Like many people these days, I’ve been sleeping poorly, and having all kinds of weird dreams. Part of that, I know from experience, is simply a lack of movement throughout the day. While I’m still exercising, my overall, non-exercise movement has dropped steeply. (For example, my daily step count is down about two-thirds, from a pre-lockdown average of ~15,000 a day, to just ~5,000 now). And, obviously, a lot comes from the huge underlying stress inherent in living through this pandemic. But, beyond those two factors, I also suspect it’s due to lack of a fixed schedule. Of late, my wake-up and bedtimes have drifted all over the place.

Similarly, my productivity has been pretty erratic. Some days, I bang out a huge amount of work, while others I manage to make it to evening having accomplished essentially nothing at all. And here, too, I think the lack of fixed schedule is screwing me up. To state the obvious, if I sit down and start working, I’m much more likely to get things done than if I wander around and scroll through Twitter and space out.

So, starting tomorrow, I’m instituting time-blocking, at least for weekdays. The chunks are still pretty big and open – wake up at 7am, then exercise, shower, and caffeinate.  Kick off a ‘deep work’ block at 9am, focused on my big project for the day. Lunch break at noon, back to smaller tasks at 1pm, then calling it a day at 4pm, and working on personal projects and habits (like practicing trumpet or writing this blog), before cooking dinner at 6pm, and relaxing with Jess for the evening until we hit the hay at 11pm.

Historically, I’m pretty terrible at sticking with this kind of schedule. But, at the moment, I have waaaaay less calendared in the weeks ahead than I would in non-lockdown life, and many fewer external disruptions to derail me throughout the day. And, honestly, even if I don’t really end up sticking with the schedule precisely, I suspect even just pushing in that direction would help a whole lot. But, I guess, time will tell.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