Hi, welcome back to Eat Your Cress Podcast. I'm G-Soo. I'm Crystal and I'm Melissa.
So welcome back Melissa. Last time she was on the podcast with us, it was episode 144, our Weed Runners.
And today we'll be talking about how planning plays a role in our lives from both a macro and micro point of view.
So it makes it sound like e-con, but really it's not that serious. Before we get into today's topic, we must discuss our Gen Z slang word of the week.
The phrase that I've brought today is one that I think has been alive and well for a while now. The phrase is, it's giving.
Do you guys have any like examples that come to mind?
I guess my example for it's giving is succession themed. So one of the main characters on the show is Kendall Roy.
And he kind of has like this iconic walk. So I feel like sometimes on TikTok, if someone is walking weirdly, the comment will be like, oh, it's giving Kendall Roy.
So, you know, in the style of Kendall Roy or it reminds me of Kendall Roy is kind of the meeting that I interpreted as.
What was your example, Mill?
No, I think that was a better example. I can't think of mine anymore.
I feel like put on the spot is hard to come up with examples. But the only thing that comes to mind for me is a joke, like kind of making fun of the slang phrase.
I think it was last year Thanksgiving. There was a TikTok and this girl was like, oh my god, I saw this season that said like, it's giving season.
And she was like, I literally read it like it's giving season.
Oh my god. I feel like it reminds me of another TikTok that I saw that was also like playing off of that.
I was like, you know, that book that we had to read in elementary school, like the giving tree.
Oh, yeah.
There was another TikTok that was like, something related to that. And there was just like, it's giving tree.
That's so funny.
I've even caught myself sometimes saying like, it's giving whatever.
I feel like it's a very approachable, gen Z-sight phrase.
And it makes a lot of sense. Relatively self-explanatory. It's just like you have to say it in the right tone.
Yeah. It really makes you appreciate how flexible English is in English is.
Yeah. It's definitely a very versatile slang word.
And one of our common complaints has been Gen Z slang tends to stray from English grammar a little bit.
But I guess this one isn't the worst. Like you said, crystal, like you can kind of extrapolate what it means pretty quickly.
So definitely one that people can catch on to.
Yeah. This one follows like the rules of grammar for the most part.
I feel like some of the words that we've talked about before is very abstract, if that makes sense.
Like, Riz.
Yeah, true. Riz. Like it's just so word. And like you throw it in anywhere.
Like there's no grammar attached to it. There's no rules. You just have to understand it.
True.
But this one is like, okay, it makes sense.
You see it in context too. Like you have the whole phrase to work off of.
Like Riz is just too isolated. Yeah. Like someone just says Riz. I'm like, wait, I need some more context clues to help you out.
Yeah.
And then sometimes they'll like do some crazy shit with it. Like they'll call people like a Rizard of Oz or something.
And you're like, yeah.
Yeah.
True. So it's giving is officially Boomer friendly.
Oh, yes.
So let's move on to our actual topic of the day today to kind of kick us off.
I have a question for you both.
Do you like to do quote unquote macro planning?
Like the best example of that that I can personally think of is doing a five year or 10 year plan.
Like do you actually kind of make these plans or think through those kinds of ifs?
I feel like for me, nothing more than like the most basic stuff.
Like, oh, I will still be alive.
And I will hopefully be friends with the same people.
My family will still be here. Like, you know, like nothing more than the most, most basic.
Like I don't even think about like whether I'll be at the same job or like living in the same city.
Just because I feel like maybe I'm a bit biased because we just came out of our early 20s where a lot of your life is like in a people.
But I feel like if I look back on what I was doing five years ago or even 10 years ago, like it's just like so far out of my imagination that it would be very difficult to plan for this.
I don't know. My brain is also small and I'm like five years of concerted effort to get somewhere.
I don't know if I can do that.
You know, make sense.
I guess on the opposite end of the spectrum, I do a little bit of macro planning.
I know there's some people who get pretty intense with this level of stuff, which I've always admired.
For me personally, I find it really difficult to execute stuff once I put pen to paper.
But I enjoy the like exercise of kind of mapping out my next five years at least to try to see what are some things I need to do to get there.
And what are the thoughts that I have in my head or like things that I hope will happen in the future.
And I feel like a lot of that is because I tend to be someone who does better in more structured places.
So just knowing what I can kind of expect in the future.
And even the thought presses of like what is it that I want for my life in the next five years?
I've found really helpful.
I've started to do some five year plans.
And I actually found some old ones that I've done in the past, which I think is hilarious.
Kind of like a historical document, right?
It's like what did 22 year old me envision for myself at the age of 26?
And a lot of the things that I wanted to happen kind of did, like of course there's some variances that didn't end up happening and kind of state as dreams.
But I was pleasantly surprised that you know some of it did come true.
Oh my god, what came true.
So my timeline is a little jumbled, but basically what I wanted to do was get married by like 26 and then get a house by 27.
The order kind of flipped, but you know I am working towards like the marriage part and then we did end up luckily getting a house.
So I was like, that's pretty cool.
And then one of the things that didn't come true was I guess when I was like straight out of college,
I was like, I'm going to make this career pivot into this other field or whatever,
which didn't really end up happening, but I did get a little further down in my career path that I started on post college.
