As it became clear to me what I needed to do to make my Tiny House dream a reality, I realised I was going to have to spend a lot of time in front of the computer. The road ahead of me for the next few months was going to involve CAD drawings, online research, measurements and layouts, budgets, blog writing, connecting with people online etc. I did spend some time planning out the order of things I had to do and as soon as I did that I wanted to get started. Like, immediately. The problem was that I spend 9 hours a day in front of a computer for work, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend more time in front of a computer. How can I fit it all in?
My friend Suzy told me how she likes to fit in her personal projects (which also involve working on a computer). She said that she likes to get up early and do her personal work BEFORE she even gets ready for her day at work. I gave this a go, and now I think Suzy is a genius.
There are several advantages to doing your personal work as soon as you wake up (you do have to wake up earlier though).
It’s a better incentive to get out of bed and stop reading Facebook (kudos to you if you don’t do that)
Your mind is fresh and not tired from being in front of the computer for 9 hours
It’s time-boxed so there is no temptation to keep going (lest you be late for work)
You feel a sense of accomplishment before you have even got to work
I can leave my evenings free for mindless activities and not feel guilty about it
When I
get passionate about a project I tend to want to work on it till I can’t keep my eyes open. This has the unfortunate effect of burning me out before I get to finish the project. Using time in the morning before work ensures that I only spend 1.5 hours a day on my project. The other temptation I have is to spend ALL weekend working on it. Last weekend I spent 18 hours on it and felt totally drained before my work week even started. This weekend I promised I wouldn’t do that again and made sure I got out.
So my challenge is to balance my passion for this project and eagerness to see progress with caring for my brain and my body. I need to see “play” as fuel for my project 🙂