Today was the first day back in the office after the Christmas break here in the UK and that meant the start of prioritising and finding the right balance for me between work and life outside of work.
Last year was hectic for a number of reasons. Project flat took up the majority of my spare time during the first half of 2011. In the latter half I did a couple of talks as well as testing out working part time at the BBC and part time with other projects. It ended up being near full-week-work time and it was neither sustainable, nor satisfying.
The part time thing was meant to give me time with my own projects. Instead I found myself having less time than ever to work on my ideas. It was frustrating. But, more importantly, I hardly had any time for my friends or family, including D. They were all supportive, patient and understanding but I don’t want to have another year like 2011. So, for the foreseeable future I won’t be taking on any work other than that with the BBC and this. Those are the things I’ll be focusing on now and to make sure I get time for this, my ideas, I’m trying out a more structured approach to both work and time off.
Being selective
The first aspect to this is about being selective when it comes to where I spend my time online. There is a lot of talk of constantly being on and about information overload at the moment and today I was recommended this book The Information Diet:
It talks about conscious consumption of information and how we should be more aware and selective in what information we consume and spend time on. Not only to make us more productive and efficient, but also more healthy.
There are a number of new areas and aspects that I need to research and to make the number of hours available in the day meet, I need to cut out a few things so I can fit in the new. It’s exciting and it will probably do me some good to be more selective as well.
Strictly on or off
The second aspect has to do with being more productive, focused and efficient when I’m working and to be properly off when I’m not working or taking a break. I didn’t succeed very well with this last year and was constantly half working, checking twitter, reading blogs and articles and I felt the effects.
Having a schedule
Finally, and related to on and off, I’ve allocated certain times where I’ll work on my ideas and times when I’ll be off. I’m trying to get as much of the initial phases done over the next couple of months so as a first try I’ve allocated:
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It’s most likely going to be more at times but there is a lot of truth in this quote and metaphor I stumbled across this morning and I’ve certainly learnt that from last year.
Hard work isn’t always productive. Your brain needs periods of inactivity. I think of it as a field lying fallow; keep harvesting and the crops won’t mature.
– Polly Morgan, artist, in the article Top artists reveal how to find creative inspiration
Tomorrow – Day 004 | Planting seeds
Ps. The image is from this Swedish cartoon Bamse and pictures Skalman (Shell-man) and his infamous food-and-sleep clock that he follows slavishly