So that was kind of a change that didn't happen.
Wow.
On the topic of like your old plans that came true or not?
Like I don't know if you guys did, do you guys all go to elite?
Oh yeah.
I didn't.
Like when we were like 15, 16 on the last week of elite, they had us write a letter to your self 10 years in the future.
So I got mine.
They actually sent it, which is actually kind of crazy, but like I got mine last year.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, and I was reading it and I was like, wow, like all these like dreams and aspirations that 15, 16 year old me had.
The things that I was worried about and like things I was asking about like me in the future.
And I was like, wow, I basically like achieved most of it.
Oh, without like specifically thinking about it, just like, oh, like over the course of my life, you know what I mean?
It was like kind of crazy.
I don't know if I did that actually, but I did do like not a 10 year thing.
I think one of my managers when I was doing an internship in college, like one of those on campus internships,
she made us do one of those letters to ourselves.
And I think it got sent like maybe three or four years later.
I vaguely remember I did get it, I think.
Yeah, it's such a nice like time capsule type of thing, you know, like I was like, oh, I'm really happy that I got this like window into the mind of my old self.
Dude, someone should start like a company that does this.
Like you send letters to them and then they schedule the send 10 years later, five or 10 years later.
Yeah, I wonder if there is.
I feel like this is like there must be companies that do this, right?
But I guess the risk is always like because you need them to stay alive for 10 years.
Yeah.
Okay, we need the post offices to start doing this.
Yeah, like to lay send.
Yeah.
Because I feel like otherwise it's like the responsibility of one person usually they're like, oh yeah, like students please do this and I'll send out the letter in 10 years.
But like what if, you know, what if they lose it in a move or like, you know, something happens?
Yeah.
And I think that's really cool though, or there any specifics that surprise you where you're like, oh, like I did achieve this.
I'm trying to remember the details of that letter.
Like I think a lot of it was like, oh, like are you still friends with these people?
And then like I was thinking like, yeah, yeah, I was like really depressed as a kid.
So like a lot of it was like, oh, like are you happy?
Like, you know, I still live and I'm like, yeah, I'm here.
Like I'm happy.
You know, like things are looking really good.
And I remember like the thing that like maybe laughs so much was like, I think this is like back with an Naruto is still like,
like, weekly chapters.
And there was like, oh, like did it end?
Like, oh, and I was like, oh shit, I remember it.
And then I was like, I remember asking me like, oh, like do you have a lot more time now to like,
like, do all this stuff?
And I was like, yeah, like not only have I, you know, like done this stuff, I'm doing like more stuff.
Maybe not like specific like concrete goals, which is like, oh, like in terms of quality of life goals.
I was like, I think I achieved that part of my Fintinial self's want.
Oh, that's really cool.
So I also did some sort of letter to yourself except I was a lot younger.
So we did it in third grade and I got it end of high school.
And I was like, damn, I feel like we did this too early.
Or maybe my younger self just didn't have the level of foresight of like, oh, what will be valuable to read later.
But my questions to myself were like, do you still like the color green?
Like, do you still have a crush on the sky?
I was like, I don't even know what happened to this person.
Like, I moved element she schools right after that year.
So I have no idea like anything about this person.
I also do not like the color green.
And I was like, this is not a very helpful letter to read.
Yeah, I like third grade.
Maybe it's a bit too early.
Yeah, so funny.
I used to do this thing back in high school during the Tumblr era.
I wrote a draft blog post.
And it was just a letter to my future self that I would like read in a year basically.
And then I did that for like two or three years, I think.
It was cool, but also it was like, because it was such a short period of time.
And I feel like in high school, like, you know, we're not getting that much change in our day to day.
So it was very cool to like look back on those letters I wrote for myself and like the questions that I asked.
But at the same time, I was like, okay, but like not that much has changed.
But, but it was kind of nice.
Maybe it was like junior year or you know, one of the last years of Tumblr still being cool, I guess.
Since I kept the letters, I did read like through the like couple of years that I wrote them.
And then through that, I saw like a little more change.
And I don't know if I had necessarily wrote any goals out because I personally am not really a macro planner either.
But it was just interesting to see like, oh, this is what I did this year.
Hopefully next year, either you keep doing this or like you figure out how to like do something else or whatever.
It's really interesting because I guess in some ways I thought everyone did like detailed five year plans.
And like I said, I feel like, you know, you can go a lot more detailed than I do.
But I guess from someone who does a little bit of macro planning.
One of the things that I started doing was like in terms of what I want for myself in the next five years, some of them are pretty major life events.
So of course, wedding being one of them and marriage.
But another thing that I've been kind of thinking about is like the idea of having a kid.
And I feel like there's so many logistical aspects that go into that that I didn't even think about until I sat down and like wrote things out.
So before, you know, earlier in my 20s when I thought of the prospect of having children, I would be like, OK, well, like, what is it going to do to my body?
And like, am I going to be a good parent? Things like that.
And of course, those are all still very important and key.
But when I sat down with my journal, I was like, you know, one, what is the level of income that me and my spouse will have to have to like comfortably raise a kid, including like the nanny fees and this and blah blah.
And then I went to like where are we going to be located because currently we're at the bay, but my parents are in Dallas, but James's parents are here.
