Quite long ago, back in my school days, I read a question if one piece of 1 kilogram of water would make a specific amount of water colder or the four pieces of 250 gram. The answer is if the ice is melted by the heat of water only, both will cool down the water to an equal level of temperature.
That's an ideal situation though. In normal life, one event is not affected by one factor but there are multiple factors that collectively make their impact on a particular event. In a normal life situation, the ice is not melted alone by the heat of water but by the temperature of the atmosphere as well. The smaller pieces of ice will melt sooner than the larger one. Thus the bigger piece would be able to stay longer in the water, making it cooler for a longer time.
Time and tasks of our day is similar to the ice and water. If a task is done in a single piece hour, it is done in a better way. If the same task is done in four chunks of 15 minutes, the productivity would never be same. There are 24 hours for everyone in a day. However, the design of those hours decides how longer or shorter the day is going to be. So, the same 24 hours are different for different people.
A comparison of my today's and yesterday's routine made me think about all this. Both the days, I woke up at the same time, yet my productivity level was different. I didn't show laziness on either days, but it was the design of my routine that impacted my performance.
Yesterday it was a holiday for my kids' school on account of Shab-e-Mairaj. I woke up at 6 o'clock. After the morning prayers, praying and recitation of Holy Quran, I shifted to online world (Hive). I provided engagement to many posts, and performed my duty as a vyb curator. Then, around at 9 I went for a 20 minutes walk (as part of my dreemport challenge 😊). After coming back, I looked into my room, my husband and kids were still sleeping. I had some more minutes for the online stuff. When my family woke up after 10, I prepared breakfast for them and then performed the routine chores. By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I was almost done with my article that I had to publish yesterday. I did everything with a fresher and relaxed mind.
Today, when my sons had to go school, my routine was quite different. It was broken into chunks. My elder one goes at quarter past 7, so I was in kitchen at quarter to 7 preparing his lunch and breakfast. After that my younger one goes to school around 9, I was again in the kitchen preparing his lunch and breakfast, and also getting him ready for the school. Then my husband's time of departure is after half past 10, I was in the kitchen around at 10. Then I had to go to pick my son from school at 12:30. In between these chunks I did walk and online tasks at Hive, yet I neither could give as much engagement as I did yesterday nor my attention was the same. Right now, it's 9 p.m. in the evening and I am not yet done with today's post. There are other chores left, too. I tried to rearrange my evening in a way so that I might get an hour for my today's write-up. I succeeded today, yet I don't always feel the circumstances in my control the same way and I end up not completing my hit list. It causes frustration. At times, too much frustration. Nevertheless, frustration never brings a positive outcome.
To overcome the emotions of frustration and irritation, I am trying to learn to modify the parts of my routine I can. There are many areas that I feel beyond my control, at least till now. For those circumstances, I am trying to learn to pat my back for performing with my optimum efforts. That's the way I may experience positive emotions of happiness and accomplishment despite not completing the to-do list.