My Schedule

I have been experimenting with a new daily routine/schedule and it is working pretty well. Because I have started my own company, I want to make sure that I do actual real work, and am not getting distracted too easily. I listened to this podcast  by Andrew Huberman, at the behest of my brother Jacob, about ADHD. While I have not been tested, my wife and I suspect that I have ADHD. One of the things he talked about was that a big part of ADHD is a lack a dopamine, and the symptoms of ADHD is caused by the person trying to get dopamine. He recommended having a schedule to help regulate the ADHD.

Because what I am doing takes concentration, I want to gear as much of my day around deep work as possible.

So, Monday through Friday, I wake up at 5am. I start with a bathroom break and then I go get water. From 5:10 am to 5:30 am I write, whatever I want. I want to write more and this is a great way for me to mentally kick off the day. 5:30am - 5:40 am is the first time I will look at my phone, and it is when think about my day and make any plans needed. 5:40 am to 6:00 am I stretch, say a prayer, and I meditate. I am experimenting with meditation to try to be more aware of my present.

Then, because I have the goal of writing a book, I write the book from 6:00 am to 7:00 am. This is mostly writing, but every now and then I might spend a couple minutes here and there doing some research. I write every day of the week for an hour, no days off. 

From 7:00 am to 10:00 am, I code. No emails, no taking care of normal business, and I try to avoid meetings. For me, coding is super important, so I make sure I get a solid 3 hours of deep work in. I also have read, and I believe it for myself, that the first few hours in the morning is where you are the most creative, so I try to use that time accordingly.

10:00 am to 1:00 pm is free time. I need to work out during that block, but the remaining that is the time to do chores, run errands, go hike the dog with my wife, whatever. 

1:00 pm to 5:00 pm I can check emails, and take care of whatever I need to get done, however, as long as I can wrap up as much of the busywork as possible, then I get back to coding. Ideally my worst case scenario is that I can fit in two more hours of coding. 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm is family time. I try to be as present as possible with my kids. Sometimes that means going to football practice, sometimes it is playing games with the kids. Every night we read to the kids. 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm is getting ready for bed, maybe read a little, but it is usually my time to hang out with my wife. 9:00pm is bedtime.

One thing to stress is that flexibility is important for me too. As things come up, my schedule needs to be flexible. Last week, for example, was my sons halloween parade durring my morning. I attended that, and tried to make up the work on the back end. I am flexible, but conceous of where I am spending my time.