So like, what's a good midpoint or like arrangement so that our kid can see like both sets of grandparents.
And then three, in terms of my career, like, what's a good time to have a kid?
And am I going to stay at the same company? Like, is there a career goal that I want to reach before I have a kid?
How is it going to look once I am a mom and like, I am working like things like that.
So then I started like writing all those things out. And I think writing it out eases my anxiety a little bit because instead of being like, oh, there's so many unknowns and so many factors.
I can like see all of the factors on a piece of paper and they're no longer just jumbled in my brain.
Also, I think once I had all of those factors written out, there was like an ideal age range that I can kind of think about and envision.
So then I think those are things that kind of help me. And it's like, again, the exercise of doing it that helps rather than thinking like, oh, this is the exact timeline I need to achieve sort of.
Whoa. Yeah. You're going to like working backwards, right? Like you have all these like things that you want to be ready. And it's like, okay, in order for this to be ready, then this has to be ready.
And like, if all this stuff has to be ready, then like, this is like the ideal time range.
Yeah, definitely. And I think I'm kind of the type of person where like, if it's not scheduled and thought out and arranged beforehand, I just won't do it.
So like, I have to kind of, you know, set myself up for success in a sense instead of just hoping I'll be out for it and like, I can make it happen.
I think maybe I do something similar, but just in a much more abstract way.
So it's not like a, oh, within the next five years or 10 years, I want to like do this. It's more like, oh, you know, this seems interesting.
Like, hopefully this is something I can do. And then the idea is like, inceptive through that versus you kind of like really give the thought to it.
But it's still like the idea of creating a starting point, right?
Yeah, that's true. And I think a lot of people are able to kind of make things happen without having to go through the nitty gritty first.
So I probably is in some ways like a personality thing.
For me, I definitely plan things out in like the abstract, like, you know, like, sometimes before I die, I want this to happen and like stuff like that.
But I feel like any longer than like a one to two year time horizon is like very hard for me to really isolate down versus like once it hits like two year and less.
I'm like, okay, like now I can literally plan the details of like this month, July, 2024. I will be doing this like stuff like that.
So I guess like in a way, I'm like the opposite of crystal. I'm like more like a very, what's like the opposite of birds? I view ground level.
Like once it gets like right in my face, I'm like, okay, like I can plan out like every single moment of this, which I feel like is like a really good asset for like planning trips and stuff like that.
Like I'm like, okay, like our transfer from this transition to this plane ride is going to take anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes.
So I think we should take this trade and that I really get at that. But like for a longer term planning, I'm just like, I don't know anything could happen.
Anything after 2024 December is like white fuzzy space to me. Yeah, it's like no man's land. Yeah.
I think that's very interesting. So like Gisoo has an aspect where she is capable of doing that kind of like bird's eye planning.
And then Mel, you're like good at planning in the immediate future, I guess within about a year or two.
And then I feel like I can technically plan within the year, but it's more like extremely loose like very vague like this year.
Maybe this will happen. But like I guess if I truly were to plan, it's like, okay, in the next hour, I will do this.
So like my pro term.
It's also kind of interesting because I feel like even though I do like to draw out overarching kind of life plans, what kind of planning Mel does is also difficult for me to like I'll go into a year and know like, okay, this year, I want to go to these places and I want to do this and that.
But then actually planning it gives me some level of anxiety, I think. So that that is like also kind of a difficulty that I have where in my head, I'm like, I know this should probably happen this year.
Or like I have kind of planned for it loosely to happen this year. Now we have to go into actual planning and then I'm like, ooh, that one doesn't look as fun.
I feel like the reason why the medium or like near ish term is like easy for me is because it's like within the decision range.
If I'm planning a trip for December of this year, like I can start looking at flights now and then after I book it, I don't have to think about it anymore. And then like all the anxiety is like lifted versus like if I'm thinking about my life four years on the line.
Like I can't action on it right now or like all the actions I take will be like, oh, like small habits that build up or like, you know, like I'm trending towards this.
So I'm just like, oh, like because it's like not done yet, like I can't relax.
Does that make sense? Like yes.
Okay, yeah, actually when you're saying that, it definitely made me think about like my planning and I guess like commitment philosophy or actions, I guess. So when people ask, hey, do you want to hang out this weekend or something of that sort.
Honestly, I usually hit people with a maybe.
Yes, you know, right?
Yeah, because it's like, oh, well, I don't really know what's going to come up. So I was thinking about how you're saying like if you were to plan for December now, it's possible because you can go look into the flights, which I agree with.
But sometimes even that seems a little far for me because I'm like, oh shoot, like, you know, what if something comes up.
But unless it's like a very solid plan that's like high priority, absolutely must be done, then I'll like, you know, put my foot down, book the tickets, whatever.
But if it's something that's like a little more if he like, oh, it doesn't have to happen during this time.
Then it's like, okay, well, I guess I'll just hit him with a maybe and then, you know, if something that's like very high priority comes up, then that'll like go to the top of the list.
I feel like in that case, I kind of feel like what do you seem to feel like? Because I'm like, oh, like even if the plan is like only six months in advance, like you do have to work backwards a little bit.
