Discussion Forum > System for very little personal time
I would aim to do more tasks on free Fridays. Realistically you have time for one significant other thing in the evenings, so I would simply plan that one thing, and let it be.
October 31, 2023 at 20:11 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
My situation is similar, especially when I am not feeling well.
RTM handles it pretty well. It helps me make progress with the Unfinished stuff, which is where the projects and initiatives and "important" stuff tends to hang out. It's kind of like the Current Initiative idea from DIT -- first thing, every day. It feels very satisfying to make progress on that stuff.
My current reading (books) also land on the Unfinished list, so if I don't have the energy or focus to do anything on the current initiatives, I can at least read a bit.
If I don't have the energy and focus to do even that, I can usually do a couple of the recurring/routine tasks, like helping the family catch up on the laundry or the dishes, or maybe change the batteries in the smoke alarms, stuff like that. Or maybe do a small urgent New task.
Then on the weekends when more time is available, I can make more progress on the Unfinished stuff, maybe start a new initiative from the New list, and get caught up on all the recurring routines.
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2795362
#RTM
RTM handles it pretty well. It helps me make progress with the Unfinished stuff, which is where the projects and initiatives and "important" stuff tends to hang out. It's kind of like the Current Initiative idea from DIT -- first thing, every day. It feels very satisfying to make progress on that stuff.
My current reading (books) also land on the Unfinished list, so if I don't have the energy or focus to do anything on the current initiatives, I can at least read a bit.
If I don't have the energy and focus to do even that, I can usually do a couple of the recurring/routine tasks, like helping the family catch up on the laundry or the dishes, or maybe change the batteries in the smoke alarms, stuff like that. Or maybe do a small urgent New task.
Then on the weekends when more time is available, I can make more progress on the Unfinished stuff, maybe start a new initiative from the New list, and get caught up on all the recurring routines.
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2795362
#RTM
October 31, 2023 at 21:47 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
I would suggest that, given you're living a pretty scheduled and regimented life Mon-Thu, that you use the spare hour to rest, recharge, and recuperate. You're taking care of lots of responsibilities, people, household, work, etc. Sometimes what needs to be done is to rest but we never put that on our lists.
The image I come away with is that you're trying to squeeze that last dab of toothpaste out of a near-empty tube. You're not a tube of toothpaste! Be good to yourself!
The image I come away with is that you're trying to squeeze that last dab of toothpaste out of a near-empty tube. You're not a tube of toothpaste! Be good to yourself!
November 1, 2023 at 14:51 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
It works okay during work hours when I use it, but at home is where I struggle. I work 9 hour days so I can have ever other Friday off. That means no free-time in the morning, get home by 6, dinner and play with the kids until 7, bedtime routine with the kids that lasts basically until 8, then at 9 is when I need to start getting ready for bed if I'm going to get enough sleep. (My evening routine takes roughly an hour which includes a bowl of cereal, make breakfast smoothie for the next day, pack lunch, brush teeth, pack backpack for work, etc.). In bed hopefully by 10 on a good day.
So I'm left with at best an hour for personal time. About 15 of this is reading from the good book, and 15 picking up around the house minimum. I'm basically left with 30 minutes of free time to work on the other things. When I use simple scanning I make piddly progress on things. I'm considering moving to just using no-list and believe that I'll miss fewer important things when I simply rely on my mind to remind me versus a really long list.
Any solutions you've come up with for such a problem?
I suppose there are things I could do to open up more time like move to 8 hour days (hard change for me and wife), crazy-optimize my evening routine to eliminate all waste, eat better and exercise better to reduce the needed hours from 8 hours to 7.5. This is just a discouraging thing for me when I have things I want to get done but have realistically 30 minutes of spare time.