Wake up Shower Eat meal 1 (breakfast) Go to work Do internetz Work Eat meal 2 (lunch) Work Eat meal 3 (second lunch) Work Eat meal 4 (pre-dinner) Work Go home Workout (unless I'm feeling lazy, which is more often than not :P) Eat meal 5 (dinner) Do stuff with girlfriend Sometimes eat meal 6 (late night snack) Play games/watch stuff after girlfriend goes to bed Sleep
I work 10-6, so I've been getting up around 8:30 every day. I'm an evening person, but I try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour (usually between midnight and 2am). I'm also trying (and mostly failing) to wake up earlier and exercise in the mornings, before I shower.
Also, because of the way the subway system works, my commute would actually be shorter (and more awesome) if I got a bike and rode to work every day. The only problem is, I don't have a shower at work, and it's pretty hot out. Ideas?
Anyway, my schedule:
wake up shower/shave/email clothing time go to work (pick up coffee and maybe a scone/muffin on the way) work lunch work/after-lunch internetting go home dinner videogames/non-work projects/internetting/geekchats/fnpl/boardgames (not often enough!) reading sleep
I'm happy to have found this thread. Could you guess how much time per day or week you do chores and such? Any time components of the schedules would be of interest to me.
I'm happy to have found this thread. Could you guess how much time per day or week you do chores and such? Any time components of the schedules would be of interest to me.
I'm happy to have found this thread. Could you guess how much time per day or week you do chores and such? Any time components of the schedules would be of interest to me.
Dishwasher is key.
Be it resolved that my next apartment will have both a dishwasher and powerful air conditioning.
I'm happy to have found this thread. Could you guess how much time per day or week you do chores and such? Any time components of the schedules would be of interest to me.
Dishwasher is key.
Be it resolved that my next apartment will have both a dishwasher and powerful air conditioning.
This is such a huge part of my problem. It's like moving to an apartment without a dishwasher nuked my ability to keep up on anything else.
Even outside of chores, I still often feel like there just isn't enough time in a day to do enough things that I want to do.
This is such a huge part of my problem. It's like moving to an apartment without a dishwasher nuked my ability to keep up on anything else. Even outside of chores, I still often feel like there just isn't enough time in a day to do enough things that I want to do.
Having a washing machine in my apartment helped tremendously as well. Also, I now have a ~40 minute commute, which I adore, since I have been spending the time reading.
On a very different note, a while back, I was talking to my brother's friend who happens to be a published science fiction author. He mentioned that he gets up at 5:00 am every day to put in 3 hours of writing before going to his day job. This really resonated with me. The guy is passionate enough about his writing that he puts it before everything else that happens in his day, rather than go into work, come back exhausted, and procrastinate his writing. I've been slowly inching myself closer to being a morning person since I heard that. At the moment, I typically get up around 6:45 am, significantly earlier than I used to, but still not early enough that I can do anything practical.
On a very different note, a while back, I was talking to my brother's friend who happens to be a published science fiction author. He mentioned that he gets up at 5:00 am every day to put in 3 hours of writing before going to his day job. This really resonated with me. The guy is passionate enough about his writing that he puts it before everything else that happens in his day, rather than go into work, come back exhausted, and procrastinate his writing. I've been slowly inching myself closer to being a morning person since I heard that. At the moment, I typically get up around 6:45 am, significantly earlier than I used to, but still not early enough that I can do anything practical.
I had this recommended to me once. I used to get up and do my hobby programming before work. It was great... except that I couldn't also make myself go to bed earlier. I only lasted a few weeks before getting too exhausted to be useful.
I've always felt more productive in the morning as well, but I've never had enough time for my own things in the morning. So for the last month, I've made an effort to wake about an hour and a half earlier than required to spend some time on my hobbies. I've noticed I actually am more productive in the morning, but some days I still have trouble getting to sleep at a reasonable time and end up really tired in the afternoon.
I'm curious though, some of you have really busy lives - how much time does everyone spend sleeping at night?