And then like, I think my constant fear or anxiety is like, oh, like, I'm going to miss some golden window. And then like, then I will have missed the chance to act on this plan.
I guess like, planning is like the antithesis of anxiety or like, they're very closely intertwined, you know what I mean?
Yeah, that's true. I'm kind of interested to know like when you are kind of planning out, I guess the next 12 to 24 months of your life.
How do you kind of go about it? Like, are you the type to think, oh, this month next year, I don't have anything big.
Should I book something? Or do you kind of like to leave certain windows open and just fill it as things come up?
I think when I think of like planning in the year, there's kind of like two things like what is like logistical like where I'm going to be, whether I travel, like if I go back to see my family, two is kind of like personal goal wise, things that I want to do to further my own education or like further my own fitness goals, just like personal life goals.
And I feel like those are kind of like independent. When I think of logistical goals like that, I generally leave it open. Just like the friend group that I'm in, like people are always throwing out trip ideas and stuff like that.
So I'm not worried in that sense that like without any active intervention from my part, I'm pretty confident that there will be stuff happening on the personal goal side.
I usually try to, I don't know yours resolutions are like kind of cringe or like whatever, but like I do make new years resolutions, not like resolution to like change my behaviors and they but like more like a new year's goal, I generally try to set a few goals for myself, you know, keep myself on like the right track,
run more like I want to hit this finish goal or I want to learn more of this language or like I want to learn more about wine or like pick a topic and stuff like that or like read more books and stuff like that. And then I feel like those I generally set myself up for success in the sense that like their things that I like doing or I'm already trending towards like interested in.
I'm doing like a total 180 of my personality, so I'm just trying to like use that years resolution structure to kind of like encourage what I constitute as behaviors in my life.
That's like the level of like behavioral planning I'll do and I'm logistical planning is like a little independent of that.
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense and I like that you set personal goals that you know you will be interested in doing because it definitely wouldn't make sense if it's like, oh, I absolutely hate skiing, for example.
And then you like buy an eye compass.
It just like wouldn't make much sense. So it's like, okay, if I know that I have some sort of interest in this, even if it's like a very new interest or like a budding interest, then I can set a goal for it.
I like that approach.
Yeah, and I feel like a year is a lot of time when you think of like these like long goals because like some of my goals is like, oh, like read this book or something like that.
You know, and then I'm like, okay, I have a year to read this book. Even if I read like a page or two a day, like it's plenty of time.
Yeah.
So with some of your behavioral goals, do you have anything that you use to kind of remind yourself of these goals on a daily basis, whether it's a monthly check in or some sort of app or like widget or something?
Oh, no, but I feel like I kind of should maybe in general, I try not to create like a school like atmosphere from my goals because I feel like I have so much latent anxiety from school that like when I set myself up for like I have to do this or like this is due by this day.
Then I get really anxious about it. And I remember like when I first started running a lot, like I would feel that it started out like from these kind of goals.
I would be like, okay, like I'm going to try to run every day for two weeks and see how it is.
But then before my run, I get super anxious like, oh my god, like I'm just going to run. It's going to be awful. I'm like, I'm going to do so much worse than yesterday.
I'm just going to be so bad at it like blah, blah, even though it's like there's no grade.
I'm literally just outside running like it's literally so chill. Like I'm not in a race.
I feel like I just have like so much PTSD from school that like I try to not attach a lot of deliverables, I guess, to my goals.
But at the same time, like I do like to keep it like I'm definitely the kind of person where it's like out of sight, out of mind.
So like for all my goals, like I either have it in a very specific part of my day, for example, for exercise. It's the first thing I do every morning.
Or for like so many other goals, like you know, like my books are always just like out on the table. So like I'll see them in the middle of it.
Like if I have time, I'll just read some and like stuff like that. So I try to like set myself up for success while also trying to alleviate my PTSD.
Understandable. I think that makes sense too because I can relate to that where like sometimes if I have a specific goal and you know, if I really want it to happen or like if I really hope that I can make this goal achievable, then it'll start to give me a lot of anxiety of like, oh my God, like is what I'm doing today going to help me achieve it.
Or if it's kind of like a do something every day for X weeks, that would give me a lot of anxiety. And I think there's a delicate balance of like how do you introduce structure through things like planning and goals into your life while also allowing yourself to remain fluid and flexible in other aspects.
And I think that's something that I definitely kind of grapple with. Am I trying too hard to make something happen when it's not realistic or like by wanting this to happen so badly, I'm taking away from some of like the joy or like happiness of actually achieving that goal.
Yeah, I think I agree with both of you like the best ways to try your best to not pressure yourself basically. It's like this is a goal that I have and when I have time, I will do it or like work towards it.
But otherwise don't necessarily put a deadline on it because I think like in addition to just potential PTSD from like school and stuff, it kind of adds to that whole thing where it's like when a hobby or something that you like becomes work.
Then in you know like it's no longer fun because it's like other people are telling you to do this like there's deadlines to me and you're no no longer working at your own pace and just doesn't become as enjoyable anymore.
Yeah, and I think like for me like a lot of behavioral goals I have are like molded in this idea that I have is like, I want to become the type of person that exercises and you know wakes up early and reads and like I have this image of like, I don't want to say like perfect me.
