Altered Schedules Part 2: Resetting Sleep Cycle

I’m continuing to try the Altered Schedule talked about earlier.   I don’t think its working.

I even went as far as trying to Reset my Sleep Cycle with a 16-Hour Fast.  Twice.  This is the second time. Result:  While hungry, I don’t get much sleep; Sure enough I wake up at 6am no problem.. its now 11am and I am draaaaggging.  If this is like the last time I did this (Tuesday morning), at about 1pm the sleepy is going to hit like a ton of bricks attached to my eyelids.

On the other hand, yesterday there wasn’t anything I could do before a 10am meeting at the client site, so I slept in.  I had a wonderful day!

I am about ready to throw in the towel.  My clock likes to fall asleep at about 1am or 2am, and get up around 8am.  Next week, I’m going to try and respect that:

  The Plan The Reality
8am-? Wake up, Shower, Journal, etc TBD
?-10am Get to work by 10 Probably more like 9:30.
10am-7pm Be work productive.  
First meal probably at noon.
Will get cut short whenever anything sneezes .. family sports, etc.
7pm-9pm Household productive.  Dishes, sweeping, etc. Eating dinner with the wife would count as household productive. Smile
9pm-11pm Play I can be pretty good at this part when I get my target figured out.
11pm-midnight Wind down Not so good at this.
midnight-8am Sleep 1am: Cat.  3am: Cat  5,6am: Cat

Hey, Deployment done.  Back to work.

Altered Schedule

This is day 4 of an altered schedule.  Now that I’m off caffeine, and .. either (a) I’m waking up more alert, or (b) I am equally sleepy all day ..  After going on a vacation, and getting some feedback from very wise person, I am trying this:

  • MAKE TIME for things that are fun.

However, at the same time, my wife and I are trying something else:

  • Can we exist with one car? 

The plan on the latter was, I would have the car on Tuesday and Thursday, and she would have the car on M,W,F.  I drop her at work / she drops me at a work / that kind of thing.

So here is how it has panned out:

  The Plan The Reality
6am-? Wake Up, jump in the shower, drink some water, etc. 2/4 days yes.  3rd day: shower followed by nap.  4th day:  sleep till 7.
?-8am Get to work (or leave for work) by 8am! More like 8:30 arrival, or 9:00, but hey the cat has a vet appointment, so lets go for 10:00.
8am-5pm Work till 5 or whenever I get my hours in by. Leave at 3:30 to get the wife from her job, go home and then work at home for a few hours
5pm-8pm Be “productive” till 8pm (house stuff, etc) This has worked pretty well.  Dishes are done!   Bills are paid!  Cat is brushed!
8pm-10pm Do something fun / just for me from 8 to 10 This has also worked pretty well.  Video editing, watching pro cycling, etc
10pm-11pm Head upstairs, wind down, journal, dim the lights, get to bed Worked ok for 2 days.  Then yesterday: THOU SHALT NOT SLEEP!
11pm-6am 7 hours of sleep! 1am: Cat.  3am: Cat.  5am: Cat. 

What we also figured out is, my wife uses her driving time as her solitude time.. she’s a closet introvert (I am a closet extrovert?!!) .. so as much as I loved having time with her all to myself in the car while transporting each other, she got increasingly grumpy at not having recharge time.

So, in summary:

a.  Our schedules are too deviant to make it work with one car.   We’re keeping both cars.

b.  I’ll try The Plan again.  This time with my own car.