Donnie got frustrated this weekend when he discovered his barber shop (are they called that anymore?) was closed on Sundays. “Maybe you can go one day after work this week?” I suggested. “I don’t like doing anything after work.” OH MY GOD. ME NEITHER. I HATE DOING STUFF AFTER WORK. WE ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER.
But seriously. I hate doing stuff after work.
It’s no secret that my most productive time of the day is when the rest of the world is sleeping. I wake up naturally early and hit the ground running. Well, I mean, I go straight to my desk and blog…but THEN…THEN I hit the ground running. I do laundry and dishes and pack lunches. I often run 5-6 miles. I’m the Queen of Getting Shit Done before the sun comes up.
But after work? I do not want to do CRAP.
Of course, soccer season has started so the whole Go Home And Put On My Fuzzy Houseslippers thing is impossible. I always schedule one quick trip home to let out my dog, and usually gather soccer gear up, and then it’s to the fields. But I hate doing stuff after soccer! I don’t want any errands needing to be done after soccer. I don’t want to do housework. I don’t want to wash my face or clip my toenails. I want to come home, put on my houseslippers and veg out.
BUT! BUT! BUT! The last week or so I’ve actually been much better about this stuff. I’ve gotten really behind on housework which means if – by some miracle – someone wants to see our house, we have a shit-load of cleaning to do first. (We ask for a large notice because I work far from home but need to get my dog out.) But if I want to get caught up it requires a large block of time, like at least 2 very focused hours. But I don’t have 2 very focused hours! So, what have I done? Broken down the catch-up items into a list of 7 and I’m just going to do one a night until I’m caught up. Last night? Clean Wesley’s room! Tonight? Clean Nikki’s room!
(Yes. I know they can clean their own rooms. But it turns out their method, once the rooms get this bad, makes my life MORE difficult because it’s more about hiding stuff that I’ll not be able to find later.)
Once I’m caught up, I’ll try to get back into the habit of spending that one-task time every night doing the general maintaining that we’ve been neglecting because…and here’s where I bring it back…I HATE DOING ANYTHING AFTER WORK.
I do feel like trying to break my Binge Before Bed habit and my Nightly Beer habit helps allow for more productivity in the evening. Full bellies and beer buzzes do not inspire you to do much of anything. Last night I did a run while Nikki was at soccer and evening workouts are very rare for me. Then I came home and helped Wes with his homework and did dishes…all before doing that one Catch Up task before bed. I was more productive last night than I have been the entire months of evenings before, so obviously something is working.
BREAKING NEWS: Late night binging and beer drinking does not promote productiveness.
But, man. I still really just want to come straight home after work and put on my fuzzy houseslippers and sit down and read. Or veg out in front of a movie. Or go to sleep at 6pm.
Any other morning people have the same struggle? Being a functioning adult in the evening when your energy surge comes at 4am?
I have the opposite problem – being a functioning adult in the morning when your energy surge comes after dinner. I have to get up at 5:30am to make lunches and get kids going in the morning. I feed the cat, clean the litter box and start a load of laundry, but that’s about all I’ve got in me at that hour. I want nothing more than to crawl back in bed and sleep a few more hours.
Lately I’ve been having trouble being productive both in the morning and evening. I haven’t been sleeping well, so it makes me want to veg out all day! I’m also feeling perpetually behind. Last year I ran during Wesley’s soccer practices, but this year he is playing for his school so I just stay at work.
My sleeping has been getting better which also helps. I swear, when I’m tired? Everything just falls apart around me. Donnie’s been sleeping HORRIBLY so now he’s useless (I think it’s pre Ironman nerves) so it’s a good thing I’m doing better or the kids would be S.O.L. 🙂
Ugh! Me too! And I have a long commute on the days that I work in the office, so that makes me even more tired and ready to veg out when I get home.
My thing is once I get home, I’m done. If a prescription needs picking up, or dry cleaning, or whatever, it MUST be done on the way home. Once I get home? I am not going out again. I can usually manage to fold clothes or something mindless while watching something on TV. Doing something that involves actual thinking? not so much.
YES. On the way home is the “buffer zone”. Once I’m home? NO. I’ll even go to the 24-hour grocery at 5am when I wake up as opposed to going out for something the night before.