But like, oh like a future me might do this. I don't want to like blackmail myself and just doing that. I want to like naturally like develop the habits to do that.
So it's like really hard to strike the balance. So it's like at the beginning you do kind of have to like hold yourself accountable and like there has to be some kind of discipline involved not enough to trigger you.
That's true. That's true. Like you still need to be accountable. Like you can't can't be completely just chill because then nothing will actually change.
Well, it'll be very hard to like truly an action change.
Or maybe you're already the perfect you.
You know, that's also valid. I wish.
I think in some ways to this conversation makes me think of how I used to see my parents when I was a kid.
My parents aren't the type to have super strict routines and regimens, but they did have some sort of routine that worked for them.
And one of the things that I remember was my dad would always be up super early on Sundays. He would golf every night at like 8 p.m.
Or something will watch TV and then at 9 he'll go into read like things like that.
And I always thought that it was like such an adult thing to have the schedule like that.
And I think in a lot of ways I admired it. In some ways I was kind of like, oh, that's just what happens when you're like 40 something.
But you know, I also had those ideas of like what people are just like in their mid 20s or in their late 20s or whatever.
And now that I'm reaching these ages, I'm realizing that it's not just something that happens.
And people actually have to introduce some sort of regimen in their life and discipline to like make those things happen.
So in some ways I'm like disappointed. I'm like, damn, I can't believe I'm 26 now and I'm not just like the 26 year old self I thought I would be.
But I guess in other ways, it's cool. And there's like a merit to kind of building out something that you want for yourself instead of just having it happen at the flip of a switch.
Yeah, I totally really, I feel like I totally had this image of like adult me.
And then I think because I haven't hit that image, I don't think of myself as an adult. But like signs point to me being an adult, you know?
Unfortunately. Yeah, so I'm kind of like, oh, this like that gap is like really hard to mentally bridge.
Ooh, I have a question for you all. Then what is your like image of adult you?
What are some things that adult you do that you don't currently do?
I think adult me is like more calm and like mentally stable.
Like every time I feel myself feeling like confused about my life, I'm just like, clearly I'm not an adult. Like I need an adult in this situation to help me.
One aspect of adult me that I have never achieved yet and I wonder if I will ever be able to achieve in my lifetime is like a regular sleep schedule.
I don't know why it's just insanely hard for me and the only times I've ever achieved regularity was, you know, those dark days where you sleep at 4 a.m. every day for like two weeks or something.
I feel like that's the only time I'm like regular in my sleep. Every other time it's like a toss up of any time between like 9 p.m. through like 3 a.m. each day I just spend the wheel and see what time I get.
Well, I was in there like that research that's like not everyone has the same like circadian rhythm, right? So like maybe the 4 a.m. is like your natural sleep schedule.
But like society is like set to like 9 a.m. we begin work.
Yeah, I feel that I'm definitely not on the same circadian rhythm as like the rest of the working world.
One adult or one thing that adult me does lives alone with like a cat and a dog.
Oh, I mentioned that that's like kind of a dream that I have.
It was interesting when you two were explaining that like you have a certain image of like, you know, adult you or future you.
I think like I don't necessarily have that much of a difference in my image of like future me I guess, but it's just like the place that I would be is different.
Like the physical place.
Yeah, yeah. So like, you know, eventually I would be in like my own place with like these things surrounding me.
But I also wonder maybe it's like once I do reach that place like another future version of myself will appear in my mind.
It's like, okay, next step is like this now. It's like a treadmill. Be careful.
Yeah, I was just going to say like once you do live in that apartment and then you have your cat and dog.
If you ever revert out of that life or like get married and move in with your partner or something, you're like a child again.
You're my own.
Like I'm no longer an adult. That's true. That's true.
But hopefully it'll evolve once I reach that point.
Well, I guess on the other aspect of planning is sort of more of the nitty gritty aspect of planning.
So planning out your day to day, whether it's on a daily level, weekly level or monthly level.
I feel like planning those things out tend to be a little bit more about logistics to kind of kick this part off.
Do you guys have a routine that has certain strict timings or do kind of take things as they come on a daily basis?
Honestly, I have only a couple things that are absolutely strict on my calendar.
So one of them is Gisoo and I we meet every week on Tuesday evening to talk about podcast stuff.
So that is like of utmost priority.
The other thing is I guess like podcast recording times.
We usually set those every week though. It's not like a set time.
But once it's set, I'm like, okay, this is like a permanent thing on my calendar now.
Like nothing will move it unless an emergency comes up.
Otherwise, like aside from work meetings and stuff, otherwise I usually kind of just take things as they come.
Yeah, I feel like I have kind of like a general routine.
Like it's not necessarily tied to a specific time on the clock or anything.
But I just like, I know like, okay, on a typical day.
If it's like a weekday, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna go for a run or like maybe do some other kind of workout.
And then I'm gonna go to work.
I generally try to work from home, but sometimes I feel like now they're trying to get us back to office.
So the first meeting of the day is always at 9.50.
So that's like the only I guess like timing wise thing I have to do.
The running part generally is like, oh, like if it's in the summer and I guess really hot, I try to do that earlier.
If it's like the winter, it doesn't really matter. They'll be a little bit later.
Yeah, I guess for me, I'm probably more like crystal in a sense.
