Routine or Bust

[PinkNinja]

 

I stay sleepy and I know how to fix it. I just have to do it.

I need to sleep more.

I know, right?

 

I started working on my evening routine in February. I decided to not have a challenge in March. So now, I'm going to get serious about the routine. I need to sleep better.

 

1) No caffeine after 6 p.m.
2) Set an alarm for 9:45

3)At the alarm, Lay out clothes for the next day, fill up my water bottle to put in the fridge, and make sure lunch is squared away. 
4) Then, walk Turtle for about 10 minutes, longer if he doesn't potty. He's waking me up in the middle of the night again.

5) Leave Turtle outside for a bit. Take the dog free moments to meditate, get into PJs, brush my teeth, and finish getting ready for bed.

6) Get Turtle, go to bed.

 

No phone in bed. That's been a big thing keeping me up. I want to lay in bed and play on it for a while. That turns into an hour or more. I have been trying to think of something better to do in bed before I go to sleep. I'm thinking of buying a sudoku book or something.I have some ASL word search puzzles. I like logic puzzle grids, too. In fact, I think I'll print some to do for now, and if I mostly stick to my routine, that can be my reward to myself, a cool, spiral bound Mystery themed puzzle book like this one.

I've been weaving a lot in the evenings lately and that is relaxing. But I can't really take it to bed.

The goal here is to be in bed, ready to sleep by 10:30. I still have no idea where my sunrise alarm clock is. And with about 2 months, until I probably move again, I'm not unpacking to look for it. My boss's last day is June 21st.

 

I feel like if I even partially conquer my sleep issues, it will improve everything else in my life.

 

A secondary goal for this challenge is to get my finances reorganized. My pay dropped a little when I moved back and I paid off a small credit card. So now I need to figure out how to redistribute things.

 

[Teirin]

Sleep is the eternal struggle.  

[Mistr]

Nice clear goals. I agree with Teirin, sleep is hard. Glad to hear that you have been getting weaving done.

[PinkNinja]

I've not made it to bed by 10:30 yet, but I have made it to bed much earlier than I was, mostly by 11. (I had been going past midnight)

Working late and then eating late have been the biggest culprits. If I stay at work til 6:30/7, by the time I walk the dog and change, It's 7:30 or later. Which puts me eating at 8 or later.
I need to get better at not staying late.  It shouldn't be too hard. I think I'm worse on weekends than weekdays.
Part of it is that once everyone leaves at 5, I get SO much more done. I feel like I get nothing done from 8-5. I think I may try coming to work at 7:30 and see if I get more done before people come in, then I can go home at 4:30.
Though part of it is with my boss retiring soon, he wants to visit a lot. So we have been talking. It is still work related. He has worked here for 38 years, so the knowledge he is passing on is valuable. I just didn't mark off todo items, so I feel unproductive.

[Mistr]

Kudos on getting to bed earlier. I hear you on needing time to do things in the evening.

 

I hope you can find ways to be more productive so that you don't have to stay late. I hear the same complaint from people in lots of work situations. Maybe strategize with your boss about getting some uninterrupted time during the day?

[PinkNinja]

I did not make it to bed on time the last two nights. But other than those two nights (one of which was because I took mom to the Dr. 3 hours away), I have been making it by 11. Now just to get that last 30 minutes.

Not taking my phone to bed has helped tremendously. I start getting really sleepy while I'm working the puzzles, must faster than working the same puzzles on my phone.

I think lessening my caffeine intake is helping as well.  Now I just need to transition from drinking caffeine free soda to drinking no soda.

 

On 4/30/2019 at 4:01 PM, Mistr said:

Kudos on getting to bed earlier. I hear you on needing time to do things in the evening.

 

I hope you can find ways to be more productive so that you don't have to stay late. I hear the same complaint from people in lots of work situations. Maybe strategize with your boss about getting some uninterrupted time during the day? 

