Heyo! That's a big update!
First of all, I'm glad the advice helped in any degree. It's also good to keep in mind everyone's situations is different, it's always a good idea to think about what works for yourself, especially since it's you who will deal with the outcome of it.
Your mom sounds like a good person, and I'm sure she knows you better than any of us. I personally love my tech job. Of course it has it's ups and downs (sometimes it feels like it has more downs than ups, especially with the current bubble burst), and I hate the burocratic side of it among other things (dealing with people always gets tiresome). But at least there's always work to be done one way or another. Whatever may be I do wish you the best.
And hey, that's all good work! In honestly reminds me of my first website as well (I guess genius minds think alike!). It's not online anymore xD but just doing it and the experience of the whole thing paved the way for even more things. I think Marc said it best, how all creative work helps us advance in some way. May it be creating lore (like the flowers), creatures, characters or otherwise.
On regards to time managment. I'm actually also very similar in that once you get "in the zone" it's hard to stop until you see something done. II actually believe it's common among artists.
I'm happy to share what has worked for me, though of course I'm sure everyone has a different way of doing things. I'm also curious as to how others do it, maybe I can pick up a tip or two. I've seen your detailed schedules, and while it's too detailed for me, the idea of having a digital list that allows for alarms is something I'm taking note of.
I have setup a general schedule for myself, even though I rarely see it through, it helps give some structure to my days. Might as well show it!
Ya, it's just notes in a post-it. I don't make it too detailed as I know I rarely meet specific scheduled tasks, instead I just try to follow it in a general sense. Daily chores are usually done in between (dishes, trash, etc). I AM trying to be strict with the time for bed part, since my sleep cycle is kinda messed up.
Then there's stuff I have to take care of on a monthly basis. You know, follow up with car's maintainance, debit/credit cards reviews, house maintainance, etc. I setup a board for myself where I make note of what I have to do recurrently and a date of when I have to take care of it. Since it's recurring, I just update the date for the next time after I address it for that month.
And finally there are long term goals or tasks I need to take care or reach as time allows during the daily schedule. I make notes of stuff as they come to mind in post its and put them on the board. Regularly I'll have bandwith and take a look at the tasks to take something to do.
I had to cross out an important number I had there xD
Now that all sounds nice and good, but my biggest enemy is myself (porcrastination and videogames for the most part). I address these in a couple of ways.
1) I try to just do stuff and not think about it too much. If I think about things too much, my brain tries to move to something less stressfull (usually videogames), and I end up wasting time and procrastinating instead.
2) I need to be sincere with myself and evaluate what's taking up my energy and time, and then try to address it. That's why I allocated some "rest time" into my schedule. I've been burned out too many times, and it simply doesn't help achieve my goals. I also try to be strict with my exercice as it helps keep stress, energy and mental state in check. I can't do my goals if I'm not healty.
3) Usually I play videogames more than I should, and I don't even play THAT much. At some point I had to take a step back and be truthful with myself. "Do you actually want to make arts and manga or play videgames?, because face it daceronine, you realistically can't do both". The answer for me was clear, so I seriously tried to spend more time working on arts/manga than playing games. It's still probably my biggest struggle, especially when I'm in bad mental state. And there is no harm in indulging a bit here and there if I feel like it, but in general, I try to pull myself back and restate myself.
As a final note, I try to be varied with what I do on a hourly basis. Even If I draw for 4 hours, I realistically take a break every hour or so and go do something else (like chores or play a videgame mission) for 15 mins to stretch the legs, get a mental break, and just keep my daily routine fun. Doing the same thing for long stretches of time simply burns me out.
Wew, that went on longer than expected.