So like the podcast meeting is definitely regular.
Currently, I unfortunately do not have a regular fitness routine.
So I guess TVD on that.
One other thing that I think is fairly regular in our lives is James and I play board games with our friends, Kate and Brian.
And that's usually like one or two Sundays a month. So I kind of just like block out whatever like six hour increment or something to like make that happen.
In some ways, I feel like it's cool to have these things that are regular because work meetings tend to be recurring like a lot of them, I think, at a specific fixed time.
And I don't think I really realized it until now, but I think the regularity of those meetings does kind of provide structure that I needed my life.
That's kind of comforting, even though it's just a work meeting.
So I don't know, like I feel like recurring things and routine actually do really help you plan the week out.
And it also helps me plan my bedtime out a little bit. So like if I know Tuesdays and Thursdays, I always have an early meeting at like eight, then I'll make sure to go to bed early on those days, whether or not I'll sleep early is another question.
But I'll at least be in bed at a reasonable time.
Yeah, I was like, well, like you can actually sleep if you go to bed early. That's like the struggle for me.
Like even if I want to go to bed early, I'm just like I just end up like staring at the wall for hours.
I'm going to sleep meditation videos. Very helpful in my opinion.
I'm not about taking night pool. So.
Oh my god, there's actually a funny thing James does. So James listens to the Bill Simmons podcast and he like talks a lot about like basketball and sports.
And the episodes are really long. They're like two hours plus. And he listens to it nightly to help him fall asleep and it always helps him fall asleep within like 10 minutes.
So he's knocked out. And the phone is on his side of the bed like on his nightstand, right.
So since I have trouble falling asleep, I'm just like awake playing whatever mobile game or something. And I'm just listening to this podcast to like hours on end.
Oh my god. And in the morning, I'm just like, oh yeah, the celltics did this and this player did the like I'm like reciting sports stats because of the podcast.
You're so educated now. So he does nothing then. Yeah. He doesn't absorb any of the exactly.
Dude, this is James's secret plan. He's like, okay, perfect. This puts me to sleep and it'll educate Jesus.
And then next time you guys watch basketball games together, you're like spitting facts and he's like, damn, like Jesus is more than me now.
I'm like, oh my god, that's a charging foul.
That's funny. I do some funny things to like help me sleep as well.
One thing is I actually listen to tarot reading videos. So if you don't know, I feel like most people don't know this.
But there's like on YouTube, there's this whole like section of people. And they basically do what's called like general tarot readings.
And they do the tarot reading and they're like, okay, pick like from one of these four piles that I've set up. Just pick one that like draws you in. Usually they'll use like a stone or something different like crystals so that you can have a visual.
And then whichever deck draws you in, they're like, all right, go to this time stamp.
And we go to that time stamp. They'll do like a reading. So it'll be like pile three reading at like one hour in or something.
I don't know how effective tarot reading is in general. And then also how effective it is as like a general reading like that.
But most people who do tarot readings have like a soft gentle voice, you know, they're like trying to because there's nothing jarring about these readings.
They're just like trying to tell you good things and like whatever. So it ends up working out really well. And the videos are usually around like two hours long or so because they have to go through every single pile.
So it works pretty well. Like it puts me to sleep. I think it's almost like pap loves now.
Like I hear a tarot reading and I'm just like, all right, I'm about to fall asleep in the next 20 minutes.
I usually try to sleep at the same time every day. So I feel like my sleep circadian rhythm is like really strong.
I'm like every day at like 10 30 to 11 30. I'm like, I fall asleep. But then I think the weird thing is like my waking up circadian rhythm is like crazy.
Because like sometimes like asleep at like 10 30 and I can wake up at like six or seven or for like work or whatever.
But like on the weekends, I'll sleep at 10 11 and I'll wake up at like nine or 10.
And I'll be like, I could definitely sleep more. But I like don't want to sleep that much more on the weekend to like waste the day.
But I'm like, that's not it's like I like 10 to six is already eight hours like 10 to 10. That's already 12 hours. How much sleep does my body need?
I really I read somewhere that women need more sleep than men. Oh, interesting. Yeah. I mean, I don't I didn't really look into it much. But like, you know, the headline. That's what I said.
Yet another reason why the picture I came as full.
Like I mentioned earlier, I think my circadian rhythm is like not in line with the rest of the world or at least like the work day. So usually like waking up at nine or anything earlier eight or seven if really needed is pretty tough for me on the week days.
So on the weekends, I'm just like holy crap. I need to like sleep in and make up for all of this lost sleep.
Like this past week, I had a work event and I had to wake up at seven a.m. every single day and also God, like I literally just slept like 10 to 12 hours this weekend. Like each night.
Yeah, it's so rough because it's like I would want to sleep in more, but also like, do you guys ever read about like sleep hygiene and like sleeping in is also really bad because it's basically like I think the thing that got me off of staying up late and like sleeping in a lot more.
There was just like one person who was just basically saying like, you know how bad jet lag feels.
You're basically doing that to yourself every weekend of your own volition and I was like, wow, when you put on like that, that really makes you feel bad, but it feels so good, but it feels so good.
