In an earlier post I mentioned the idea of creating a sort of block schedule to organize my days and increase worthwhile use of my time. Since I’m determinedly retired, I don’t want to use “productivity”, since that word reeks of corporate management.
There are a few discouraging things I realize about myself that relate to this attempt:
- I am terrible about creating an exercise routine at home. I loved my exercise class and was as consistent as I could be at attending, but I have ALWAYS been bad about doing it at home.
- I tend to be loosey-goosey about timeframes when I’m in charge of my day. I don’t want to say I’m lazy. I’m not lazy. Well, sometimes I’m lazy.
- I can tend to procrastinate the things I’m not so crazy about doing and rationalize by doing something else instead. Oops! Ran out of time for that.
- Due to all of the above, I’m afraid to do a block schedule, even though my better self wants to.
What to do, what to do. I guess I’ll just blather on about something else (see #3 above) until I make up my mind.
On the national scene, California, home of my daughter Rebecca, has issued a shelter in place order and shut down most non-vital businesses and services. Much of the rest of the country will probably soon follow suit. While this certainly makes sense in terms of containing the Covid-19 virus, the social and economic effects in the short and longterm are almost incomprehensible. The government is taking sweeping measures to help individuals and businesses and to stabilize the economy, but at what cost to our already monumental national debt? History will tell the story. Rebecca already works from home, so will probably be ok, at least for now.
Daughter Rachel and her family are all being treated for strep throat. Not great, but glad it’s nothing worse. I woke up last night worrying about the family’s restless teenagers, who are, of course, immortal and don’t want to be confined to home. The consequences of them exposing themselves to this essentially social disease might be minimal for them but deadly for the younger and older members of their family.
Yesterday I cleaned out the files in my drawer containing the most current and active stuff. Felt pretty good, but is just the tip of that iceberg. Also, I got the material sister Anne mailed to me for her sewing projects. I like sewing projects. Today I need to update all the online accounts that use my expiring credit card. Fun times.
| Timeframe | Activity Set |
| 8 AM – 10 AM | Get up Morning routine – teeth, meds, etc, coffee MWF – Exercise video, other days-recumbent bike |
| 10 AM – Noon | Household chores, blogging, reading |
| 1 PM – 2 PM | Take a walk, work outside, hike |
| 2 PM-5:30 PM | Work on projects, read, write to friends/family |
| 5:30 PM-7:00 PM | Cocktail hour, begin dinner prep |
| 7:00 – 10 PM | Dinner, TV, reading, unstructured time |
| 10 PM | Go to bed |
There. I did it. I hereby remind myself that there will be no recriminations for straying from the schedule and that it will be amended as necessary. I consider this a social experiment. Furthermore, I exempt myself today, since I’m already off from the plan.
sillisoup 