I have a terrible time getting to sleep at night. I have been trying to shift my schedule, but it is really hard. I end up getting maybe around 7-7.5 hours a night lately, which isn't great. The bad thing is that I am woken up by rabbits or Rym at 6:30 or 7, after I go to sleep at around 12-12:30 (I get in bed at like 11:30 or 12) and it really sucks because even when I get 8 hours, my sleep cycle has been interrupted so I feel crummy. I wish I could just lay down and fall asleep immediately like Rym.
Look into "Flux" for your Mac. It helped me a great deal. Lots of my insomnia was screen light related, I think.
It's a little buggy now and then but not enough to impede its usefulness. If you're up late doing graphic work then it's a no-go as it'll mess up your palettes.
Wait.. you're not the Mac person I was thinking of, are you..?
There's equivalents for Windows. Just can't recall them off the top of my head. They don't just dim the screen at night, they warm and dim the screen colors gradually on a schedule.
No, my main computer is not currently a mac at the moment. I have been trying not to read my cell phone or screens right before bed, but just lay there in the dark trying to turn off my thoughts. Also, anything that changes screen fidelity is no good, because I am an artist, and if I am painting or something that will hinder that work.
It's my superpower. I can be asleep within 30 seconds if I want to be asleep. It's like magic.
Are you a wizard!?!
I'm most productive when I'm trying to sleep. I get ideas in my head for all kinds of things and it must be written now or lost to the nightmares. Sometimes those ideas are terrible, but other times they are awesome.
In high school I taught myself to sleep in ten minute increments after reading about soldiers in WW2 doing so in a Bill Mauldin book. I would put on my alarm in ten minute increments and sit in bed; eventually I got it so I could put my head down anywhere and sleep for pretty much ten minute s on the dot. This was useful because I averaged about three hours of sleep a night in High School, spending the rest of the time reading. Whenever I wasn't learning anything in class, I punched out for ten minutes to see if things were more interesting when I came back.
Tragically I am no longer capable of this superpower.
I am at my best when I sleep for about 8.5 hours. Basically, my best schedule is like 9:30 or 10pm to 6:30 am. That is when I feel the best and am at my most full of energy.
In retrospect, it was part of, cause of and symptom of a lot of problems I was having in high school; serious depression, mood swings, and a curious mix of paranoia and apathy (I was quite convinced that everyone was variously abused, depressed and/or essentially waiting to die but also convinced they were the only one who thought that way so kept it to themselves the way I did, and the sheer overwhelming horror of it basically made me shut down for a few years). My grades were awful, I was a terrible friend and I basically numbed myself to the world by reading wikipedia constantly; It was essentially all I did for two years because it kept me from thinking about anything else.
Part of the motivation for learning this 10 minute sleep technique was that I was convinced it might be useful for when I inevitably got drafted, for example. I was fifteen, and quite convinced that that was something that could happen at any moment.
It took a transfer of schools to a much smaller place where I could talk to people more freely, therapy, and a serious shift in worldview before I was even close to functional.
I have a problem falling asleep as well and I am envious of those that can nap or sleep at will.
The last few years I have developed a trick that I use nearly every night now. I have quite a long list of podcasts that I listen to regularly. I will make sure that I have the right ones available to listen to on my ipod with an earbud headphone in one ear when I go to bed. By "right ones" I mean it can't be a podcast that is overly funny or one that I will be so interested in that I will be paying it so much attention that I don't drift off to sleep. I find NPR Fresh Air, TechStuff, and A Way With Words to be in this sweet spot. Just interesting enough that I care what they are talking about and don't focus on how long I've been lying in bed, but not so interesting that I lay awake listening to the entire episode. By having just one headphone in I can still lay on my side if I feel like it and it is more likely to pop out and remain out of my way the rest of the night. If I feel myself getting drowsy enough I stop the podcast and remove the headphone, but this probably only occurs less than 50% of the time.
I've found that I usually fall asleep within 15-25 minutes with this method. Without this approach some nights I will fall asleep in 10 minutes but more often it will take at least an hour. So, I like the greater consistency of this method. Plus, I get to consume some extra podcast content.
I am similar -- sometimes I will listen to recorded thunderstorm tracks, or certain audiobooks, and I fall asleep. Other times, I have to do a bunch of yoga and exercises before my body stops trying to be awake.
