I don’t know about you, but every now and then I suck at being productive. I have my moments where I get a bunch of stuff done and feel like a complete rock star, but a few days later I’m typically back to “trying to figure it all out again.” And I think a lot of it has to do with finding that optimum schedule that works best for you.
I had a great schedule going once, but then I had a kid.
Then I got a new pretty good schedule down, and then I had a 2nd kid :)
It’s been about 15 months since that 2nd nugget came out, and I’m not gonna lie – I’ve been struggling to find that next work-life balance that fits me well. I don’t know if it’s because of his unpredictable sleep patterns, or if working doesn’t seem as important anymore, or if having them at home now makes it that much harder to work, but regardless something needs to change.
And I’m hoping Benjamin Franklin has the answer :)
I came an article (since taken offline) on how he lived his life, and for the next full work week I’ll be copying him to see how it changes my own. Here’s what his schedule looked like (or *ahem*, his scheme):
The two questions he poses each day stand out the most:
- (Morning) What good should I do this day?
- (Evening) What good have I done to-day?
I feel like most of us are pretty good at accomplishing our goals if we actually take the time to say it out loud each morning, but for whatever reason we never do. Imagine if going forward you started? “Today declutter my kitchen!” “Today find a way to make a $100!” “Today finally listen to J. Money and start a budget!” I can’t even envision how inspiring B. Franklin’s diary must have looked either (“Today invent the bifocals!” “Today help create the postal system!” “Today score with a bunch of women!” ;)).
Needless to say, my goal setting will pale in comparison :)
I’ll also have to tweak this scheme of his to adapt to my aforementioned wee ones as well. I’m not sure the role Ben took with his own kids (he had 2 boys and 1 girl), but if I don’t pitch in and be a part of their lives I’ll be in a heap of trouble. It also seems like he wasn’t a fan of exercising much – which admittedly I haven’t been either recently! – so I’m going to see if I can sneak in a little working out myself in here… might as well shoot for the moon, right?
Here’s how I foresee the next week going:
I have no idea how sustainable this will be, but it never hurts to shock the system a bit and see if anything sticks :) Every article you read on habits of the rich and successful start with “waking up at 5,” and making room for contemplation, so I feel like good ol’ Benny was on to something there. It also happens to be the week of $$$ tracking and updating too, crossing over into a new month this weekend (yeah net worth updating!), so I’m hoping it gives me more time to reflect on our financial goals as well.
If you’re needing a new push yourself, feel free to join me :)
Here’s the original article again which shares how another person tried following his footsteps adding in his own modern twist (creating a Google Calendar template and documenting goals in Evernote!). But that all seemed too fancy pants for me. I’ll call it a win if I roll out of bed each morning on time!
I’ll let you know how it goes.
*******
UPDATE: One week completed! Here’s what I learned.
UPDATE II: It’s now been three years :)
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LOL Give me your cell and I’ll call you at 5am. During the week, I wake up at 5 and MWF do a lifting program (till about 6am) and TR I do eBay photographs and listings. I just crash at night and don’t like to work out then, so it’s the AM for me!
It’s a great way to feeling accomplished at the start of the day and I feel like I get a lot done before my daughter wakes up! Once baby #2 comes in though, it’ll probably change things a bit (as you’ve proven). We just hope this next girl will be a better sleeper. Just give me a 4 hour nap PLEASE!
Hah! You’re a hustler man, love it. We got lucky with our 1st kid (sleeps 12 hours straight and sometimes we have to WAKE HIM UP!) but not the 2nd… Guess it evens things out :) Congrats on the new soon-to-be baby!!
Dude. Who wakes a sleeping baby??? That’s some master sleeping right there. ;)
I have a four month old daughter right now so I have been trying to find a balance to my daily schedule. It has definitely been tough since I work a 9-5 (or more accurately a 6:30-3:30ish). I’ve been trying to get up just a little bit earlier so I have time to do some things like meditating, reading, and working a bit on the blog.
I think Ben Franklin’s schedule just shows how important morning and evening routines are. One of the most important figures in history had essentially the same routine as many successful people now. I think it has a lot to do with the mindset routines can put you in. Good luck next week! I’ll be joining you with the 5am wake up calls!
Woo! Let’s do this!
Just read a book about Mr. Franklin and his role in the Revolution while he was in France. Don’t know if it was jealousy or what but many folks were not a fan of Mr. Franklin. It certainly changed my view of him. Sadly he was estranged from his oldest son who was a “loyalist” but played a large role in the life of his oldest grandson…He was a “complicated” individual….
