Sunday, 2 November 2008

Life plan for November

Things have been a little out of synch of late. So it's time to revive the life plan again.

Sleep is a given. I need 7.5 - 8 hours a day to function normally, and I wake up at 7am on the dot every day. So bedtime just fixed itself at 10:30pm. And tracking back from there I could spend half an hour reading before I sleep every night, so physically going to bed should be at 10pm. Good. That bit's sorted. Now for the rest.

Work is also a given: 8 hours a day will happen (5 on Fridays), with a minimum half-hour lunchbreak every working day. If I build sorting-out-stuff-for-tomorrow into my evening routine, I can get to work (cycling) by 7:30am. Which means that I can leave at 4pm if I want. So work from 7:30am (with a slip to 8am if needed) and leave between 4 and 5pm. I used to spend half an hour every morning on life maintenance (washing up, laundry, sorting through bills sort of stuff) before work because that was when I was most awake and most likely to actually do it. Maybe I'll try that again too. So life 7:15-7:45, work at 8am, leave at 4:30pm; I'll give that a go and see if the life maintenance slot is constructive or destructive.

Which leaves a half-hour lunchtime (20 minute run, 10 minute shower or 30 minute walk in the sun sounds good at the moment; with a walk to the bank or shops once a week on my rest day) and from 5pm (once I've got home) til 10pm every evening. 5 whole hours! Every day! What have I been doing with myself? Well, extra work, stressing and watching television for a start. The extra work can stay, but only if it's built into those hours. The stressing and television can go. This month, I am not going to watch television on my own. It's okay if I'm with someone else and we're doing it as a social activity, but I'm not going to do it on my own. And I keep saying that, I have half a chance of not needing to cut the plug off the thing to make it happen. I've also been going to the gym in the evenings. Not nearly enough though: our almost-daily sessions have withered down to once a week with our personal trainer, followed almost inevitably by an evening of slobbing out feeling tired or eating out until we're stuffed. This too must stop: I need to get a lot more stern about my gym routine. Starting with getting my frozen shoulder fixed so I don't break myself when I get it back together. So. Head for the gym at 4:30 every night. If there's a class (Thursday) then work in the gym lounge until the class starts; if there isn't then train from 4:45 to 5:45 and get home by 6:15.

So I have up at 7 for half hour of me-maintenance, cycle to work by 8, light exercise (run/walk) lunchtime, leave work at 4:30; gym from 4:45 to 5:45, home by 6:15, bed at 10, sleep at 10:30. That's a structure; now for the plan.

Plan 1: cook weekday meals in advance unless there's a special reason to cook fresh. On Sunday nights (yes, I've noticed that this is one), sort out my clothes for the week, plan out the week's meals and cook something up for at least 3 days. This means that I can pitch in from the gym, rev up the microwave and be fed by 6:3o most days. Leaving 3 1/2 hours of time to do the longer-term things.

Plan 2: decide on my next career path and go for it. Spend 2-3 hours a night reading, writing, coding, whatever it takes to head in that direction. Allow for one evening off a week; in practice this means that I have 10 hours basic study time a week, and must use the rest of my time as carefully as I can. And work to a schedule. 10 hours is not a lot of time to spare, so I need to use it wisely. I may even have to take some of my time off (I have 6 days to take before the end of November) to accelerate this plan a bit.

Plan 3: declutter. Make a list of useful things to do with that half hour, and concentrate on reducing the number of non-core things that I have to see or think of every day. This too will help... less stuff means less stuff to put away, less stuff to think about, less stuff to pack up and go.

Plan 4: don't be upset if the plan gets disrupted. It happens. Absorb the interrupt and get on with the plan.

No comments:

Post a Comment