Comments
breakfast
Watch brother
Lunch
Watch Brother
Dinner
Go up to room and do my own thing until around 3-4am.
Shower
Eat meal 1 (breakfast)
Go to work
Do internetz
Work
Eat meal 2 (lunch)
Work
Eat meal 3 (second lunch)
Work
Eat meal 4 (pre-dinner)
Work
Go home
Workout (unless I'm feeling lazy, which is more often than not :P)
Eat meal 5 (dinner)
Do stuff with girlfriend
Sometimes eat meal 6 (late night snack)
Play games/watch stuff after girlfriend goes to bed
Sleep
Also, because of the way the subway system works, my commute would actually be shorter (and more awesome) if I got a bike and rode to work every day. The only problem is, I don't have a shower at work, and it's pretty hot out. Ideas?
Anyway, my schedule:
wake up
shower/shave/email
clothing time
go to work (pick up coffee and maybe a scone/muffin on the way)
work
lunch
work/after-lunch internetting
go home
dinner
videogames/non-work projects/internetting/geekchats/fnpl/boardgames (not often enough!)
reading
sleep
Turns out, they both eat breakfast now.
Even outside of chores, I still often feel like there just isn't enough time in a day to do enough things that I want to do.
On a very different note, a while back, I was talking to my brother's friend who happens to be a published science fiction author. He mentioned that he gets up at 5:00 am every day to put in 3 hours of writing before going to his day job. This really resonated with me. The guy is passionate enough about his writing that he puts it before everything else that happens in his day, rather than go into work, come back exhausted, and procrastinate his writing. I've been slowly inching myself closer to being a morning person since I heard that. At the moment, I typically get up around 6:45 am, significantly earlier than I used to, but still not early enough that I can do anything practical.
I'm curious though, some of you have really busy lives - how much time does everyone spend sleeping at night?
I wish I could just lay down and fall asleep immediately like Rym.
It's a little buggy now and then but not enough to impede its usefulness. If you're up late doing graphic work then it's a no-go as it'll mess up your palettes.
Wait.. you're not the Mac person I was thinking of, are you..?
There's equivalents for Windows. Just can't recall them off the top of my head. They don't just dim the screen at night, they warm and dim the screen colors gradually on a schedule.
Also, anything that changes screen fidelity is no good, because I am an artist, and if I am painting or something that will hinder that work.
I'm most productive when I'm trying to sleep. I get ideas in my head for all kinds of things and it must be written now or lost to the nightmares. Sometimes those ideas are terrible, but other times they are awesome.
Tragically I am no longer capable of this superpower.
I am at my best when I sleep for about 8.5 hours. Basically, my best schedule is like 9:30 or 10pm to 6:30 am. That is when I feel the best and am at my most full of energy.
Part of the motivation for learning this 10 minute sleep technique was that I was convinced it might be useful for when I inevitably got drafted, for example. I was fifteen, and quite convinced that that was something that could happen at any moment.
It took a transfer of schools to a much smaller place where I could talk to people more freely, therapy, and a serious shift in worldview before I was even close to functional.
The last few years I have developed a trick that I use nearly every night now. I have quite a long list of podcasts that I listen to regularly. I will make sure that I have the right ones available to listen to on my ipod with an earbud headphone in one ear when I go to bed. By "right ones" I mean it can't be a podcast that is overly funny or one that I will be so interested in that I will be paying it so much attention that I don't drift off to sleep. I find NPR Fresh Air, TechStuff, and A Way With Words to be in this sweet spot. Just interesting enough that I care what they are talking about and don't focus on how long I've been lying in bed, but not so interesting that I lay awake listening to the entire episode. By having just one headphone in I can still lay on my side if I feel like it and it is more likely to pop out and remain out of my way the rest of the night. If I feel myself getting drowsy enough I stop the podcast and remove the headphone, but this probably only occurs less than 50% of the time.
I've found that I usually fall asleep within 15-25 minutes with this method. Without this approach some nights I will fall asleep in 10 minutes but more often it will take at least an hour. So, I like the greater consistency of this method. Plus, I get to consume some extra podcast content.