Over the past 10 weeks, I have been writing about the book Tranquility By Tuesday* by Laura Vanderkam. It came back into my life at a time when I was able to apply it to my quest for a more deliberate life. Today’s article will focus on a look at how, or if, I am applying the rules during my reflections on Tranquility By Tuesday.

All The Rules Have Value

There is not a single rule in the Tranquility By Tuesday* book that I thought about dismissing out of hand. Each one of the rules I could see would have value when applied to my life.

They were selected for having a lot of impact on a life, and I completely agree that they would…if I could keep all of them up.

A Habit Won’t Stick If You Do It Once

There is a lot of talk in scientific/psychological circles about what it takes to make a habit. All I know, and I am sure all the scientists would agree, is that doing something once before moving on to the next thing is not going to make something stick as a habit.

I found it more difficult to deal with the once-a-week habits on their own. As soon as I put them together and tied them to the planning rule, I was able to make it flow better.

What Stuck

The rules that I found easiest to assimilate were the ones where I was already doing something similar:

• #2 Plan on Fridays: I already had a habit of planning the week, but it was on a Sunday. Moving to Fridays gave me a large chunk of my Sunday back, but also made things easier to deal with. Weekends became less of a “get all the leftover stuff done” and move of a time to engage in meaningful and deliberate activity.
• #5 Create A Backup Slot: I was already leaving time in my schedule for when something earlier slipped. But purposefully creating backup slots means that I don’t stress if something doesn’t get done. I know I will have another time in the week.
• #7 Take One Night For You: I have been taking Wednesdays for music rehearsals for many, many years. This one changed the least, but I found my attitude shifting from an activity that tried my patience to something I looked forward to where I get to socialize and connect.

What Became Part of the Weekly Plan

The rules that shifted and became easier to do when attached to the weekly plan are:

• #4 3 Time A Week Is A Habit: instead of beating myself up for not going to the gym more often, I canceled my gym membership and started using an at-home space. I schedule the time for 3-4 sessions a week, and can easily fit it in on the days I work from home. Same with percussion practice. I find that attaching this to the weekly planning makes it much more likely I will get it done.
• #8 Batch The Little Things: Looking at my schedule from a weekly view, I am able to schedule a couple of hours to deal with the little stuff. I do all my house cleaning, both weekly and deep, in one session (with a backup planned). I spend time at my desk and deal with all the paperwork in one session. My blog paperwork is done on Mondays before dinner (with the added time constraint helping me move through it faster).
• #6 One Big Adventure, One Little Adventure: instead of looking at large open areas on my schedule on the weekend I find myself looking for an adventure. This allows me to think outside the box. I have written at the library, gone to lunch with a friend, had coffee with another friend. All of these things are done without having to watch the clock. My little adventures are just little differences in my schedule like eating lunch outside at the office or reading a new book or napping with the cat. One Friday, I took advantage of an unexpected opening in my schedule and went to some stores I hadn’t been to in a long time.

What Didn’t Stick

It’s funny when I look at the things that didn’t stick, because they are the two things that I know will have the greatest impact on the rest of my life.

• #1 Give Yourself A Bedtime: I know how helpful this is. I know how much better I feel when I get enough sleep. I know how much easier the next day is when I go to bed on time. I have alarms set to remind me to get ready for bed. And yet, I can’t seem to do it consistently. Sometimes I get to bed on time and get caught up in what I am reading and end up staying up past midnight. Sometimes I just can’t make myself go to bed. It is something I will keep working on.
• #3 Move By 3 P.M.: Like the sleeping, I know how much better I feel when I get up and walk. I know how much better I feel when I have done a video. I have videos for all different levels and lengths, thanks to FitOn and BetterMe. I reward myself by watching a favorite show while on the elliptical. I have time scheduled to make it a habit. And I still can’t make myself do it. Since I am now really looking at ways to bring down inflammation and build muscle, I will have to keep working on it.

