Building a Routine • Week 6
Welcome to week 6 of me toiling through efforts to build a routine for myself and my family. Each week we’re making one modification to the structure of a routine. Sometimes it’s adding a new habit, sometimes it’s removing a bad habit, and sometimes it’s a time-based modification like sticking a loose habit into a more rigid time slot.
So far we’re working on exercise, reading, drinking less unhealthy coffee beverages, and having a family meal.
This last week I tried to pin my reading habit to a time and it was, I’m ashamed to say, an epic fail. I still read quite a bit this week but I realized that when I first wake up my brain is not ready for stimulating non-fiction (which is what I usually read). Maybe if I get into a routine of waking up at a certain time it would be easier, but almost all my reading happened in the evening as I wind down from the day. Lesson learned. I can ebb and flow with the best of them (translation: my life is devoid of structure at the moment).
Still, this last week progress was made in many areas. A lot of my work happens on my phone and sometimes part of that work involves using social media on behalf of clients. Could be researching a topic, could be scheduling posts to their social platforms, and definitely includes lots of emails, phone calls, and zoom/google meet/teams/slack/etc. But even with the considerable amount of work that happens on my phone, I’ve not been jazzed with the volume of leisurely phone use.
Enter Opal. One app to rule them all, literally. Or block them all, rather. Opal is like many other productivity/blocker apps, except this one has varying degrees of blockage. Normal allows you take a break whenever you want. Timeout requires you to wait for a timer to countdown in order to take a break (and the timer stops counting down if you swap to another app – don’t ask me how I know that). Deep Focus blocks your apps and there’s no undo button. So if you wanted to brick your phone temporarily, now you can! I use Opal for two work sessions every day: 9-12 and 1-5. It’s been great for productivity during the day and I think the next step will be to add some blocking sessions after work so my time with family is as distraction-free as it should be.
Another area of my work and home life that I’m desperately trying to change is my ability to delegate. My default capability in delegation is somewhere between bad and terribly, horribly, no good. Yet in both my work and personal life there are so many areas where delegation should be a no-brainer. It could be anything from tagging in someone on my team, contracting a specialist that complements my skillset (I often work with animators or example), and at home it means hiring someone to do some of the home renovation tasks that I lack the knowledge or time or energy to tackle. This past week I was a little more purposeful in delegating a few tasks, whereas normally I might wait until I absolutely have no choice. It’s a priority for the rest of the year, and something I have accountability on with someone from my team.
This week I’m going to add some simple stretching to my routine. My flexibility is comically bad. I’m 6’ 1” when not slouching but I’m pretty sure I have the hamstrings of a 5 foot tall man. Just sitting with my back at a right angle from my legs is very difficult for me. I can’t imagine what this will be like in 20 years if I don’t do something to fix it. Well I can imagine it, and I look like a cross between a t-rex and centenarian (I learned that big word in Outlive, don’t be too impressed).