Aren’t we all? History seems to make everyone out to be either heroes or villains when in reality they’re humans with all the normal flaws.
Life is really just circumstance, opportunity, hard work, creativity, and ingenuity all mixed into a meat bag. We can only make the most of it!
maybe this page on his 13 virtues will help you feel better about him? :) Someone on Twitter just sent it over – kinda neat (esp #5 relating to $$$):
http://www.thirteenvirtues.com/
I read something somewhere that said you’ll do better if you just try to go with the flow the first 12 months of the baby’s life, at the very least. Sanity, sleep, a supported partner, and loved kids are the most important goals sometimes! Sounds like you did just that.
Mine are 5 and 7 and just started sleeping past 7am this summer, which means I’ve been so lazy all summer. I’m waking up at 7 now and rushing around – not cool, and makes for some stressed kids as well. I’m going to join you, but I’m going to work up to the 5am by starting with 6am for three weeks since I go on vacation next week.
BTW, the least frugal thing I’ve done in a long time is buy one of those fitbit wrist things, and I don’t regret it a bit. I’m competitive and need visual cues, and since I’ve had it I’m getting a lot more walking in!
Haha… I had one too for a while! And I’ll agree – def. got me to walk a lot more so I agree it’s worth it :) Unfort. I had to send mine back cuz I started getting that dang rash it was recalled for, but it was fun while it lasted. Awesome you’re gonna start getting up at 6 too – I won’t feel so alone! :)
Being from Philly, I love reading that you’re taking some tips from our big man. :) Good luck J$, I hope this schedule makes you more productive.
Yeah two kids throws a monkey wrench into any schedule. One wasn’t so bad, but 2… Currently the first still wakes us up around 5-5:30am each day, but I don’t get quiet contemplation time, unless you count the shower, Ha!
I am finding being up early to be a little easier now though, but I’m still a night owl, so it rolls around too quickly for me even though my body is used to it.
I plan on having a similar routine though, when I don’t have a job/commute “driving” my schedule.
Great find, J. Hopefully this schedule works for you. I think the one thing to consider is that it’s completely okay to fail at getting stuff done. Life constantly throws wrenches at your face, and sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I’m going to give this schedule a try, tweaking it like you have though. One other thing I’ve tried in the past that has worked semi-well (but very well for others) and I actually learned from an old boss of mine is to carry around a physical notebook – in fact it’s one of those tiny handheld ones that cost like $0.97. Either at the beginning of the day or the end of the day, write down the major things you need to do or accomplish (a messy “to-do list”). Scratch off the ones you complete as you complete them, then re-order the list (and add any new ones) the next day or evening. All the while, you fully know that you won’t get to everything. The point is to keep a check on what you have to get done, but through this process you learn to prioritize in a messy kind of way. Hopefully the way I described it makes sense, but as I said, it’s worked wonders for others I’ve known and has done pretty well for me at times. It’s honestly nice to have something physical to hold on to (like the notebook) instead of always defaulting to our phones.
Yes! Agreed! I do something similar with sticky notes exactly for that reason – to see something physical and to be able to scratch it off and feel that win :) I’m all for less time in front of phones (and computers for that matter – which is hard when you work online, hah!) but yeah – something about physical stuff and then brain dumping all the to-do’s. Perhaps I’ll try the notebook idea this week though since I have a few tiny ones I picked up for that same reason years ago but hate “dirtying” them cuz they’re so pretty to look at! Haha…
Love that you’ll be joining me in this :) Let me know how it goes/what you learn afterwards and perhaps I’ll include it in my follow up post later?
I too can call you at 5 if you want! I typically wake up at 4:50, run or lift in the morning and am at my desk by 7:30. I am grateful that my husband gets the kids ready for the day and takes them to daycare and that I am home for the end of the day….or more accurately by 4. It’s a great schedule for me right now with the kids being 6 and 9. I get a workout in, work done and can hang with the kids in the afternoon/evening. The worst (or is it the best?) is that the kids don’t really want to hang out with me right now….they end up playing outside with the neighbors until we call them inside.
oh man – that sounds like a GREAT schedule! Though so sad they don’t want to play with you haha… That’s my biggest fear too and I know it’s coming at some point :) I tell mine (3 y/o and 15 mos) that they better still love and hug me later even when they’re old and don’t want to be seen with me. They just smile and nod but I know what the future holds. *tear*
Funny you post about this today, as I wrote “make a schedule” on my “to do” list yesterday. (And didn’t get it done.) I’m new at being home all day and with the kids here too, it’s been a struggle. I’m hopeful once school starts again it will be easier, I definitely need more structure to my day.