 

I think I need reframe how I think about work. My role now is mostly supervisory. A lot of the "interruptions" are really actually my job. I just need to work with getting my employees more efficient in how and when they communicate with me and vice versa. The things I'm interrupted in are also my job, but really not more so than the people.  I need to start making peace with the fact that just because I don't have tangible to-dos crossed off doesn't mean I didn't work, hard even. I do think if I start coming in at 7:30 or even 7 will help me some. I will have time to get my morning fog out before everyone gets here and starts demanding my attention. 

[ChrisWithaStick]

One thing I’ve found useful for time management is to ask someone to come back in however many minutes it might take me to finish something, or just say “I need to wrap this up, be with you shortly “. 

(Assuming it’s not super important or time sensitive of course).  I can show my time is also important while acknowledging my employee’s needs, too.   It also lets me get in the right headspace if necessary.  

[Mistr]

20 hours ago, PinkNinja said:

I did not make it to bed on time the last two nights. But other than those two nights (one of which was because I took mom to the Dr. 3 hours away), I have been making it by 11. Now just to get that last 30 minutes.

Not taking my phone to bed has helped tremendously. I start getting really sleepy while I'm working the puzzles, must faster than working the same puzzles on my phone.

I think lessening my caffeine intake is helping as well.  Now I just need to transition from drinking caffeine free soda to drinking no soda.

 

I've found that completely cutting out caffeine is making a big difference in the quality of my sleep. My family has been moving from soda to flavored (unsweetened) fizzy water. It is about the same price as diet soda without the artificial sweeteners. There is quite a lot of difference in flavors between brands. One supplier makes a black cherry that I like while their competitor makes one that tastes like the sticks from cherry popsicles. 

[PinkNinja]

Man, for three nights in a row I have been in bed and asleep by 10:45. I woke up before my alarm today and didn't get the afternoon snoozes. 

Plus today was a good day. 

We have 52 state parks. My boss had been to 51. I got to take him to #52 today, before he retires. 

My new, larger loom came in, as well as the wax to finish it. My guy wants to put it together for me this weekend.  

I've been trying to get a self service bicycle repair stand installed in our park for over a year (even even I wasn't here I worked on it). When we got back from our drive today, guess what had been installed!! 

I'm a little late to bed tonight but we got back late and I HAD to open my loom. 

 

[Kishi]

Sleep is goals. Not life, not exactly, but it sure can feel like it sometimes. Glad to hear that it sounds like it's going well; I hope it continues.  Also, super cool you were able to take your boss to his 52nd state park!

[Mistr]

Yay for getting a new loom!  Pictures? 

[Teirin]

Nice work on the repair stand and sleep!

[PinkNinja]

On 5/15/2019 at 4:55 PM, Mistr said:

Yay for getting a new loom!  Pictures? 

 

Of course!

This is the loom I already had. It's 16" and has served me well. Yes, it has a project on it that I need to finish. The black bottom pieces on the roll are dishcloths while the white piece is going to be a dice bag for a friend.

This is my new, larger loom. It's 32", so I doubled in size.I can weave full-size tea towels and bath towels.  And if I do double weave, I can make a throw in one piece!

 

I also got a set of cards to do tablet weaving. I really like it. I'm thinking of doing a workshop on it after I have more practice. It's probably the most inexpensive weaving I've seen, aside from making a cardboard loom. A set of 25 cards was $5. My plan is to incorporate the tablet weaving into the rigid heddle weaving for accents.
 

 

I've been a very happy weaver.

 

 

 

[PinkNinja]

Not counting this holiday weekend, I've gotten much better about going to bed on time.
I've stopped drinking caffeine after 5, and have reduced my caffeine intake throughout the day. I need to get off soda entirely again, but one step at  a time.

Working puzzles in bed at night has been nice. My sister was like "Ooh! THere's a logic puzzle app! You should get it" I had to explain to her that defeated the purpose. So she bought me a logic puzzle book. When I've worked most of it, I'm going to order that cool one.

I haven't followed that routine exactly, but I do get ready for the next day and get ready for bed. Turtle is getting into the routine, too. When I start getting ready for bed, he runs to the door so I can put him out for a bit.

I'm calling this a success. Finally!

[Mistr]

Congratulations on a successful challenge!

 

The new loom looks great. I am looking forward to seeing the projects you make with it.