Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

(Photo credit: Darrell Hyatt)

Feeling drained, tired, unmotivated for months – no amount of dark chocolate or extra large mochas helped for long – led me to implement the 4-hour work day at the beginning of 2012 in hope of renewing my health and regaining balance.

After attempting this work plan for a month, I am starting to get the hang of it. Although turning off my computer after four hours and going to do something else remains a work in progress

Simple Tools Keeping Me on Task

Staying on task for the four hours is relatively easy. Emailing myself a to-do list each night makes it that much easier. Before implementing the 4-hour work day, I typically started the day with a to-do list in my head. But I am finding having the list written down makes it more concrete, more tangible.

Each night I also email a list to iDoneThis of what I did that day. Seeing what I did accomplish is rewarding. Sometimes I add a note about how the day was or a highlight; like an abbreviated journal.

I am also using the stopwatch feature of the Vertabase Timer and an Excel spreadsheet to track how long tasks actually take me. I am not being anal about my time tracking because that would create yet another task and defeat the whole purpose. However, I am now getting a rough idea of how long some things are taking me.

Surprisingly, out of approximately 73 hours worked in January, I spent:

• roughly 11 hours writing and replying to work-related email – and I still have 691 unread emails in my inbox; and
• 19 hours writing blog posts – a post is taking me between two and five hours to write and proofread.

What those 19 hours of writing doesn’t capture is the amount of time I spend thinking about writing. As a writer – whether I am working on a post, an ebook, or text that will be converted to speech for a presentation – I am constantly thinking about ideas to write, words to write, messages to write. I am a writer; that is what I do, constantly. My mind doesn’t shut off when the four hours ends.

Foretelling the Rewards of Not Sitting at My Desk All Day

I am already feeling the benefits of a more compact work day. After having four colds in four months during the autumn, I am happy to report that I didn’t catch one in January!

However, there are still times when I feel totally wiped. Coming home from a dinner out with Darrell last Saturday, I was a little disappointed it was only 6:45pm; I felt like it was closer to 8:45. Rather than fighting the feeling with the childish rationale “I am an adult, I can’t go to bed this early”, I was in bed by 7:30. I guess that’s what my body needed at that time.

Other days I make it through the entire day without hearing, “Dear, you look tired. Go take it easy.”

I wish I could figure out the pattern. I have been more tired than not for as long as I can remember. What are my energy zappers? Is it related to my cerebral palsy? I don’t know. Perhaps it will be one of my lifelong questions.

A glimpse of a better work-life balance is beginning to peek through. After sitting on the shelf, taunting me for a year or more, I finally measured and cut the spool of purple cord that is destined to become a door pull. Macramé – a hobby that doesn’t involved the computer – what a concept!

Last Friday afternoon Darrell and I played hooky and spent a few hours down around the south side of False Creek. It was such a beautiful, almost-spring day! We even met up with a friend who we hadn’t seen in well over a year.

Saturday evening – if things go as planned – we will be having dinner with my cousin and my uncle (who I haven’t seen in years!) I am hoping this is only the beginning of reconnecting with local friends and family.

(Photo credit: Darrell Hyatt)

After starting the year on empty, I am now feeling about $5,000-$10,000. I am curious: what does “feeling like a million bucks” actually feel like?