I’m going to have to be more specific about my blocks of time than Ben was though. I want to break it down a little more into working on my different hustles so I spend time on each. Maybe not every day, but at least during the week. Maybe Monday morning is Ebay time, Monday afternoon blog time, etc.
I like it! Please do try it and let us know how it goes!! Perhaps this was the reason you didn’t lock in that schedule before hand – you were waiting for Benjamin Franklin! :)
I keep trying over and over again to tweak my schedule. It seems like there is always an area where I’m lacking; not long term like my life is falling apart or anything. It’s more of a rotating basis. One week I suck at going to bed, the next week I don’t do any exercise, the next week I feel like I’ve ignored my husband or kids, or the next week the household chores are behind! You see how this is going…
Maybe the rotating dropped balls keeps it in check, lol! Nothing ever suffers for too long!
haha I bet we ALL can relate to that :)
I’ve been struggling with getting stuff done as well since becoming a stay at home mom and blogger. It just about killed me a few weeks ago when our daughter dropped from two naps a day to one! That was when I uninstalled the Facebook app from my phone- I figured since my time to get things done was cut in half, there was absolutely no time to waste on FB! At this point I always seem to be chronically behind on something, be it responding to blog comments, responding to email, or cleaning my house. I can’t imagine how tough it will be if/when we have a second! Omg…
I say keep that app uninstalled ESP when the 2nd one comes along :) My wife did the same thing actually, however it only lasted two months and now she’s back on it again, d’oh.
One thing that’s really interesting to note about Benjamin Franklin is that his blocks of time (4-5 hours each) are actually nearly twice as long as the average person can focus on anything. His level of focus is truly astounding.
J.Money – Great article! I’m surprised good ole’ Ben took 2 hours for lunch! I am already FI (early retirement 3 years ago), here is what my schedule looks like:
6 am: Up and at ’em, walk dog, eat breakfast, check emails
7 am – 8 am: Build twitter followers, read blogs
8 am – 10 am: Market my mobile apps (http://www.FlipFlopSoftware.com)
10 am – Noon: Workout (fitness class or cycling)
Noon – 1 pm: Lunch
1 pm – 5 pm: Play golf, read, hike, go fishing or something fun
6 pm – 10 pm: Relax with wife, watch TV
On Fridays, I use Quicken to produce a report that shows our budget vs. actuals month-to-date and send it to my wife via email. This is good because she gets a look at our spending and we can adjust up or down based on how we are doing. Here is what it looks like: http://www.WeBeTripping.com/PL.pdf
All the best,
Steve – http://www.WeBeTripping.com
Nice! Similar to a mullet – business up front, party in the back :)
Interesting you focus on twitter followers and not blog/website followers in that early shift? I do love me some Twitter though and always getting good opps off it…
You just made my day. It’s nice to read a male perspective on work/life balance. Feeling validated. I never know what I’ll read about on your blog but I always leave feeling happy, rejuvenated, understood or somewhat normal.
Awwww best thing I’ve read all morning – thank you!! So kind of you to say so. I’ll try and suck more on things going forward, haha… wouldn’t be hard, actually, I’m always sucking but fortunately this site is more about money than it is life ;)
Such a fun idea! It worked for Ben Franklin so I’ll be really interested to see how it works for you. This will be especially interesting given all that has changed since Ben Franklin was alive – technology, the pace of society, etc.
That Ben Franklin is still putting us to shame.
I am going to skip the 5am wake up, but I am going to become more mindful about starting my day asking myself what good I’m going to do and end it with asking what good I did. I truly believe that what we put out into the universe comes back to us, and I try to put out as much good as possible.
Let me know how it goes by the end of the week and maybe I’ll include it in my follow up :)
I love “put things in their places.” I’m a bit crazy with organization and purging in our house, but this is the key to keep things running smoothly!
I’m sure I’ll be struggling with this in the next few days myself. I have some big changes and I’ll have to make sure I don’t give up having a daily schedule or I’m afraid I won’t get anything done.
That sounds exciting/scary! What type of big changes? :)
I’ve been waking up at 5:25AM the last two weeks and going to bed around 10:30 or 11. It’s alright once you get used to it.
A schedule with children is a constant struggle for me as well. As soon as I hit a groove, they change! If I can wake up an hour before they do, I consider it a success! 5 AM? Ack is right!
