I spent the weekend at the beach. We soaked up sun, introduced each other to various sites from childhood, and generally took it easy.
On weekends I wake up 2-3 hours earlier than my roommates, and this held true at the beach. I had the condo to myself every morning, and I got so much done! Something about the new scenery, the quiet, the no-plans-until-beach-time made it effortless to get up when I awoke (no battling the snooze button), tiptoe downstairs, and settle with my computer to edit the money presentation, write emails, and draft blog posts. There were so few distractions that it was effortless to prioritize and organize my tasks.
We got home today, back to the grind of our jobs and responsibilities. I felt so good about my work while we were away. How can I maintain the early morning energy and productivity I had at the beach? I have a few ideas:
Work outside. The different scenery of working on our back deck, rather than from my bed or couch, may do me good. Watching the sun come up and hearing the birds chirp is a nice contrast to a computer.
Go to bed early. There was nothing to distract me at the beach the way there is at home. With all my things around, it’s easy to stay up doing small tasks or lollygagging online. At the beach I avoided my computer unless I was working, because I was on vacation. With little going on, I went to bed between 10:00 and 11:00 and woke up refreshed around 6:30-7:00.
Work time only. Every day there’s a mix of work, personal, and household things to accomplish. I often have option paralysis when I wake up, but this didn’t happen at the beach. When I wake up this week, it will be for work only. No chores, no tidying, no anything else. I’ll choose two tasks to do in the morning to avoid paralysis. It’s hard to feel overwhelmed by two things.
Keep to myself. Part of what I loved at the beach was the silence and solitude. Workdays at home involve roommates exchanging bleary hellos as we all start our days. By absconding myself to the deck, I can keep to myself and stay in the zone.
This week I’ll try to keep the vacation-productivity strong. I’m hopeful that holding on to my beach mentality will help me start my days fully present to get things done.
(photo taken by Eva Jannotta)
