I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.
Today’s tip is to free up time in your diary by cancelling any unnecessary plans.
I keep busy. In fact, I rarely take a day off from everything. If not work, I coach, I look to exercise most days, and even on weekends I look to tackle at least part of a project at the ranch.
That being said, I have started to try and find days where I don’t plan things. I might tackle less things, since I’m disinclined to just sit around, but I won’t make a goal for myself and I might just wander through part of a project or a chore.
I’ve also taken to cancelling plans at times to free up a few hours of life. Maybe I’ll cook something, or play guitar, or watch a movie, but when I have more than 3 scheduled things in a week, I might look to cancel one or two to find time to unwind a bit.
I did this recently, when my wife and I were scheduled to go out with a friend. With multiple things on our schedule, we agreed to reschedule and push things back a couple weeks.
Downtime is good, even if I don’t always want to take it.