The Hardest Rule To Follow

I have found that the hardest rule to follow is #9 Effortful Before Effortless. Not because it is particularly difficult, but rather because I forget there are options for what I will tackle next.

When I remember to do this, it is good. I have made more progress on little projects and habits since I started doing this than perhaps in the past six months. The problem is remembering.

To make this a little easier, I made myself a bookmark listing all of the little effortful things I could do before doing something effortless. These include Duolingo, practicing a musical instrument, learning new technology, listening to a podcast, reading a saved article, crafting and more.

The bookmark is visible whenever I have my bullet journal open. I find that having the list makes me remember what I can do before I play a video game or watch a mystery or lose myself in a book.

I will continue to work on making these rules fit into my life. I have noticed a lot less stress since I started following them. And the two that I haven’t integrated are of such value that it will give me a lot of positive result for little effort. I am glad that I came across this book again and I’ve found it a worthwhile use of my time.

Doing meaningful things doesn’t require more time. It requires better use of time. We all know that mindless scrolling and social media are not a good use of limited free time. (But they’re so enjoyable!) By applying Tranquility By Tuesday’s* Rule #9, Effortful Before Effortless, you can have your meaningful and your social media.

I Do This, Don’t I?

When I first read this chapter, I felt kind of smug. Because after giving up social media a few years ago, I don’t waste my time on it.

But after really looking at how I spend time, I find that I have other effortless activities that are crowding other things out.

For instance, I am prone to play endless word games on my phone. As a result of this, I have strict limits set on my phone.

Another example: I have a tendency to get lost in a book (and not one that does anything other than provide pure entertainment). A the worst, I can lose 3 evenings a week. As a result of this, I have limits set on my phone and tablet for Kindle.

And there are other activities, which were shown up by a time audit.

Just because I don’t do social media doesn’t mean that I don’t lose large chunks of time to effortless activities.

Forcing Myself To Do Effortful Activities Backfires

This is where my inner child comes out with a case of the “won’ts”. I have tried to schedule more meaningful activities in place of my effortless ones, and after about three days the inner kid pitches a fit.

Even scheduling an evening for nothing doesn’t fix this.

Weeks still go by without me engaging in things like puzzles, crafting, reading non-fiction, listening to podcasts or reading articles.

The only effortful activity I regularly engage in is Duolingo. And I think that is because the app reminds me relentlessly to use it.

Effortful Before Effortless

This rule turns these things on their head. It doesn’t say “give up all social media and television”. It doesn’t say “you have to limit your effortless activities.”. It definitely doesn’t say “choose better things do with your time.”

All it says is that you engage with something that requires a bit of effort before you engage in those effortless activities.

What This Looked Like For Me

After I thought through this, I decided that I would give it a try. I’ve been spending a large chunk of my leisure time since the new year reading mysteries or crafting while watching television.

I figured out a list of 17 things that require a little bit more effort and I now engage in those first.

Some of the things on my list are practicing percussion; walking to the corner and back; listening to a podcast; reading a saved article; reading a non-fiction book; organizing a drawer or a surface; and exploring a new technology.

None of these take very long. In fact, the longest, listening to a podcast, sometimes is what I end up doing when I am crafting.

But what I have found is that I am getting more things done that have meaning. I can say “I knit a scarf last month” or “I read 3 non-fiction books so far this year” or “I learned about ChatGPT”. All the bragging rights, and I still got to watch my British murder mysteries.

Keeping It Going

For me, having the list of choices was crucial. But like so many other things in my life, out of sight out of mind.

To combat this I put my list of 17 things on piece of paper and laminated it. I look at it after my tasks are done and before I engage in anything else.

It doesn’t mean that some nights I choose to just vegetate. I still do. But more often than not I will work something effortful in first.

One of the biggest time savers you can implement is to group like tasks. This grouping can be by location, piece of equipment, type of work or other common thread. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #8: Batch The Little Things explains how batching will work to not only save you time but also add to your peace..

Little Stuff Can Suck Up ALL The Time

Have you ever had a day when you had some big important stuff to do, but decided to clear the decks first? Did you ever get to do the big important things?

