A common problem I have been telling myself lately is that it's hard to find time to do meaningful work. I have a full time job (that takes more time than 40 hours a week), a wife, no kids, and 2 cats.
One would look at my schedule and say that I have plenty of time. I wouldn't argue. If you look at the free time I have in a week, and where I spend my time, I can't use the excuse of not having enough time.
I am re-phrasing my problem. I don't have enough quality time to do meaningful work. I wake up between 5:30 or 6:00 AM every morning. I don't use an alarm clock and wake up naturally. The first 15 minutes I drink some water, make coffee. 20- 30 minutes is spent on some kind of physical activity. Then shower, breakfast. Let's say all of that is 1 hour conservatively. That gives me about an hour before work, also known as blurk (a phrase therealbrandonwilson coined as it somehow appropriately captures the essence of a 9-5).
The morning is the time I feel the most sharp, the most awake, alive and enlightened. This hour is sacred and the time I have for meaningful work.
What about the time after 5:00?
After 5:00, assuming I log off blurk by 5:00, it's time to spend quality time with my wife, go for a walk, make dinner and eat. Let's say that takes me to 6:30 - 7:00 PM. Some would say this is a great time to do meaningful work. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case for me. My best work is definitely not done between 7-9 PM. I'm tried, my brain has been firing actively all day from blurk problems, and it's definitely not quality time.
Here's the thing...I don't want to use that as an excuse. I understand that if I ever want to escape the 9-5, I'm going to have to find a way. I'm going to have to create new habits and start telling myself that I do my best work between 7 - 9 PM until I believe it. Of course weekends are an option to "find quality time" as well.
Let me know if you have any other suggestions for finding quality time to do meaningful work, or how you split up your day to do work that matters to you.
I'm still trying to find quality time to do piss-poor work, so I haven't gotten around to finding quality time for meaningful work. 🤣 I think the key is to change the story you have about yourself as you suggested. Maybe you won't do your best work between 7-9 PM, but your brain doesn't have to be mush. You can use some hacks like listening to Brain.fm or black guys yelling at you to get pumped up for an hour or two of deep work.
I really like what Brandon commented. I think that putting quality work on a pedestal makes it demoralizing to start by doing low-quality work no matter the time.
williamliao just sent me The Practice today. I read the intro and immediately wanted to come here and share with you the_spark as I think it resonates with this post.
"Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions."
Learn to juggle. Draw an owl. Make things better. Without regard for whether it's going to work this time. The practice will take you where you seek to go better than any other path you can follow.
abrahamKim Awesome that williamliao sent you The Practice. That excerpt that you wrote is perfect. I do have to detach from perfection and just put in the work. therealbrandonwilson the hacks you mentioned are spot on...I might also shift my workout schedule to after work to see if that 1) gives me more time in the morning and 2) gives me a boost of energy after work.
therealbrandonwilson
"Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions."
Learn to juggle. Draw an owl. Make things better. Without regard for whether it's going to work this time. The practice will take you where you seek to go better than any other path you can follow.