Last week I was in desperate need for something to improve my productivity. I am madly busy right now and somehow it seems that the more I get done the more I remember I need to do. And all of the sudden it’s late afternoon, dark outside, I have not had lunch and am still sitting around in my running gear without actually having been running. It must have been a lucky coincidence that I got an email from my good friend Steph right then on starting a morning routine to help with well, being more productive!
So I made a little plan. I love plans. And following them. I get up an hour earlier every morning, stumble out of bed and into my running shoes immediately before my brain has time to wake up and go out. When I get back I shower and have breakfast before I even touch my computer. That way I won’t get sucked into the Bermuda Triangle of Time (BTT) that is answering emails, reading blogs or doing online banking. And I have to say it works. By the time I hit my desk I have already had a nice morning and enjoyed a few things that make the day look brighter no matter how rushed it will get.
This morning it was frozen and foggy out and I decided that every good plan needs a plan B. My plan B today involved doing absolutely nothing. So I stayed in, cooked some soup and spent lots of time doing all those things that waste time. And I enjoyed it. Now I’ll need to go shower and set my alarm for 7 tomorrow morning. Otherwise it won’t be a plan B anymore, will it?
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Plan B has to be the winner! Although I like the idea of almost tricking your brain into going for a run. I have to do things like that to get me to the gym. At the moment ticks include: going when there is something good in the TV so I can watch while exercising(!) or going on the way home from somewhere so as not to get distracted by the sofa and a cup of tea, if I go home first – even just to collect my kit then thats it the sofa calls me and there is nothing I can do about it!
Caroline – that’s exactly it. If I plan on going for a run after work it will never happen. I have to go home first to get changed and chances that I’ll go back out into the cold (and dark!) are usually pretty slim to none.
It’s different in the summer, I like to go back out in the evenings then.
i love this post. it inspired me to just stop procrastinating already and up my productivity. but did i go for a swim before working as i’d planned? of course not, as i forgot to set my alarm for earlier.
i’ve realised that i’m going to need to set my alarm earlier and go for a swim before work, because i always get distracted by beer after work.
Swimming before work? That’s hardcore, ladies. To be honest I may not make it up and out every single day but the days where I DO make it are so much better.
Also: Mmmmmh, beer after work…
between you and claire i think i have a new plan. not swimming or running, though, that’s too hardcore. i definitely need to get up earlier (which is getting easier as it’s not quite so cold and dark in the mornings anymore) and do all that i need to do before touching the computer. that’s my new plan. with a plan b of course :)
Astrid on Flickr once had a set called Before 8am…or something like that. I always thought I needed a Before 7am set to build in some kind of accountability to getting up early, but it’s still dark out then and what on earth would I take a photo of? It’d turn into 365 of my cat staring at me with a look that says, “Go back to bed, lady.”