It happens to me all the time. I want to sit down to write, but first I need to clean the kitchen. I want to write a blog article, but first I need to look at alternatives for a status light for our office (no kidding, this just happened).

Little stuff can be used as a procrastination tool, like when I find myself scrubbing the grout in the bathroom instead of doing the task I really should be doing.

Little stuff can also expand way beyond the time it should take as well, and that is how I find that the little stuff sucks up all of my free time.

And that means there is no time for the stuff that I want to do – crafting, writing, reading, etc.

Batching Is Powerful

Contexts

I’ve known since the first time I read Getting Things Done* by David Allen about batching. GTD advocates “contexts” which are places/equipment that you need to do your tasks. The thought is that you only see the tasks that you can do at any given moment with the place/equipment your have on hand. You don’t waste brain cycles thinking about what you need to do at home when you are at the office.

My problem with contexts is that they became outdated as technology advanced. You still can’t do tasks at home when you are at the office, but with smart phones, tablets and laptops, equipment no longer becomes a significant context limiter.

Themed Days

Later time management systems took this a step further and set themes for days. This is particularly advocated by those who work for themselves. Monday for content creation, Tuesday for interviews, Wednesday for administrative tasks, etc.

This worked well in that I was getting a lot of things done, but I found that the tasks would take up my whole evening. I also found that things would slip through the cracks. I was putting things off because they didn’t match the theme of the day, and then lost track of them.

Batching ala Tranquility By Tuesday

The batching put forth in Tranquility By Tuesday* takes the concept of a few small blocks of time and dedicating them to small tasks.

There are two reasons for this, according to the book: 1) it forces you to prioritize your small tasks, keeping them from sucking up all the time; and 2) it removes little tasks as options when you are looking to get things done.

Very Powerful Chapter

For those of you who are interested in productivity, this chapter is worth a read on its own. She covers so many of the issues with getting things completed, from procrastination to rabbit holes to getting the right thing done to matching tasks with energy.

It’s way too much to cover in a single blog article (but I am making a note to consider expanding this in the future)

My Experience With This Form Of Batching

I have to admit that this rule seemed the most likely to give me a better handle on my life. However, I found this was the hardest for me to implement because I was working against prior knowledge.

My batching took a few different forms.

First, I batched my weekly housework to one hour on Friday evening. This placed a time limit on something that I could drag out into 2 to 3 hours. I can easily accomplish it in one, as long as I stay focused.

Next I batched my deep cleaning tasks for the week into an hour, either on Friday evening or Saturday morning. This again encouraged me to get my rear in gear. There were some things that I wasn’t able to get done, but I tried to make sure that I did the tasks that occurred yearly first, then semiannually, then monthly. There were a few of these things that I scheduled bigger blocks for, such as pressure washing the driveway and cleaning the pollen (ick) off of the screened porch, because these tasks take several hours.

I also made smaller batches that can be accomplished during down time when I am working at home. These smaller batches include paying bills, answering email and dealing with the small blog admin tasks. I have a backup block for these schedule for an hour on Thursday (a day I am typically in the office).

Clearing The Decks

Due to a situation beyond my control that has sapped my energy for a couple of months (and included a 5 day period where I needed to be prone or reclined) things piled up. And even though the book specifically warns against “clearing the decks” (a naval term, I learned), I did implement a clearing the decks day.

This day was a Sunday, when I normally have commitments with music, church and friends. But due to a combination of things I found a day that I could do lots of things.

I took my long task list, and divided it onto four pieces of paper.

One piece goes to my husband, who as newly retired from government service, is taking on more of the house stuff. He will be washing all of the valances in the house and cleaning blinds in the next week. He also will be thoroughly vacuuming the upstairs and washing the floors in our suite. (8 items)

The next piece of paper has the deep cleaning tasks for me. This includes cleaning lights in bedroom and kitchen, and deep cleaning the great room (8 tasks).

