 (-1)

##Exist insights##

My Exist insights are all over the place because April and May have been so hectic. May has been horrendously unpredictable because of the craziness surrounding graduation. Indeed, the last 6 weeks have been a rollercoaster of things to do. I moved into my new apartment (first place on my own!), in the middle of May, right before finals week no less. I had a slew of projects and papers to finish, as well as final exams to take. Then of course, coordinating time with my family while they visited for graduation, and going on a small vacation before diving right into full time work life.

• I’m more productive when I listen to more music (31%) when I tweet more (27%), and when I get more steps (23%).
• I spend more time asleep when it’s the weekend (16%)

Rescuetime top 5 categories

• Software Development (22%)
• Social Networking (16%)
• Reference & Learning (12%)
• News & Opinion (12%)
• Communication & Scheduling (10%)

Thoughts

As for the data, my drop in steps is easily accounted for by the fact that I now work a desk job and am no longer walking around campus all the time. I’m also finding it more difficult to maintain a high calorie diet. On the plus side for me, campus food is often high calorie, which made reaching my calorie goal really easy. I’d like to think my drop in activity will offset the decrease in calories, but considering my average weight dropped, I’m not sure that’ll work out.

Frankly, I’m just glad the last few weeks of college are over. While I’m still grappling with what to think of it all, the last few weeks were so unbelievably hectic it’s a relief to be through it all.

##What to Focus on in June##

This month, I’d like to focus on establishing a new normal. While I typically enjoyed the non-stop busy life of being in college, I think my final year is when I finally started to reach my breaking point. The last few weeks of the semester were particularly grueling. I was burnt out, and it was tempting to just say fuck it and not do the last 2 weeks of work (C’s get degrees, after all). While I’m glad I didn’t do that, it was exhausting and stressful. I’m looking forward to a little more low-key life for a while.

I’m setting three specific goals for the month:

• Create a stricter budget - while I’ve always been okay at managing my money, I did spend every year of college living paycheck to paycheck. I’d like to not do that anymore.
• Create a morning routine - I’m already falling into a bit of a morning routine, but I want to make something very specific to follow every morning.
• Start running - since I’m not walking a couple miles a day any more, I’d like to do something to remain active. This will be happening more towards the end of the month.

With any luck, my “new normal” will help me figure out where to go from here. Here’s to something new!