Here’s a quick reminder of those guidelines:
- Social time
- Nightly self-care
- Earning income for meeting expenses
- Exercise
- Sports on TV
- Sleep
- Grocery shopping and laundry
- Writing
- Reading
- Eating
- Internet admin
Some of the decisions within categories are based on certain time-dependent criteria or volume restrictions. Here’s a reminder of those for reference:
- Exercise - one workout per day, no hard workouts on consecutive days
- Sleep - at least seven hours per night, catchup ASAP if less
- Writing - average ninety minutes per day over past month
- Reading - average six books per month over past month
- Eating - fast for 16-24 hours once per week
- Internet admin - limit two hours per day
To add context for the writing and reading goals, on the morning of April 5 I was averaging 78 minutes per day of writing (over the last thirty days) and I had finished 11 books in the previous sixty days. Therefore, although my priority order didn’t explicitly change, my decisions below reflect a greater emphasis on both writing and reading in order to keep my goals on track.
As a final formatting note, the events I do within a larger event are noted below in parentheses. A good example of such an event is listening to podcasts, something I only do at home while cooking, stretching, etc.
Friday, April 5
6AM – 630AM: Wakeup, strength workout
630AM – 8AM: Writing
8AM – 9AM: Prepare for work (podcasts), walk to work
9AM – 215PM: Work (music, coffee, breakfast, lunch)
215PM – 5PM: Bike to Central Square, watch soccer at Phoenix Landing
5PM – 530PM: Walk to Harvard Square
530PM – 6PM: Reading outside in Cambridge common
6PM – 630PM: Walk to Porter Square
630PM – 7PM: Browsing at Porter Square Books
7PM – 8PM: Dinner with friend at Sapporo Ramen
8PM – 9PM: Walk to Harvard Square / subway ride home
9PM – 11PM: Reading, cleaning and stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Saturday, April 6
7AM – 1030AM: Wakeup, coffee, writing
1030AM – 12PM: Haymarket
12PM – 230PM: Cooking, lunch, watch soccer at home
230PM – 3PM: Walk to library
3PM – 5PM: Library (music, internet admin including logging monthly spending)
5PM – 545PM: Walk home, chit-chat with neighbors
545PM – 745PM: Hard running workout, chit-chat with acquaintance on Charles Street
745PM – 845PM: Shower, watching college basketball (dinner)
845PM – 230AM: Out (college basketball, late night snack, hangout)
230AM – 3AM: Stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Sunday, April 7
11AM – 2PM: Wakeup, coffee, writing, breakfast
2PM – 245PM: Roundabout bike ride/walk to library
245PM – 445PM: Library (music, internet admin including TAXES)
445PM – 545PM: Roundabout bike ride/walk home
545PM – 7PM: Easy running workout
7PM – 11PM: Shower, cooking (podcasts), reading (dinner), cleaning and stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Monday, April 8
545AM – 730AM: Wakeup, coffee, breakfast, strength workout, writing
730AM – 845AM: Prepare for work (podcasts), train trip to Norwood
845AM – 915AM: Dentist
915AM – 945AM: Bank
945AM – 1115AM: Coffee shop (coffee, reading, writing, talking to some guy about politics)
1115AM – 12PM: Commute to work (train to Boston)
12PM – 615PM: Work (music, lunch)
615PM – 845PM: Library (music, writing/proofreading)
845PM – 915PM: Walk home
915PM – 1130AM: Watch college basketball (dinner, cleaning, and stretching), bedtime
Tuesday, April 9
745AM – 9AM: Wakeup, prepare for work (podcasts), walk to work
9AM – 1230PM: Work (music, coffee, breakfast)
1230PM – 130PM: Library (music, job listings, writing)
130PM – 6PM: Work (music, lunch)
6PM – 830PM: Walk to library, writing (music, proofreading)
830PM – 915PM: Bus ride to South Boston (reading)
915PM – 1045PM: Basketball
1045PM – 1115PM: Subway ride home
1115PM – 130AM: Shower, reading (dinner), cleaning and stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Wednesday, April 10
745AM – 9AM: Wakeup, prepare for work (podcasts), commute
9AM – 2PM: Work (music, coffee, breakfast)
2PM – 3PM: Library (music, job listings)
3PM – 545PM: Work (music, lunch, dinner)
545PM – 645PM: Drinks and snack with friend
645PM – 730PM: Subway ride to North Station
730PM – 11PM: Muse concert
11PM – 12AM: Walk home, snack, cleaning and stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Thursday, April 11
630AM – 8AM: Wakeup, hard running workout, shower, prepare for work (podcasts)
8AM – 845AM: Walk to work (slowly, due to fatigue from morning workout)
845AM – 130PM: Work (music, coffee, breakfast)
130PM – 230PM: Library (music, job listings, writing)
230PM – 545PM: Work (music, lunch)
545PM – 615PM: Bike ride to Davis Square
615PM – 930PM: Dinner and drinks with (really cool) friends
930PM – 1030PM: Subway ride home, cleaning and stretching (podcasts), bedtime
Let’s take a closer look at the above in the context of my supposed priorities.
