with this schedule that i’ve set for myself, there is literally no wiggle room, no down time. and despite my natural tendency to be chill, i am ok with this. nothing that is on my schedule is something i don’t want to do, and all of it is fulfilling and puts me closer to my goals. all the same, i worry that i will push myself to the edge and then have a crash. so to avoid that, i need to make sure that i program in down time in the form of short, self-centering close your eyes, breath and stretch breaks.
i feel that one of my weaknesses is that i’m not really so great at switching from one task to another and just pushing forward full-steam with that new task. i need time to ramp up and get into the groove. when i try to rush the acclimatization process, it never goes well. so i need to keep that in mind as i work through the balancing act of maintaining my daily tasks and pursuing my creative endeavors.
the other major challenge that i face is that i have a pretty intense job. i never talk about it here, or really at all outside of work, because honestly i just don’t think anyone would care. but i work minimum 60 hours per week. sometimes more, depending on what is happening on any given day. i actually get pushback for not working enough when i don’t put in time on things over the weekends and late at night, which i personally think is ridiculous and a sickness of our modern always-on connected world. eventually, i plan to transition out of the role i’m in, and find something that is more attuned with my own philosophies on work-life balance, but until then, i have a responsibility to do my best at my job, as well as to do my best to seek the fulfillment that it doesn’t give me when i’m not working for the paycheck.
i’ll probably write more about this job once it’s in my rear view mirror, but that will be quite some time according to my current plan. so in the meantime, i need to make sure that i’m giving 100% of myself to my work, to my wife, and to my creative pursuits. that doesn’t leave any room for error. and that is why self-centering is so important. taking a minute to orient myself between each task will save me hours of frustration in the long run.