We are now into month 8 of The Plague and I am still struggling to find a rhythm that works to meet the changed environment.
It is an odd thing how much we become creatures of habit: for one or two months after we received the initial work from home order, I still found myself rising at the usual time and scuttling around to get everything done by 0700...for what? To fight a commute that was not happening so I could get work early and work on tasks that were transferring out from under me anyway?
I slowly backed off of that practice - slept in a little later, started work a little later - but that still did not really address the issue.
I am, I have discovered over the years, a creature that does best with a schedule that really does not vary much. A schedule with things that I do on a regular basis gives me a framework to hang activities on in such a way that I do not get down on myself when I do not do them.
So, for example, my morning schedule looks something like this: up at the same time every morning, pray, calisthenics, read my Bible passage for the day, journal, study Old English, blog (as I am doing now), catch up on the overnight/morning regular online reads, eat breakfast, shower, and then get on with my day.
But even this is not quite inclusive of what I feel that I should be doing - after all, there is still some level of walking that needs to be done and ideally some kind of martial arts practice. Alas, my perfecting of the routine is not yet complete.
Yet even in the back of my mind as I try to find time for everything (and everything in its time), I am dogged by the thought that all of this is in some way "temporary", that sooner or later the clock will turn and we will find ourselves back into the "grind" of office living circa 2019.
But will I?
The reality is, even though we may at some point return to the office (which, to be honest, seems more and more unlikely to me now until mid-2021 at best, or maybe never) the fact is that some of the facts that I am addressing are not changing: my job role is not coming back. The only person driving me to be at work so much earlier and work so much longer is, in fact, me. Yes, having a commute will add on some time - but not an hour or an hour and a half.
The reality is that while some of the rhythm I had acquired over 20 years of work was driven by circumstances, a great deal of it was driven by myself, by expectations that really no-one put on me but myself.
I am not there 100%. And I am sure there will yet be changes. But I am fairly certain the days of showing up 1.5 hours before actual office hours are largely gone.
Hmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need a routine and a schedule...
Glen, I tend to find that I do better with them than without them. If I am guilty of anything, it is that I tend to over complicate them.
DeleteFor me, this makes things like semi-weekly activities very difficult - because I have to modify my schedule every other week. I am best with one, single, unified schedule.
It was a little over eight years ago when I made the decision to pull the plug on a nine to five type career. But even back then, I have for the most part, always lived in rural America with an average commute time of maybe five minutes at the longest. I still often showed up an hour or so early to work because that is when I got my best work done with no meetings or people wanting to chat about their dog's bowel movements. They often would stay late but I was out the door promptly with the bell and was home as a lot of people were still gathering their things. I still like to get up early before the family and do my reading and writing for the day but these days, I'm in no hurry to get home as I generally am there most of the day. I have learned to gradually wind down my day instead of stopping at the bell. The advantage is that I don't spend much time in the evening thinking about things at "work".
ReplyDeleteEd, I also found (past tense since I started working at home) that my best work was in the morning before the people started stopping by. But I found that everyone started coming in earlier, so that time was effectively lost to me. And then emergencies kept coming up and meetings so I needed to stay late to catch up...you can see where this is going.
DeleteOld habits die hard. Even as I write this at 0714, I am fighting the urge to scoot over to the work computer and start up on things.
I have typically always risen before my family, partially because it does allow me to get those things done which require thought and solitude. Now, it seems, it has become a habit.
I worked from home for two months and found the experience refreshing. Like you, I attempted to work 8 hours a day at same time schedule, but tasks always intruded. So I began working throughout the day. That became burdensome, so I began working during weekends too, but lessening the hours to six hours a day. That seemed to work well - early summer is hot and going outside during heat of the day was avoided.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I have tacked back and forth on how to do this. I have a number of recurring meetings so stretching the days to the weekends just seems to mean that I ended up working more. I am trying now to find a way to split up the work a bit more, as you suggest. I have not been entirely successful.
DeleteAvoiding the heat of day should always be done. Great job!
Thanks for stopping by!
