Setting Up Structure Back Into My Life

Scheduled time blocks are something I've been trying to implement in my daily routine for a long time now. My track record for consistency has been on and off. Perhaps due to unrealistic expectations, too much too soon. And sometimes the desire to stay consistent isn't there and eventually dissipates. However, after watching Lex Fridman's 'A day in my life' video, I am inspired to give it another shot. I'm going to be doing this by implementing some of the tips/advice he shares. As someone who tends to overthink, my mind is often scrambled. And so to avoid falling into "analysis paralysis", I realized I need to cut out as much thinking as possible. So, what makes me think that this time will work out? — I don't know, but I'm going to keep experimenting with what works and what doesn't. This is my 3rd day waking up at ~4am for the 1st 4-hour deep focus time block [4am-8am].

During this session, I aim to accomplish the most important tasks in peace and quiet. To start, I'm being easy and relaxed and not beating myself up if I'm unable to make this time block as productive. My only goal is to just show up. During the start of this session, I'll review my day based on the notes I wrote the night before. I'll also review my daily/weekly goals again. I think it's important to keep goals fresh in your mind. So much goes on during normal life that I think it's easy to forget why you do what you do. Also, I'll catch up on the markets to see how it's doing. I'll look at trends, current sentiments and predictions too. Discord is a great place for this. I can chat to more intelligent individuals and hear what others have to say. These are the guys who have way more skin in the game than I do so what I learn here is extremely valuable. It's my second year in crypto and investing in general so I'm doing my best to stick around during the bear market. After catching up on the markets, I'll move on. I'll focus on business building, growing my brand, and learning new skills like coding.

Today, I leave for work at 8am so I won't get to enjoy the 2 hour window of cool down time from 8am-10am. But that's okay, making money is crucial to someone who doesn't have a regular 9-5, the bills still need to be paid. I'm a contractor. And in my current situation, I don't often have a full working schedule with the companies I work for. So, I intend to milk the work as much as I can to preserve the freedom as an entrepreneur. I'm lucky though, my partner truly holds it down and keeps our stomachs full. The ultimate goal would be for us to both become financially free, just a few more years, I hope.

If I were able to take advantage of the 8am-10am window, I would be using this time to hit the gym first. Usually I'll aim to break my fast past 2pm, though past 11am is okay too. I also like to enjoy it over a good read or video before I pound out the next time block.

On certain days, I work a food delivery service during the 2nd deep focus time block [10pm-2pm]. As I mentioned, the bills still need to get paid. This is mindless work. Which allows me to tune into audiobooks and podcasts. Which means, I can continue learning from minds of the greats and others who have gone before me.

Whenever I'm not working as a contractor, I'll be using this time block to focus on business building. Which means growing my brand, and learning new skills like coding. Exactly like the first session, just back at it for more.

My next break is from 2pm-6pm. I haven't been able to fully experience yet as lately, my contracting work has been bringing me home past 6pm. leading me right to my 3rd and final deep focus time block [6pm-10pm]. One thing that resonated while listening to Lex was that he allowed a little bit of chaos during this time as well. And honestly, I've been allowing mostly chaos over the past couple days. Meaning no work accomplished whatsoever. All good, like I said, my goal is to simply show up. During this time block, I'll have dinner, spend time with my partner, and weasel in some light gaming. Simply relaxing. For me, this time block was meant to allow for life to happen. Whether that means being productive or enjoying my time however I'd like and not beating myself up for it. I've also decided that this time block would be used to review what tomorrow looks like.

I used to sleep late past 2am. But lately, I've been getting tired earlier and so sleeping at a new, earlier scheduled time at 10pm. Sleeping around this time has been pretty good. Jordan Peterson mentions that it doesn't matter too much about what time you go to bed. All that matters is that you're able to get up at consistent time every day. Knowing what my body needs to operate, 4 hours would be the absolute least amount of sleep I need to operate okay. 6 hours would be optimal. 8 hours would be good but that's the max. Any extra hours would leave me feeling groggy or unhappy feeling like I "wasted" the day sleeping. As an entrepreneur, I am very thoughtful and careful (used to be careless) of my time as every hour counts.