“I can’t even envision how inspiring B. Franklin’s diary must have looked either (“Today invent the bifocals!” “Today help create the postal system!” “Today score with a bunch of women!” ha ha!! I can’t help but read it this way at noon: “Read. Look over my accounts. And die” Hey, I haven’t had my coffee yet. :) I tried that morning routine thing, and although I do wake up at 6, I end up sprinting over to my computer to start the day. I’m great at night with the winding down though, so that’s something. You have to remember though, BF didn’t have social media to contend with either. I’m mean, there just wasn’t much to do back then. :) BTW, my condolences on the schedule thing…I babysat two young boys twice this week, and all I can say is, “I love my cat.” :)
It would be SOOOOO fascinating to see how our founding fathers would deal with social media and the like. They were all so creative and entrepreneurial so I’m sure they would have embraced it. Probably in the way other smarty pants do online though – only shoot out smart stuff and then scurry back to keep building whatever it is they’re building. I couldn’t see them engaging and even “following back” a bunch of people, haha…
LOVE this – except for the early morning wake-ups. No. Can. Do. My daughter is 5, and generally sleeps until about 7:30. Since I’m off from work over the summer, I generally follow her schedule – except going to bed at 8. It’s usually more like 11:30, for me. :)
That schedule is definitely doable if self-employed. But as a cube monkey, not so much. I don’t even know what 5am looks like! Good luck!
Yeah, you’d have to tweak it a bit as a ‘cube monkey’ :) The original author of the post I linked to did exactly that as he has a 9-5.
You should checkout KatySays.com. She is a biomechanist who focuses on all day movement type ‘exercises’. She is also a big believer in multitasking as much as possible. She holds walking phone meetings and gets her exercise while playing with her kids. Also, as far as working out goes, I find that sneaking in a simple set of pushups or plyometrics during computer breaks adds up throughout the day!
Okay, I’ll check her out – thx! I’m all about those random push-up times too. I do them usually right before taking a shower every night but would be better to do them throughout the day too – you’re right. The crappy part there is just getting sweaty and then having to work as so :(
My kids actually help me wake up early. The catch the school bus at 6:30. Thank goodness for summer. :)
The BF way only includes 6 hrs of sleep and no commute time at all! He was one of those lucky ones who could function on 6 hrs of sleep. Mine is more like 8-10. I know someone who can function on 4 which is pretty amazing. Too bad for me! My commute is pretty long too so thats already 10 hrs from my day just sleeping and commuting. Perhaps one day when I retire I can try this type of schedule more!
You could still address your “powerful goodness” on the commute and do that deep thinking there and back :)
I am very impressed with Benjamin’s schedule. Me? I started my day at 4AM to be at work at 6AM. I go to work early so that I can accomplish more tasks and be done at 2PM. Then, at 4PM to 7PM, I would work on my side hustles. I sleep at 9AM.
holy crap! that is hardcore!
I find that the shorter my list, the more productive I am. I write down the big rocks for the day, the three things that are most important (rather than most urgent) and think about where I should be spending my time.
When there are tasks or projects that I avoid, I know it’s because I’m not sold on the goal. It makes me re-evaluate what I’m working toward.
I look forward to seeing how this works for you.
NDQ
Thanks for chiming in, NDQ – sounds like you found a good strategy :)
So, did you know that babies love to watch you work out? LB thinks that watching PiC do pushups and planking and stuff is THE BEST. So he props hir up in the chair or the corner and cranks out a few sets.
Also, I recently read about Good Ole Benji from his wife’s perspective, gleaned from historical documents like letters and so on, and apparently he was so productive because he pretty much left the raising of the kids and ALL the “domestic” affairs in his wife’s hands. That included: running the whole farm, year round, keeping the family business going, taking care of the grandkids as they came along through some pretty nasty illnesses, maintenance of their home (which was no small task back in those days), literally defending their home against violent intruders and protestors standing at the front steps with guns.
I’m not saying it was easy being Benji, inventor, diplomat, etc, etc, but it sounds like it was much harder being Deborah ;) I’d like to see how *her* day went, it seems like we’d relate to her more between raising the kids and hustling to make a living.
BAM! We need to give Deborah there some mad credit! And good idea w/ the working out w/ kids – never thought about that before but they always love seeing/doing new weird stuff! :)
I have to get up around 530am most mornings for work. Once you do it for a week or so you can easily handle it. Good luck on sticking with the schedule!