The next piece of paper is the weekly stuff that didn’t get done last week (or the week before that). This includes menu planning, deep cleaning the kitchen, and some other tasks (15 tasks)

The last list has all the computer tasks I need to do, including blog articles and 7 tasks pertaining to a committee I lead at church.

Will it all get done? Probably not. But I have the lists ready to go and can try and speed through them as quickly as possible.

This will take a day that I would normally not have had and allowed me to make things a lot calmer for the coming week.

I can see that this rule is one that I am going to continue to struggle with over the next few months as I try to break bad habits and limit the amount of time the unimportant stuff takes up in my life.

Getting stuck in the grind of the week, particularly if you are parents, can make life seem like a never-ending to-do list. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #7, Take One Night For Yourself, encourages us to do something outside of the normal to rejuvenate yourself.

This is one rule that I was already doing, and have done for many years. Every Wednesday night, from August to June, I have participated in a choir.

Why Take A Night

Taking a night for yourself is a way to give yourself a break from all the tasks and responsibilities that can fill up every minute of our life. It gives us a place to be ourselves, without any of the labels that can follow us around. (Did you know my name was actually “E’s Mom”?)

Tranquility By Tuesday* not only goes into a deep dive of why you should take a night, but also the importance of leaving home to do it. This is because you are more likely to actually take the time if you leave your home.

Don’t Give In To the Obstacles

The book also goes into great detail about how to make this happen. This can be particularly challenging when you have children. There are many strategies to give you ideas on how to succeed.

That’s not to say if there is an urgent situation at home that you shouldn’t be present. Just that you should view this as a priority.

My Night Every Week

I joined the choir and music program for our church before I was married (over 25 years ago) and with a couple of years of break I have been consistent. It allows me to get out of the house and be with other musicians, learning music and techniques and singing/playing with people in small ensembles.

I have done this with the help of childcare provided by the church, my husband taking a break from choir to care for our toddler daughter, and as she grew older, having her sit in the pews doing homework during rehearsal.

The only break I took was during my teacher training and my teaching year, when I had other commitments on Wednesday night.

Taking My Night A Step Further

My husband is no longer in choir, and my daughter is in college. But this night continues to be an important weekly time to see my friends and learn about music.

While the choir commitment is only about 1.5 hours a week, I have taken this rule a bit further since reading Tranquility By Tuesday*. I no longer schedule tasks before or after choir on Wednesdays. I take a break from my task lists, cooking, housework and anything else. I allow myself to read or craft or watch television or play a video game.

Why I Love This Rule

This rule gives me a break in the middle of the week. My job can be intellectually exhausting, and I find that exercising other “muscles” gives me a reset to get through the remainder of the work week.

If everything you do is routine, time will slip by in a blur and you will find yourself wondering where it went. Tranquility By Tuesday* Rule #6: One Big Adventure, One Little Adventure aims to get you doing things to avert time blurring together.

My Realization Through Conversation

Since my mother’s death I have spoken with my stepfather every Sunday evening. These conversations are much more interesting than those with my mother, mainly from the fact that it is a conversation and not letting one person (my mother) do all the talking. My stepfather will always ask what I have been doing during the week.

Looking back over the week and realizing that I did nothing but work, go to choir, do housework and read made me realize that my life had become far too routinized. The days and weeks melded into one, and it became hard for me to think about what I had done.

Where To Find Time

The rule says that a big adventure would be about a half day on a weekend and a small adventure could be an hour.

At first I thought I didn’t have time, but planning out my week ahead of time allowed me to see that I could easily find a hour for a small and a couple hours for a big adventure.

Obviously both of these had to work with my schedule and my geographic location; but there was time there.

What To Do?

Then the question of what to do came in. What could I do that was outside of my usual routine to be considered an adventure?

To help with this, I added a section to my yearly plan called “100 things to do in 2024”.

I started numbering and writing. And promptly got stuck at 16. And sadly, the first 16 included 8 entries, 4 each to read a book in productivity and programming.

