The Twenty Minute Day

Rethinking the time block

Mornings are not my thing. Especially if the sun is not up yet. Trying to make the most of them will be a big step for me.

If work was not required, I would sleep in, wake up whenever it suited me, reach for some caffeine and indulge in some type of brunch set up.

How my mornings usually go equates to a few snooze buttons, a shower, prep and caffeine on the go. No breakfast, no time for myself.

What I learned in my time block evaluation is that I actually have 2 hours between my target wake up time of 7am and my start work time of 9am. I really needed to ask myself what have I been doing with that time until now so I plotted it out.

Breaking my morning into 20 Minute Time Blocks
7:00 – Wake Up/Snooze
7:20 – Shower
7:40 – Get Dressed
8:00 – Eat/Lunch Prep
8:20 – Commute
8:40 – Commute

Those two hours feel pretty busy to me. I feel like I am on the move all the time. If you are managing others in this window it probably feels even more chaotic.

For me the goal is to make the most of the time I have now that I have laid it out this way. Ask myself, is there anything I would do differently.

What stands to me most is the commute time window. While everyone’s commute is different, I am looking at approximately 40 minutes. I also want to call out that during some of that time I need to be hands free off my mobile device and for others there are people around so I need headphones which makes the two parts of my commute extremely different.

If I was highly motivated to learn a language I might use my commute time to practice. If I want to learn a new skill for work, I could similarly use to the time to watch an educational piece. If I want an update on news and what’s going on in the world around me there are a myriad of ways to get caught up from traditional radio and television reports to more modern podcasts and websites.

How do I use that time now? I am checking in on any work emails that have come in overnight. Looking at my work calendar to prep for my day. I realize now that I have inadvertently used this time to extend my work day.

Maybe my new morning time block needs to look like this
8:20 – Commute
8:40 – Commute
9:00 – Check emails, etc once at work

I have essentially just opened up time in my morning to take on something I want to do. Not in an attempt to over book myself, but rather in an attempt to put things back into the time blocks that they are meant to be in.

What I have been doing has helped prep me for what I am about to walk into each day for work, but it has also taken away from other ways I could be engaging in things I actually want to spend time doing.

I would suggest you do a similar exercise. Look at what makes up your mornings and see if you would adjust your priorities within each time block to reduce your daily stress and kick start your day in a more positive manner.