I think I picked up the Wonderlist tip from you years ago. That's morphed into Todoist, which I love for the repeatable tasks. Like you, I focus on creative stuff in the mornings, then the deep dive into work and hard problems. Then exercise (11 o'clock meetings, so named because if you're not out skiing at the Nordic Centre by 11 o'clock in February, then you're not getting any direct sunlight), then the emails and small tasks in the afternoon. The most important thing I ever did to find balance with personal-work-creative-family (four pillars, but I only have time to do three well on any given day) is to book myself off on my calendar and all my client's calendars at 11 o'clock each day. People get ornery when you take time to exercise, but if it is a meeting (i.e. work) they think that is OK. Focus is all important - I assign one and only one thing to achieve creatively each day. If I do more, great, but I force the focus on that one thing before I do anything else, and it justifies the whole day.
Thanks for sharing more about your system; sounds like a great one! I think what I get from it is that you recognize you can only do so much in a day, and we're not setting ourselves up for "success" or a feeling of contentment or balance if we try to bite off too much. Our culture needs to make some massive shifts towards allowing people that balance, guilt-free. We're making slow progress but it's up to us to set these boundaries for ourselves.
I love hearing that (and thanks for picking up on that in my article!) It's been a wonderful way for my partner and I to share the mental load, especially when he travels a lot and at times needs to reintegrate into the family flow.
I think I picked up the Wonderlist tip from you years ago. That's morphed into Todoist, which I love for the repeatable tasks. Like you, I focus on creative stuff in the mornings, then the deep dive into work and hard problems. Then exercise (11 o'clock meetings, so named because if you're not out skiing at the Nordic Centre by 11 o'clock in February, then you're not getting any direct sunlight), then the emails and small tasks in the afternoon. The most important thing I ever did to find balance with personal-work-creative-family (four pillars, but I only have time to do three well on any given day) is to book myself off on my calendar and all my client's calendars at 11 o'clock each day. People get ornery when you take time to exercise, but if it is a meeting (i.e. work) they think that is OK. Focus is all important - I assign one and only one thing to achieve creatively each day. If I do more, great, but I force the focus on that one thing before I do anything else, and it justifies the whole day.
Thanks for sharing more about your system; sounds like a great one! I think what I get from it is that you recognize you can only do so much in a day, and we're not setting ourselves up for "success" or a feeling of contentment or balance if we try to bite off too much. Our culture needs to make some massive shifts towards allowing people that balance, guilt-free. We're making slow progress but it's up to us to set these boundaries for ourselves.
Shared Apple Notes with partner is *SUCH* a game-changer. We use the same running Note for the grocery list and another for meal planning.
I love hearing that (and thanks for picking up on that in my article!) It's been a wonderful way for my partner and I to share the mental load, especially when he travels a lot and at times needs to reintegrate into the family flow.