It took me three multi-hour sessions, but I finally dragged myself to 100. And that will give me plenty of options to choose from for my weekly adventures.

My Big Adventures So Far

I look forward to my adventures every week. I plan them out when I do my weekly plan, and if I don’t have any definite ideas in mind I go to my 100 things list.

So far, since implementing this, I have done a writing session at the library, learned how to do hotpot (at a new restaurant), and seen the snow in the mountains.

My Little Adventures So Far

I found myself dismissing the little adventures at first, because it is only an hour. But once I got into the spirit of it, I have been having fun.

So far, my little adventures include cleaning out my cookbooks (and rediscovering the ones I had), tried a meal prep service, had lunch with a friend, and met a former Girl Scout mom for coffee (which has turned into a monthly thing).

My Time Is Passing With More Attention

Time is still passing, but the days when I have an adventure or do something out of ordinary stick out more to me. I have been able to tell my stepfather more of what is going on with me. And at another level, my life feels more meaningful.

One of the things I struggle with during my planning is that plans never go according to plan. Something changes and all of a sudden I am running away from the huge rock ala Indiana Jones. Rule #5 from Tranquility By Tuesday* tells me I need to create a backup slot.

GTD: Put Tasks on the Calendar

One of the concepts of Getting Things Done* was put put things on the calendar. I balked when I realized that this meant putting tasks on the calendar. I have far too much to do in any given day to list things out because my life is spent doing little tasks, not grand projects.

So I put that concept aside.

I tried block planning many other times over the years, but I found that no matter what I did, I would plan the day, and something would derail me, and then I would be flattened by the rock of undone tasks, always running to try and catch up.

General Slots Are Good Blocks

This goes along with Rule #2: Plan On Fridays. When we plan a week at a time, we can designate time in blocks to do things. I like this, because I can set aside chunks of time to work on the big areas of my life like writing, crafting and music. I can also set aside time to handle chunks of the smaller stuff, like housework and other household tasks.

Identifying Pinch Points

I also know where the pinch points in my schedule are. These are the times, when due to the other things on my plan, I know that I might have time or energy issues.

I never plan tasks on Wednesdays, for instance. I am in the office that day, and when I get home I have 30 minutes to change and eat before I am out the door to choir.

I also know that Friday afternoons, while open, are not going to see me doing much. I am done with the week, and scheduling housework or exercising in that time means I am not going to do it. I am more willing to do computer tasks during that time, and so that is when I do my planning.

Weekly Planning With Blocks

When I weekly plan, I set first lay out the calendar stuff. Then I start filling in blocks for exercise and music practicing, and then dinner prep for the four nights that my husband and I are home during the week,

Next I will look at my big projects and slot them in. I put in at least one block for blogging, one block for writing, and a block for crafting. These are usually full evenings. Monday I work on the blog, Wednesday after choir is for crafting, and Tuesday is for writing.

Then I add blocks in for the small stuff: grocery shopping, housework, desk time.

Backup Slots

Not all blocks need a backup. My big tasks of writing, blogging and crafting, while important to me, don’t have earthshaking consequences if not done.

But the smaller tasks like grocery shopping and housework significantly impact quality of living if they are skipped, so it made sense for me to put in backup blocks for these.

My housework, for example, has a block on Thursday when I clean the kitchen, and then another block on Thursday when I clean my zone. Since Thursday is a low-energy day, I might not get to it, so I put a single backup block on Saturday right before dinner, and one Sunday morning.

What If You Get It Done Before the Backup Block?

In the case where I get things done before a backup block, I treat that block as a treat. I can read a book, work a puzzle, watch television or craft. It’s like the free space on a bingo card.

Since I have been doing this, I have never had to use the backup block on Sunday for housecleaning.

What If The Backup Block Isn’t Enough?

My first thought on doing backup blocks for housework was, “What if I don’t get it all done?”

The answer I arrived at was “Let it go”. If I have worked an hour and a half and I still don’t have all the housework done, then it doesn’t get done. I don’t take time away from other blocks to make it happen. An hour and a half is plenty of time to make the house good enough.

