One of the great things about writing a blog is that you are pretty much forced to read more material, especially blogs. I\u2019ve also found myself listening to a lot more podcasts about a whole range of subjects, just to help spur my creativity. Honestly, these ideas have to come from somewhere…so why not from other people? Not as in stealing the ideas, but rather in thinking about tangential issues to what I\u2019ve read and heard.<\/p>\n
The other great thing about writing a blog is that there is a certain expectation that I\u2019ve set for myself. Namely, I\u2019ve created an editorial calendar to help guide me on when I\u2019m writing and to help me keep track of what I\u2019ve already written. Through the calendar and the use of Google Analytics, I came to the decision that Tu-Th-Weekend posts weren\u2019t working for what I wanted to achieve. So I switched to M-W-F for posting.<\/p>\n
The problem, I discovered, is that I\u2019m not a M-W-F guy. And that led me to another discovery…I\u2019m in the wrong time culture. If you\u2019ve already read my post about the TMU<\/a>, then you\u2019ll get a bit of the sense that I was raised to be on time. More accurately, I was taught that \u201con time\u201d meant that you were early and no one ever had to wait for you. Of course, that meant a lot of waiting around for other people. As I\u2019ve gotten older I\u2019ve striven to be more accurate on my arrivals, committing to times that I can actually make, and trying not to get there too early. I mean seriously, my time has some value. Not much, but some. So why sit around waiting for everybody else. Nevertheless, my upbringing causes me to be really anxious if I\u2019m running late.<\/p>\n More importantly, I\u2019ve also discovered that my productivity cycle is nothing like what American business\u2019 culture expects. I was good at the 8am – 5pm job. I always arrived early (I didn\u2019t have many kids then), I often worked through lunch (giving extra productivity for the time I was being paid for), and I often stayed late to wrap up the day\u2019s work. Of course, I was a lot younger then (roughly half my age) and I never noticed a lack of energy or any slower times in my brain during the day.<\/p>\n I transitioned to small business technology consulting in 1990, then moved into healthcare technology consulting, and then to whatever I do now (don\u2019t ask, it\u2019s too hard to explain, but it deals with technology and productivity…sound familiar?).<\/p>\n Through that time, I\u2019ve adapted my work life to fit my Hectic Dad schedule, and I\u2019ve discovered that working for medical practices requires most technology work to be done when the office is closed. That means working at odd hours. I mean really odd hours.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s ok. I\u2019ve always been something of a night owl. I told a friend today that I would prefer to work from 8pm to 5am than during the more acceptable (for knowledge workers) 8am – 5pm.<\/p>\n Several of my kids also work on those weird hours. It\u2019s funny how we\u2019re all up well into the night working on our projects. I\u2019ll jump on Facebook and see one or more of them logged in. We might have a quick chat, we might not. But it\u2019s kind of nice to know that there are other people who share my predilection for working at odd times.<\/p>\n But the other side of the equation is that the world expects me to get things done on their schedule. Most businesses are open the 8a-5p timeframe. No matter the company size, there are a lot of people who are only available during \u201cnormal\u201d business hours.<\/p>\n But that brings me to my dilemma. I have a really rough time from 2p – 3p every day. It doesn\u2019t matter what timezone I\u2019m in. It doesn\u2019t matter what I\u2019ve been doing during the day. It doesn\u2019t matter what I\u2019m doing at that time. Heck, I could be running (ok, \u201cslogging\u201d is the correct term, but let me just dream of \u201crunning\u201d) another half-marathon. It doesn\u2019t matter. My body decides that it\u2019s time to sleep. Drooping eyelids. Yawns. Those weird pre-bedtime aches and their associated stretches. The whole package. My kids have always gotten out of school between 2p and 3:30p. I\u2019m terrified that I\u2019ll fall asleep at my desk (it wouldn\u2019t be the first time) and I\u2019ll miss picking up one or more of them. That doesn\u2019t look good on the Hectic Dad resume (e.g. Left child at school until called), and you take a lot of heat for it. At least so I\u2019ve heard.<\/p>\n So for years, I\u2019ve worked to conquer this problem. I\u2019ve pumped caffeine. I\u2019ve tried exercise. I set alarms out my ears. I\u2019ve used every trick in the book to keep myself engaged during that timeframe.<\/p>\n Most of all, I\u2019ve beat myself up about it. I\u2019ve berated myself for having such a weird internal clock. I\u2019ve pummeled my ego to the point of near depression about it.<\/p>\n And while trying to work through that energy slump, I\u2019ve had some of the most unproductive, unrewarding, rotten experiences imaginable. And to balance it out, I feel guilty when I\u2019m doing productive work and the clock hits midnight. I figure \u201cshould\u201d be in bed, so I often shut down my productive work and go to bed. I can fall asleep whenever, so that\u2019s not a problem, but I know deep in my psyche that I\u2019m wasting my most productive hours sleeping.<\/p>\n But a couple months back I was listening to a podcast by one of two podcasters that really changed my life. My Hectic Life won\u2019t let me re-listen to all the episodes to find the segment. But I can guarantee that if you listen to the first year\u2019s worth of podcasts from either Erik Fisher\u2019s Beyond the ToDo List<\/a> or Pat Flynn\u2019s Smart Passive Income<\/a>, you\u2019ll hear what I heard.<\/p>\n And what I heard changed my life. I discovered that it\u2019s OK to work on a different time schedule. It\u2019s OK to have times that are creative and times that aren\u2019t. I realized that it was \u201cnormal\u201d to have a different rhythm to your life.<\/p>\n And it was liberating. You\u2019d figure at 50 years of rolling around on the Earth that I wouldn\u2019t need somebody else to tell me it\u2019s OK to have a different time schedule. But I needed to discover through someone else\u2019s words.<\/p>\n What it\u2019s meant to me is that I embrace my level of creativity each day, and each hour. If I\u2019m not getting content generated, doing good work, or whatever, then I find something else to do. It\u2019s not like we lack dirty dishes or laundry to be folded. Why do those during my \u201cgood time\u201d, when I can just as well do them in my \u201cbad times\u201d. I\u2019ve also discovered that if I do something kinetic during the 2p – 3p window, then I\u2019m not as likely to fall asleep and miss my school pickup. So it\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n So after 50 years of battling my own circadian rhythm, I\u2019ve come to terms with the fact that my internal clock doesn\u2019t match the external clock of American business. And the funny thing is…I\u2019m OK with that.<\/p>\n Sure took me a long time to get comfortable with this concept though!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the great things about writing a blog is that you are pretty much forced to read more material, especially blogs. I\u2019ve also found myself listening to a lot more podcasts about a whole range of subjects, just to help spur my creativity. 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