Back in 2008 I was suddenly laid off from my job. My client canceled all contracts in the space of an afternoon, and my own company, which I had been with for 12 years, laid me off via email the next morning.
After years of being in an office, I was suddenly at loose ends. My daughter was in first grade, and I wasn’t sure what I would do next. I wanted to take my time to find the right job, but otherwise I didn’t know.
It’s not just about productive…it’s about heading off consequences.
I did know that I didn’t want to fall into habits that would be not only counter-productive, but could be detrimental to my well-being. Too many people warned me about the possibility of falling into depression, as they had done in the same circumstances.
There were things I knew I was going to have to avoid: sleeping late or oversleeping, overeating, non-enhancing activities (too many computer games, pointless surfing, etc). Each of these had led to periods of bump-on-a-log-iness in the past.
Time for a Plan
I determined that I would have a schedule and stick too it, including as many of the things I said I would do “someday” when I “had time.” Here is the schedule came up with:
- Rise at 6 a.m. First on the business is my 20 minute session with my SAD (seasonal affective disorder) light. While I am doing this, I read my daily stuff, and wind up with my latest fiction book.
- Walk the dog. It’s still dark out, but I like watching the sun rise, and both the dog and I got some much needed exercise.
- Get ready. Get showered, dressed, makeup, the whole works.
- Eat a healthy breakfast. I fixed my daughter her breakfast, assembled her lunch, and sat down to eat with her. Then we waited for the school bus.
- Writing. Besides the five articles per week I was publishing here, I had at least one on my personal blog, and a novel in revision, plus a novel in planning (for NaNoWriMo). I wrote at least 1500 words on the revision and then worked on the blogs.
- Eat a healthy lunch. It’s important to get up from the computer – I knew that from my working time. I would eat lunch at 11, and read or sit outside.
- Household cleaning. I used my household chore list to do what needed to be done for deep cleaning and then a general pickup of the house. This took less than 30 minutes.
- Look for a job. I would spend at least two hours every day either directly looking for jobs, or ramping up my skills to make more more marketable.
- Exercise. At the time I walked on the treadmill watching a video, but these days I would do a session with FitOn.
- Reading/Other Projects At that point I usually had some time before my daughter got off the bus. I would catch up on email, do some reading, practice music or do a craft.
- After School Routine. When my daughter got off the bus, the time between then and dinner belonged entirely to her. She would do her homework, practice piano, and then we would go to the park for a bit.
- Evening. After a family dinner, I took the evening “off”.
By setting out my schedule and sticking to it, I made a lot of progress on previously stalled projects, all while maintaining my spirits, and spending quality time with my family.
It was a good break, and when I got a job directly for a client I had been with, I was ready to go back to work without having to break any bad habits.