1. Social time
This was a pretty unusual week given that I went out on a Saturday night and had the Muse concert on a Wednesday night. The toughest stretch was going Sunday through Tuesday without a real social event. Generally, two days in a row is a little touch and go while three straight days can become a real problem. However, this particular week was an exception given the big bookends plus late nights on Monday and Tuesday – social time might have completely worn me out.
Still, in general I need to make sure I manage my mood better by avoiding stretches of three socially blank days. The big challenge for me is Monday night because a regular Monday night social event means I can accommodate the frequent combination of a slow Sunday with a Tuesday night basketball game without having the dreaded three blank days. This wasn’t a problem for a while when I used to do regular wing nights or played weekly bar trivia. I’ve found since the end of trivia that Monday isn’t a very popular night for most of my friends. It’s possible I end up finding something more formal (a new volunteer opportunity is a strong possibility) to help fill in the gap.
2. Nightly self-care
3. Earning income for meeting expenses
These are easy. I find that #2 is a good fit because I usually need at least thirty minutes to wind down before bed anyway while #3 was a necessity for the last year following two years of unemployment.
4. Exercise
This one comes easily to me because I’ve tailored my workouts to ensure I look forward to them. My running workouts are no problem because I love running. I was resentful of basketball for a couple of recent years due to the toll on my body but a combination of an improved workout routine along with giving less effort in certain stressful (read: painful) basketball movements has made playing more fun (despite making me less effective). I do not like doing strength workouts so I limit them to ten focused minutes in order to find the balance between tolerating the workout from a mental standpoint while benefiting from a physical perspective.
5. Sports on TV
This is slotted in the exact right place – on Monday, I watched college basketball without skipping out on a social commitment or my nightly bedtime routine (I did it during the second half) yet stayed up a little later than usual to do so.
6. Sleep
My sleep decisions were good for most of this period and especially so when I consider the unusual nature of the events on my calendar. The decision to wake up early on Thursday was sound given that workouts are prioritized ahead of sleep. I probably could have done better on Sunday to get to bed earlier and have a better night of rest going into the week.
7. Grocery shopping and laundry
This was consistent with the priority but I do realize in hindsight that I should have used a ‘laundry week’ to get a better sense of how I make decisions (I do laundry every other week).
8. Writing
9. Reading
On April 9, I closed the books at 85 minutes of writing time per day, up from 78 minutes at the start of the period. Five minutes shy of my goal but not too shabby. As it turned out, this proved to be a high water mark for April as various challenges cut into my time.
The first day of this period saw me finish one book (Draft No. 4 by John McPhee) meaning I slid off my target pace. All's well that ends well, though, and April proved to be such a month given that I finished five books over the last two weeks to close the month at six.
10. Eating
My eating decisions were consistent during this week but I would not give myself high marks – the late night snack on Saturday put me on the low end of my target fast (1). I also ate like a famished moose on Wednesday, a fact not well represented by the way I documented my week.
11. Internet admin
This was a challenging week given that my writing and reading goals were off pace and I needed to create time for those priorities. I also needed to handle the one-off time commitment required for completing tax returns (around two to three hours). Getting to the library twice over the weekend was a productive move and using my spare time early in the week to get through my remaining admin meant I kept myself on track without going over the one hour per day average I consider appropriate for my internet time.
Footnotes / endnote
1. God, footnotes are confusing within numbered lists...
I've actually gave up the fasting back in August but left it in here because I originally wrote this post back in April.
