5 minutes to change your life

Do you stick to your New Year's resolutions? I love making them (I love making lists in general) but somehow I always manage to forget about them five days into new year. This year I wanted to change that and try to really apply the resolutions I made. Not that I consider them crucial for accomplishing anything in life, it's just that for the first time in my life I have a very clear vision of where I want to take myself. So I decided to read my resolutions every other day, to make sure I don't forget them. Also, I made over 20 resolutions, which never happened before, and it goes to show how precise I see my future.

While applying some of these decisions takes time, so progress can't be measured on a daily basis, some of them are just small tasks that don't take a lot of time but eventually sum up to better quality of life. For these small tasks I made a 'rule of 5 minutes'.


Instead of complaining I never have time for things I love (e.g. reading), I tried to dedicate 5 minutes every day (and if possible more - because it is possible) to doing these things. Also, I firmly decided that I will not waste another 5 minutes on an activity that eventually does not make me happy nor makes my life better, but instead just consumes my time. Scrolling through social media few times a day is an example of unnecessary, time consuming activity. If you add up 10 minutes of scrolling through Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. for at least three times a day, there's 30 minutes already. Usually it adds up to even more. You see, there is time. It's all about how you use it. There's room for a change.
I decided to apply this rule for three of my resolutions: reading at least one book a month; watching one movie a week; learning Spanish on everyday basis (I know you can't watch a movie in 5 minutes, but I promise it'll make sense). See, these are not things I just randomly picked - these are activities that fundamentally make me happy. They fulfill me and make my life better. There's the key to success - they hold much more value for me compared to things I gave up, in this case Internet and social media. Looking at pictures that only serve for people to brag with their new Prada shoes or LV bag does not add value to my life. I always knew that, but social media are very tempting and there's this fear of missing out. What I really became afraid of is missing out on my own life. So basically I had no choice but to change this bad habit.
Reading one (at least one) book a month is not a lot, but it is much more than I managed to read last year (the exact number is 5 - don't judge, I am already ashamed), and it is possible to achieve with 15-30 minutes a day. March is not over yet, and I already red 4 books, yay! Learning Spanish everyday is not possible to squeeze into 5 minutes if it requires a course, but instead I'm using Duolingo app, reading newspaper articles in Spanish, and I plan on reading a novel in Spanish. As for the movies, I combine this activity with working out on stationary bike, so I end up watching at least two movies a week.
These resolutions of mine might seem trivial to you, but you can apply this rule to basically anything. The whole point is that I spent a long time complaining about not having time for things I love, when actually there is time. I thought the only solution was to wait until I graduate, and then I would magically have all the time in the world. The truth is the perfect moment will never come, and you'll never have enough time.
These first two months of 2016 flew by in a blink of an eye. That is the time you can't get back. That is the time you'll never have again. That's why for me it's important to know I used that time the best way I could. I did not procrastinate with my resolutions. Time goes by whether you keep up with its tempo or not. Time goes by either way, so where do you want to be in a year?