Like you and many others have mentioned, the second child seems to really throw a spanner in the schedule (especially during the first few weeks as I’m currently experiencing!). I was in a pretty good groove before this, aiming for 5am starts but not always making it up that early. There’s definitely a reason successful people do it, it’s just an amazing time of the day to really invest in yourself and whats most important to you, and start the day off in the right mindset.
Best of luck with it J$, hopefully it becomes a long-term habit! I hope to be joining you in a few weeks once I’m getting more than 4hrs sleep a night :S
Cheers,
Jason
I’m so glad we’re out of that stage :)
Looks like Mr. Benji and I have something in common. My daily schedule looks similar to what he had going on back in the day. 7 hours of sleep tho. That’s some solid sleep. I’m lucky if my body gets through 6. I’m usually putting in 5. Not proud of it, just what happens. I’ll try recording my actual times this week for comparisons sake. Good luck to you!
Please do! And then let me know what you found out :)
I’m on Day #3 of 5ams and L-O-V-I-N-G IT.
I haven’t been doing it much lately, but I always find there’s a certain peacefulness and serenity at 5:00am before most people are awake. Sipping a coffee and watching the sun come up can be quite a productive time. In addition to getting up early, I’ve always found it interesting that Buffet spends 80% of his time reading. I think that’s something many of us don’t do enough of. TV and other meaningless entertainment sucks up so much of our time.
Truth. That guy just devours info/numbers!
This looks awesome – I actually really want to do this! I don’t know about only sleeping until 4, though. That would be rough… but I guess I can do anything for a week, right? And it’s so hot here in Phoenix, 4 a.m. might actually only be 90 degrees instead of 110! Woohoo! ;)
The wake up time is actually 5 am – much more doable than 4! :)
Hope this is still going well. I was tempted do follow it couple of years ago – decided to go for my own. Still, I kept one of the guiding rules albeit more modest: I try to make one person happy every day. And finding that some days are better than others :).
That’s an excellent habit – I really REALLY like that one :)
I think the important thing is to have a discipline, a plan, and stick to it – not taking it literally.
On the other hand, I myself want to be Warren Buffett for a few decades….
You want to be old? :)
https://budgetsaresexy.com/2015/03/money-saying-rather-be-young/
Haha, no I want to be Warren Buffett “for a few decades”, meaning start at the age I am, and compound money for a while, doing what I like doing.
But yeah, it would be dumb to trade my relative youth for the life of an 85 year old… Buffett himself has said that he would gladly give up all of his billions to switch places with a 20 something year old, and that the 20something year old would be out of their minds to switch.
TRUTH!
Awesome article! I’m starting a new job in the next few weeks and will come up with a routine/schedule using this as a framework and see if I can’t do more good in this world!
Good stuff! I’m new to your blog but love it already, keep up the great work!
C
So glad to hear! I hope you find it helpful!
Hmm, no room in this lifestyle for TV!! I wonder how many folks just can’t/won’t do something like this because they are too plugged into their TV entertainment. Now that’s a waste of time!!
Interestingly enough, I’m SOOOO drained by the end of the day that I could care less about TV or even working for that matter. Which I actually love, since work is constantly on the mind when you’re self-employed and ONLINE for that matter. The internet never sleeps!
Ok…been up early the last two days…4:30-5am. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t planned…the dogs keep getting me up. But it truly is amazing how peaceful it is. I got some extra reading in, took your drawer challenge, did some work on the budget, took pics of junk to unload, put them on yard sale site and made $47 by 7:30. Woohoo. Maybe I should do this everyday. Do you think you’ll keep it up?
Holy crap! Haha…
YES. No doubt in my mind I’ll keep it up. In a strange way, 5 am now actually EXCITES me. Like, I actually get happy the second I hear it which is one of the craziest things out of this experiment haha… I consider myself a night person!
That’s great…good for you. I consider myself a night person, too and am not sure that I can do it everyday. But, I think I am going to try and do it on my own, without the help of the dogs. Today has been really productive, I have unloaded so many wonderful things that other people can’t seem to live without (AKA…my crap) and made a haul ($102) and son, Kash Jr. ($19). Also, found .29 at the parking lot where I meet people, so $102.29. It’s really rare to find change anymore….most people don’t have any cash. So, that was cool.
Rock on! Hopefully there’s many more mornings like that to come :)
You just posted your update today, and I went back to read this original article. The link to the article that originally inspired you seems to be broken. Could you update it or is it gone forever? Ah, the internet…
Dang, yeah – looks like that original article is now offline. I just updated the post, sorry :(
The juicy part was that screenshot of B. Franklin’s schedule though :)