So then I was like, okay, I guess I will try to not do that, but it's like it's like hard because it's like when you have to wake up early, the amount of time you would need to spend in bed, like I'm not going to go to bed at 8 p.m.
Yeah, yeah, it seems like if I want to wake up at like seven, I might need to go to bed at like 8 p.m.
Yeah, that's not going to happen.
That makes no sense.
I feel like personally my day planning and stuff does kind of revolve around sleep.
Would you say the same for you all?
I think my day planning revolves around my first activity of the day and I work backwards to fit in a workout and then I work backwards to fit in sleep.
But I generally, the sleep part is like I sleep at the same time. I just alter when I wake up.
Right, right.
Yeah, I guess so. Like when you put it like that, I also just try to wake up to fit in enough time for like hair, makeup, whatever I need to do before my first event of the day.
And then afterwards I just kind of like do whatever I feel like I'm always most ready for the first thing of the day.
And then after that, I'm just like, okay, these are like my secondary activities.
Yeah, I do think most of my close friends you all included know that I like to sleep in and stay up late.
So I feel like when I do plan out like activities for the next day, sometimes my friends will be like, oh, do you need to like sleep more?
It's okay. We can meet up.
We can meet at night for like one or three.
And I'm like very appreciative. I'm like, wow, thank you. Yes, I will sleep until 11.
I guess this is kind of a good segue into talking about the structures that we use to actually plan out our days or weeks.
Are you guys all huge Google calendar fan girls?
Because personally it is my love and my life and my joy.
I dabble.
Okay, I would actually have thought that you were more of a Google calendar person.
Yeah, I think it goes really in line with my personality.
I feel like I trend towards like type A and I like want to know what I'm doing.
But I just like have it in my brain.
I outsource to Google calendar things that I know I'm going to forget.
For example, like if I have like this random concert like two months from now, I'm going to do that.
But I also notice that a lot of stuff that I do like if I'm on the subway and there's like no Wi-Fi and I'm like, what am I going to do?
I just like run through my schedule like today is Sunday or today is Monday.
On Wednesday, I have this dinner on like Thursday. I have this.
So I feel like because I'm always like running through it, that becomes like my calendar.
Also, I feel like I haven't hit the learning curve of Google calendar yet.
There's still some stuff that I don't love about it or like I just haven't gotten used to it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It makes sense.
I feel like also though Mel really loves to name our group chats date and time of.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Which is probably helpful.
It's a terrible. It's actually such a bad system.
But it does help sometimes because I feel like my life is not very interesting.
So if it's like work, you know, like obviously have the calendar at work.
If it's like my personal life, then I'm probably going to be hanging out with the same couple of people
and then I'll just name the group chat like the next time that we meet.
So then every time their bubble pops up or like the message comes in, I'm like, okay.
Dinner on Wednesday, 5.31, 7 p.m. says like well, well, then I'm like, okay, I'll note it.
Yeah.
That's so interesting because I feel like for me, one of the biggest pluses of Google calendar
is of course not forgetting the events that you have scheduled.
But it also helps me not double book things.
So like, you know, when people are like, oh, are you free? Whatever time.
I'm like, let me consult with my Google calendar.
It has all the information.
And I guess it's not to say that it doesn't sometimes happen.
But I feel like the times that I accidentally do double book stuff is because I didn't put it in the Google calendar in time.
So now my life is just completely dependent on Google calendar.
But it's so useful.
And I also actually log all of my tasks on there too.
So if I have like errands to run, it's not a really an event.
But I can slot it into certain times on the calendar.
So I can kind of visually see, yes, this is an empty spot.
But I have to return something or grocery shop or do whatever.
I used to be like Mel all throughout elementary school, junior high, high school, college even.
I just memorized my schedule class schedules included.
So like, you know, how we got planners in high school and stuff.
I would always get them and I'd be like, all right, this is the year.
I'm going to like write in the planner and like, you first week is filled with stuff by the second week is just completely empty until the end of the year.
Damn. Yeah.
And I think there wasn't necessarily a true turning point, but when I was juggling like class and my like on campus internship, a lot of people were like, wow, crystal like, how are you doing this without Google calendar?
Like you remember your shift times and your class times and like where they are and all of that stuff.
And I was like, well, I don't know, like it's pretty routine. So you like you kind of get it.
But they were like, I encourage you to just give it a try, you know, like Google counter and stuff.
So I eventually did get on it. And now I do use it a lot more.
It's good though, because sometimes he will ask me if I want to hang out and instead of hitting them with a maybe I can be like, oh, I need to check it out.
Oh, I think to your point about like the routine stuff, I think that's super true.
Google counter is really, really useful when it's like, I'm not the person planning or like I'm not the person in charge.
Like if I'm just like tagging along to something, because like recently one of my friends was visiting New York and he was like, because he's visiting.
He's like, oh, I'm going to book all these restaurants. We should do X, Y, C. And then I'm just like, great.
Down for all of them. Just book them. But then I was like, okay, like, actually, can you send me a calendar invite? Because I'm like, what date did we decide?
Like, where are we going? Like, what time? Like, because if I was booking it, I would already know, right?
But then like, because someone else is booking it, I'm just a follower. Please tell me.
I need the calendar invite.
Yes, that's true. That's true. I think nowadays it's just like, I guess because I've gotten used to using Google Calendar.
