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Shit happens. That is the premise of this challenge. If there is one constant in my life, it’s that something will always come along to cause upheaval. Good or bad, the end results are almost the same and more often than not have me retreating back to the start and trying to build anew on top of the rubble of failures past. This time it was the need to get a second job that threw me. Quick summary: Job 1 refused to up my contract hours, leaving me in a sticky financial situation. So I tracked down and secured Job 2. Now, J1 is a morning thing, often with 6am starts and lasting roughly five hours per shift. J2 is an evening thing, starting at 6pm and often lasting until around 11pm. Naturally this means I need to start adapting my routine to first maximise my sleep, and second actually ensure I have time to do everything I want to do and actually have productive days outside of the workplace. I want an effective solution, and that means fully utilising every resource at my disposal. That means actually cracking down on my time management issues so hard that they’re reshaped into something effective. So this is the plan: UNO 80/20 clean eating. I know full well that I cannot sustain a 100% clean eating diet, and a major part of that reason is because I don’t want to. I like cake and jelly beans and rum. Sometimes all at once. So I’ve picked a plan to follow (in this case the NFA level 9 plan) and have made a set of rules to allow for adjustments: White/basmati rice is allowed up to three times a week Breakfast is a protein shake Pizza is allowed once per week, but must be accompanied by a better choice (for example, homemade sweet potato wedges and a salad) Two litres of water/weak juice per day minimum, up to three cups of coffee(full caf and decaf), fruit/herbal tea in moderation Alcohol up to twice weekly Hot chocolate is allowed in place of desserts Fruit is allowed Any other variations can and will be taken into consideration Zero week is going to be hit and miss as far as diet is concerned. Fortunately the 25th and the 30th are both paydays for me, which means that I’ll be in a good place to get decent quality food and kick this thing off for real. In the mean time, I’m compromising, but for once these compromises are pretty good. DOS The time for rigid scheduling is now. I get my J1 rotas in groups of four weeks, and I get my J2 rotas about a week in advance, so at the very least I know what I’m doing for the whole of any given week. Considering I work five shifts at each job, there’s a chance I will go for weeks without a full day off. This means I’ve got to plan the hell out of everything otherwise I will do nothing, sad but true. So this one is simple. Plan my week and stick to it. The complicated part will be that I’ll have to stick to J2’s weird Saturday to Friday schedule, but that’s a small price to pay. Schedules will be posted when written, with the exception of zero week. TRES Nap time! Assuming a J2 night backs on to a J1 morning, I’ll have a chance at maybe five hours of sleep that night. Not sustainable. Therefore I’ll be learning to take a nap after I’ve come home from J1. ...it sounds so easy, but I know it won’t be. So I’ll be creating a nap tracker to chronicle the journey and figure out what works best. CUATRO Live as cheaply as possible. Not a new goal for me, but still relevant. Now that I have two incomes, the urge to let out the spending net is almost overwhelming, but that cannot happen. I have a good few things I’m saving for (moving, getting some form of reliable transport, and one actually batshit crazy plan that might just work), and if I play it right then I can live comfortably and put money towards my goals. So a weekly expenses tracker will be maintained. Indeed, is already in effect. So far the common trend is impulse buying food, the solution to which will be a strict shopping list. CINCO Socialise. Here. Right here. It’s part of the routine thing. Come here, bathe in the epicness of my fellow Rangers, and don’t check out without good reason. (...but not you guys, obviously ) And that’s it. Simple, to the point, and completely relevant to where I’m at in life right now. Week zero is going to be a trial week of sorts, with me stumbling around trying to get things in place for when my holidays from J1 end (which is either tomorrow or Monday, I’ll be dropping by the place tomorrow to check). No theme (the title of this challenge comes from a book I’ve recently read), no problem. My tracking will be mostly of the pen and paper variety. I’ve fallen down the bullet journal rabbit hole and I’m actually loving it. I’ve kind of strayed away from the ‘official’ guidelines and am basically building up a notebook of varying trackers and daily accounting. There’s the odd combo-breaker thrown in here and there (I’ve got a mostly full page of lovely things folks here on NF have said to me over the years, for example), but I’ve found the format that seems to be working best for me and I’m keeping it. So, to sum up (as a TL;DR): 80/20 cleanish eating All of the schedules all of the time Naps aplenty Be a cheapskate Socialise Gifs everywhere