End Results

I’ve been happy with this approach. It has lessened my stress level, and I am getting far more done than if I were to approach it in catch up mode. Even on those days when I don’t hit all my tasks and blocks, I still get far more done than I was doing before.

When I first started Tranquility By Tuesday*, I was sure there was going to be nine things I had to do in addition to what I was already doing. The first three rules bore that out. But rule #4, “3 times is a habit”, actually took things off my plate.

The Trap Of Personal Development

I’ve done a lot of reading and trying of new systems over the years. And the one thing all of them had in common was to tell me I needed to additional things – or at least do things differently – in order to reach whatever they were promising.

Some systems advocate doing everything every day. The thought is if you work on something, even a little bit, you are making progress. All it did was make me frustrated and frantic when things went off schedule.

Some programs tell you to figure out your big tasks and let the little ones fill in between. For those who do not have a staff [insert link] this means that things important to our lives don’t get done.

So the first three rules of Tranquility By Tuesday* (Give yourself a bedtime, Plan on Fridays, Move by 3pm) indicated that this would be a similar trek.

When Daily Habits Aren’t

As the book points out, most things that people consider daily habits really aren’t. They get bumped for other things, or completely change on the weekends.

Is it really a daily habit if you don’t do it every day?

I drove myself crazy, telling myself that I needed to find time to exercise, read, practice music and learn a language every day. I had been taught early in life that these things have to be done every day, or my skills would backslide.

I know this to be false. I have gone years without playing my main instrument, and I can get back to where I was in a couple months of targeted practice.

Daily Habits as a Cause of Guilt

The problem with the mindset that certain activities (excluding hygiene) have to be done daily is that I developed an all-or-nothing attitude toward them.

I can’t exercise today? I might as well skip it for the rest of the week and start again next week.

I can’t play music for an hour today? I might as well skip it. (And this is really bad, because practicing correctly for 10 minutes is as good as an hour incorrectly)

Through the years I had developed a heavy all-or-nothing attitude, coupled with a heave dose of perfectionism. This is not a good way to be tranquil. Or productive.

3 Times A Week Is A Habit

Tranquility By Tuesday looks at the daily habit issue and gives a pass: anything you do 3 times a week is a habit. So I can claim exercising regularly if I do it 3 times in a week. Same with practicing music, reading, crafting, or studying a language.

Once I read that and internalized it, something shifted inside me. Looking at what I had done, I could see that I was doing most of the things three times a week. And I didn’t need to feel bad about not doing them more.

Using the Weekly Plan

It got even better when I started incorporating time into my weekly plan.

I could easily fit in 3-4 sessions of exercise. Using the lunch hours of the days I worked at home, one after-work session when I was in the office, and a Saturday morning block.

I could fit in half hours of music practice, sometimes 5 a week.

Following this, I found that not only could I fit in the habits, but I also didn’t feel like a failure when I had a super-busy day and couldn’t manage to do things.

3 Times Is Enough

By applying this rule, I found that I could ease up on myself. I didn’t have to eke out time every day to do the things I considered habits (again, hygiene excepted). I could schedule the time and know I was still going to be better than doing nothing.

I never would have guessed that physical activity would be one of the nine rules in Tranquility By Tuesday by Laura Vanderkam. But not only is included, it made the first three: the “Calm The Chaos” rules.

It’s Important To Move

I totally understand how important it is to be active. Plagued with hip problems that led to back spasms earlier this year, I learned through PT that I need to stretch. I faithfully stretch every morning.

OK, most mornings.

Well, actually, when I remember. So maybe once or twice a week. Unless my back or hips twinge.

I have a Fitbit, that buzzes my wrist at 50 minutes past every hour to remind me to get up and take 250 steps.

OK, I ignore that most of the time.

But I understand how important it is to move. Really. I just suck at execution.