It's like, oh, well, I might as well put this in Google Calendar just in case I forget.
I wouldn't want to forget because I'm out of practice now of like memorizing my schedule.
So I guess Google Calendar has become a crutch now.
That's true. Once you're dependent on it, I feel like you actually cannot go without it.
I don't think my brain knows how to remember events and times anymore.
Yeah. I think I love it when other people send me the invites. I'm just like, I'm too lazy to make the invite.
Because I think like mobile interface is like not as good as the web interface.
And then the web interface is like too overpowered. And I don't know what to do.
Because I also don't send meetings at work. So I'm like, I don't know.
Like, what do people do? What does it mean if I click this?
Like, do will they see this? I don't know.
That's true. That's true. There are some complications.
And like, like, Jesus was telling me about tasks. And I was like, how are Google Calendar tasks?
Yeah. Yeah. So the only thing I use is reminders.
And I only use it through like the Google Assistant.
And I voice tell Google like, okay, make me a reminder on the stage.
I don't even know how to do it normally.
One useful thing is when I go to sleep at night, I'll be like, oh, goodnight, Google.
And then I have the routine set that Google will be like, goodnight.
Like, what time should I set your alarm for? By the way, this is the first event on your calendar for tomorrow.
So that's always like pretty helpful.
I think also too, like one of the reasons why I love Google Calendar so much is
it's just like a history of everything you've ever done in like your life.
You know, like from the point that you started it, at least to the level that are you personally like to use it.
And it's gone to the point where like, sometimes you do things spontaneously with your friends.
Like, you guys might have gotten lunch and then you're like, oh, let's go play games at this person's house or like, let's go do whatever.
I will go back and like, log it. I will be like, okay, we had lunch.
You know, like the existing event was like lunch one to two or something.
And the two to four we hung out at someone's house. I will write it down and like, who was there kind of if it's like a huge group,
I won't lock everyone, but I'll be like college friends or like high school friends or like this friend group.
I've actually found it to be really helpful because one of the things that I like to do is like, if I haven't seen someone for a while,
I can like see when the last time we hung out was.
Oh, you can search their name.
Yeah, exactly.
So you're basically using it as like a diary.
Exactly. And maybe it's also because I don't take a ton of photos.
So it's kind of like a way to log things without having to snap pictures that hangouts and stuff.
But it's just really nice. And you know, I don't know how long I'll continue to use this.
Like maybe some better calendar app will come in the future.
But maybe when I'm like 50 years old, I can be like, what did I do on this month and year when I was 26 years old?
That's not so cool.
I feel like I use Google Photos as that.
Like Google Photos is like my external hard drive for my brain.
Like the amount of screenshots and pictures and stuff like that I have.
Like even today like at lunch, I was talking to one of my friends and I was like, oh, like I'm trying to remember the name of this restaurant.
And then I looked up the photo on Google Photos because it like shows you where you took it.
Right.
Then I could see like, okay, the location tag is like this restaurant.
And then I was like, okay, this is the name of the restaurant.
I was like, wow, I think God.
I have good photos.
Yeah.
Hey, do you see you know, you can add attachments to your Google calendar like events, right?
Oh.
So what if you added pictures onto it?
Dude, that's a good idea.
Oh my God.
They should do some sort of photos and calendar collab.
Like, oh, I see this photo happened during the same time as this event on the calendar.
Would you like me to just automatically like that would be so cool.
That's actually sick.
I think the other utility aspect to of Google Calendar, I'm being a total shill here.
I just love Google Calendar so much.
The other thing that I like about it is you can actually share calendars with other people, right?
Right.
So for me and James, a lot of the times we're kind of planning as a household.
So since I use Google Calendar so religiously, my social calendar is basically James's social calendar.
It's just funny.
Like sometimes there's events that James is going to go do that I'm not going to.
And I know he doesn't use his Google Calendar as much as I do.
It gives me anxiety.
I'm like, James, like this isn't booked on my calendar.
Like you have to book this on your calendar so that you don't forget.
And then he's like, oh yeah, yeah, like I'll book it.
Thanks for reminding me or whatever.
And it's just so funny that it's almost like a family calendar at this point.
Yeah.
No, it is really helpful because I feel like some of my friends share their calendar with me.
And like I can't necessarily see like the exact event that they're going to you right.
But like I can see like they're busy during this time.
So they're not going to be like, oh, like do you want to get dinner on checks their calendar this day?
Oh my god, wait, that's such a good point.
I should do that next time.
I should just be like, here's my Google Calendar.
Just let me know what timelines are.
Yeah.
I feel like it's really helpful when a lot of people are traveling because then it's like, okay, like they can book.
Like, oh, I'm going to be in this city or like they're going to be on that city.
And then you can say, okay, everyone's going to be in this city.
At this weekend, we have to get dinner or something like that.
Yeah.
Oh my god, Mel, you know what you should do.
So Google Calendar has a thing where you can like send your calendar to people and then they can book a slot in your calendar.
So you should just do that.
I don't think other people have book slots in your calendar.
I was looking to work.
I feel like I'm the person who like asked people to hang out.
Like I drive the hang out because I'm like a winner person.
So they have to send me their calendar and all the great author.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