After the noggin knock, my schedule has been all over the place depending on the night's sleep. A restless night, like last night and my head is full of cold molasses. I may have been a bit overstimulated yesterday, too.
ReplyDeleteBut I have my normal chores and they are a comfort, especially when I'm running on empty.
I imagine that would be pretty difficult STxAR. I know for me, even without a head injury, my sleep has been not at all what it used to be.
DeleteBut there is a certain comfort in doing activities that need to be done, that keep the hands busy and the mind in an alert but not focused state.
In all of the nonsense that Carlos Castaneda wrote there were a few nuggets worth remembering. Don Juan said: "We are creatures of habit. The only possibility for wisdom lies in choosing our habits."
ReplyDeleteI've been retired from the rat race for three years now, and have yet to establish the habit patterns that I would like to. But I do like my routine, and for those things which intrude upon the routine, whether it be a doctors appointment or a camping trip, I very much like days in advance to wrap my head around what lies before me.
Greg - I do not know that I can speak for everyone, but I am certainly a creature of habit.
DeleteRoutine is a interesting word. For me it is slightly different than habits - more of a standard way of operating on a daily or weekly basis. But I am the sort of person that does not like my routine compromised. In that sense, I am not very good at last minute changes.
Thanks for stopping by!
2020 really knocked everybody for a loop. They kept telling us "new normal," but was it what we really expected?
ReplyDeleteI find that a regular routine is absolutely essential for livestock. It doesn't seem to matter what it is, just do the same things, in the same order, at the same time every day and they're happy. Change anything, and it's chaos! I do think humans tend toward that as well.
For rhythm, I now look to the seasons. I guess that's what trying to produce one's now food does--makes for a beautiful life rhythm.
You've described autism, too. There was a lady that designs slaughter houses. She was autistic and said she thought like animals. That's why she was so successful.
DeleteI'm probably on that spectrum. Schedules have always helped me perform at my best.
Star - Are you thinking of Temple Grandin? They have a lovely exhibit of her work and philosophy in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
DeleteAnd yes, there is more than a hint that I am somewhere on the autism scale as well. Not sure where - maybe it does not matter now.
Leigh - The longer I stay here in "The New Normal", the less and less I think it is going to end soon. My new prediction is at least through June of next year, and maybe for the rest of 2021. And even if we reach a point where we are ready to "go back", I am not sure how comfortable I will be in doing so - or want too.
DeleteGene Logsdon has a lovely description of animals as you describe them in The Contrary Farmer. With the rabbits, it is the same. They know when they should be eating, what the order of food should be, and when the snacks should be coming.
Masanobu Fukuoka was a great proponent of eating seasonally. I wonder if that is much more difficult now with modern life in that we do not think seasonally - because we do not have to. With climate control and all foods available at all times, a person can live almost completely oblivious to the seasons except as an annoyance, not as a life event.
I have several of Temple Grandin's books, and there is an excellent movie about her starring Claire Daines.
DeleteI was "diagnosed" (in absentia) by my wife's counselor as being Aspergers Syndrome, what is known as high functioning autism. I was initially somewhat amused at the presumption of said psychologist, but with a great deal of reflection and research on the subject, it does help explain much of my life experience.
Greg - I had forgotten about the movie. Thanks for reminding me.
DeleteI have not the benefit of such an analysis - do not know how much I would gain from it at this point - but I suspect that I fall somewhere there as well. I find self diagnosing to be rather fraught with my own opinion.
I am at home now. I think this might wind up being retirement. Not sure. But I find that getting every morning and giving myself an hour to putter while I drink my morning cup of coffee gives me a chance to wake up. After that hour I am ready to get it into high gear.
ReplyDeleteDebby - Oddly enough, I find myself in a gray zone as well. In the event this job ends, I am not sure what I would do next. I am in that odd place of being a little too old to start over somewhere but a little too young - I think - to retire.
DeleteI find I have to give myself a solid two hours in the morning to be ready for work - the schedule I describe above is the better part of that time.
And here is why we do our best work in the AM:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/-iqiRCQWRmA
STxAR
Fascinating STxAR. Thanks.
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