After Work, Ain’t Gonna Happen

I had a gym membership, and I would plan to go after work. I would throw my gym bag in the car, and driving home, I would drive to the gym first.

Until COVID. When I stopped being in the office every day, it became even harder to motivate myself to go to the gym after work.

Same with exercise videos. I simply don’t want to exercise after a day of working.

This Rule Does Not Mean A Full Workout

Tranquility By Tuesday isn’t demanding a gym session. Nor is it demanding a serious amount of time.

10 minutes. That’s all.

The more that I thought about it, the more I thought how easy this is.

A 10 minute walk is to the end of the street and back.

A 10 minute walk at work is walking “the long way” to get water in the cafeteria…essentially the length of our floor twice, or once around the building.

A 10 minute session is all of my PT stretches.

I Can Do This!

Of course I groaned when I read this rule. But I have become convinced it is the easiest of the first three.

In fact, I figured out the perfect way to make this happen.

If I am at home at lunch, I do a 10 minute workout video from Better Me. The newbie ones get my heart moving without making me sweaty.

If I am at work at lunch, I walk around the building before eating lunch.

That’s it. It’s really easy.

My Resistance Points

I resisted doing regular exercise for a long time. There was always an excuse, but the main ones are “I don’t have time”, “I don’t have equipment”, “I don’t want to get sweaty during the work day.”

All three of them are blown away by my plan.

It Actually Got Easier To Do More

After implementing this rule for the first week, I asked my family to set up our sunroom as a workout place. They shifted all the stuff around (including moving the drum set to the attic) and now I have an open space to spread out a yoga mat or use my Gazelle glider*.

I’ve been doing some home lunch hours with 30 minutes on the glider while I watch a tv show.

It’s Always At Least 10 Minutes

The simplicity of the rule is such that even on the days when I just really don’t want to do anything except couch potato, I remember that 10 minutes is nothing. And more often than not I overrule my inner whiner and get moving.

During the reading Tranquility By Tuesday* book, I almost blew through the second rule, which is Plan On Fridays. I told myself that I already planned my Monday-start week on Sundays. Why on earth would I want to make it two days earlier?

The Case For Planning a Week

In the first part of the chapter, Laura Vanderkam goes over why you would want to plan at all. I’m going to assume that if you are reading this blog, that you understand why you do that little productivity cornerstone.

But she also makes the case for planning a week at a time. The real benefit to doing this is to give yourself a way to fit in a reasonable amount of tasks and projects.

I have found this to be good, even if it just blocking out the calendar so you have an idea of what is coming at you. But there is benefit in planning when you are going to tackle your personal stuff, too, not just being aware of the appointments.

Friday Planning

When I first saw the title, I assumed that she was going to say that you had to plan the Saturday immediately following. No, the actual plan is that you are planning the upcoming week and the weekend following it.

I do this with menu planning and it works well, but I didn’t think about applying to other planning.

Laura Vanderkam’s case for Friday planning is that you’re winding down the work week. No one starts anything new at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Why not use that time so that you can hit the ground running on Monday?

My Resistance

My resistance to this rule was that it usually took me a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon to go through the projects (Trello), tasks (Remember the Milk) and calendar (Google) to make a plan. I didn’t want to give up my Friday evening for something so mundane as planning!

And I never planned my week at work. I go to work, I work on what is the project of the minute, I attend meetings and go home.

Work Planning

I told myself I was going to give each one of these rules a fair shot. So I started with work planning. I laid out all my meetings on a grid, and…

Well, the next thing I did is email my boss and say, “Do you realize that 45% of my time is spent in status meetings for the 5 managed projects you have me assigned to?” And those meetings were ones, where every single day I said, “I have nothing to report. My tasks are post-implementation.”

With the work planning, I was able to show that my work was being negatively impacted by the sum total of the meetings. The project managers (all four of them) pushed back. “It’s only an hour once or twice a week.” But they didn’t realize that it was an hour or two for multiple projects, and that adds up.

Personal Planning

This took a bit of doing. I knew that I shouldn’t be spending two hours on planning every week. So how did I change this?

