Tags
critical brain, ideal work day, internet guru, My Ideal Routine, pie charts, power blocks, productivity, workout trends, Writing Routine, writing trends
Spoiler: It didn’t work for me.
Watch me test my ideal plan and discuss this with much more detail in my video.
Okay, that’s a bit of an absolute. But I was duped by the internet guru trends of writing and working out early in the morning. Nope. It didn’t work.
Now, disclaimer, I do enjoy doing both of those activities in the morning, but not for my ideal work day.
The idea of having specifically designated power blocks throughout my day that I could dedicate to one specific type of task worked brilliantly.
So, this was my original plan in pie-chart form:
My day is clearly defined: family time, workout time, writing time, editing time, admin/copy/content time, and a big chunk for dinner and other food stuff.
For the most part, this worked, but I figured out a bit about the way my brain and body work best, especially since this ideal day is one where I stay home, which is four out of seven of them.
I kept most of the chunks the same, then rearranged them like so:
I’ve broken the bits up a little more, separating content and admin work. I also swapped around my blocks.
First, reading in the morning while we wait for the boy to go to school has meant that I’ve finished nearly four books in January. I think that may be more books than I read last year…for fun. I read a lot in general, but that’s a different conversation for a different time.
Second, I pushed my workouts back. For a good reason. It’s too easy in the morning to say that I’m too tired. I had a personal trainer that said she always worked out in the mornings to get it done and life wouldn’t get in the way. Well, she may have been right because I do miss workouts in the afternoon because I’m in the middle things.
But knowing that I will have a break between the heavy lifting stuff of my first two power blocks pushes me to finish what I’m working on. It also recharges me for the second half of my day. I also like this because my shower is done, and I’m not going to bed with my hair wet.
Third, I made my first power block the most taxing for my critical brain. Between eight and noon is the prime time for my analytical work. That’s why I teach during those times. But, when I’m at home, it makes the most sense to grade and edit during that time.
That makes power block two the time for content creation—yay, marketing! Actually, I really like this block. It’s still using my critical brain, but I’ve begun to make the swap towards creative, too. I really like mixing the two, and it drains the rest of my problem-solving juices. Time for a workout to refill them.
I made the admin stuff in my third block before the boy gets home and I have to run off to make dinner because it’s the easiest to get up from. Just being honest. Emails and scheduling content and setting up advertising all fit in here.
Finally, I swapped my writing chunk for after dinner. People don’t need me and are less likely to interrupt me, so it’s my time to bang out a couple-hundred words in an hour and a half. And I usually accomplish this. The best part of this is that all of my work for the day is done, so I’m free to be 100% creative. I’m not worrying about all of the other things I have to do because I didn’t procrastinate. Hopefully.
That leaves me a couple of hours to get out of my office, sit and read or watch a movie or draw or whatever it is that fits in with family time.
So, there it is. My ideal plan didn’t work. But trying to implement it did give me a new ideal that does actually work.
What does your ideal day look like? What gets in the way of your productivity? Let me know in the comments below!
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