The first thing was to completely overhaul and simplify my task system. I rethought my workflows and the flow of information into Remember The Milk and adjusted it accordingly.

I tried planning on my Google calendar, but things got confusing quickly. So I made a simple Excel form that I printed out, and now I do the planning on that piece of paper with markers.

I mark off my set appointments, and then I figure out where my project work is going to go. I make sure to leave space to exercise as well as take care of the house.

The Results

I have started to plan my weeks at work. It’s a great thing in that last 15 minutes before signing off on Friday.

I’ve moved my personal planning to Friday, and I find that it is giving me more freedom to think about what I am going to do during the week. I have been exercising more regularly, cleaning the house, and working on my projects.

Definitely a win!

When I started reading Tranquility By Tuesday* book, I almost gave it up on the first rule: give yourself a bedtime. I have had an adversarial relationship with sleep for most of my life, and in spite of multiple tries to fix it, I didn’t think this could possibly do anything.

I was wrong.

Calm the Chaos

The book is divided into three sections, and the first section is called “Calm the Chaos”. The rules were selected and order to make the most of the building of the rules.

She landed on this order through her own experience and from the participants in her study.

Addressing The Fundamental Need For Sleep

The first rule is addressing the fundamental human need for sleep.

The chapter is subtitled “Going to bed earlier is how grownups sleep in.” This is interesting, because I can tell you “sleeping in” became 7 am – if I was lucky – once my daughter was born.

The book mentions that time logs often show that people are getting the quantity of sleep. So why are people tired?

Laura Vanderkam points to what she calls “disorderly sleep”. She points out that on the average, there is a sufficient average quantity, but the schedule itself was all over the place.

How To Put Yourself To Bed

As a parent, I found the next section that outlines how to put yourself to bed hilarious…and not. As a parent, I knew that a consistent bedtime and routine made things easier for putting my daughter to bed. And why would I be any different?

The Obstacles

As I read this part of the chapter I felt like I could have written it. I often stay up too late because I have too many things left to do. Or I find that it is the only time I get to myself. In fact, reading past my bedtime (often 3-4 hours) became such a problem that I bought myself a timer that shuts off the lights.

And I get resentful if I don’t get that time to myself.

She gives ways to deal with the resentment, too.

My Difficult Relationship With Sleep

For years I have struggled with difficult sleep. I am a light sleeper at times, and once I am awake, I am awake for hours. (Parenting a newborn was very difficult from this perspective)

I tried having a consistent bedtime, but there was always a little more to do.

I tried to cut out those last minute tasks, and then would get sucked into a leisure activity (primarily reading). It wasn’t unusual that I would be up to 3 or 4 once a week reading. The problem became so bad that I tried using a paper book and a light that shut itself off. I’ve heard this called “revenge procrastination” but it was just exhausting.

I tried using a software that would monitor my sleep cycles and wake me at the correct phase. That just led to too-early wake times

I did the tests for my chronotype*. I am a dolphin, someone who struggles with sleep. (And I did the tests again…and again. Same results.) And we’re not even going to go into the details of what perimenopause has had on my sleep.

So when this was the first rule, I thought, “this is never going to work.

It Worked, Though.

I really worked to make this happen. I decided I wanted to be up at 6 every day. That gives me adequate time to do my calm-inducing morning routine before I have to be anywhere else. I need 7.5 – 7.75 hours of sleep to feel well-rested (and wake up in the correct phase of my sleep cycle). That means bedtime is between 10 pm and 10:30 pm. I set an alarm on my phone for 9:45 to ease my way into the cycle.

The thing is, by the end of the first week, I felt much more awake, and I had stopped waking in the middle of the night. I was able to get up with more ease, and I had stopped oversleeping and hitting the snooze button.

End Result

In spite of my heavy skepticism, this rule worked for me. And it continues to work. I am getting the tasks done at the end of the night, and still having 10 minutes to read before falling asleep. It’s been amazing.