Zheer, I like this thread, I'm also interested in how people manage their daily lives. What we make of ourselves is made day by day, hour by hour. To waste time is to shortchange ourselves and what good we can do in the world. Idleness can even hurt others in roundabout ways.
I've been gradually trying to run my life better over the last few years. If anyone remembers that little philosophic phase of the forum a while back, it got me curious about what philosophy is good for, the best use I've found for philosophy is as a bunch of well-formulated ideas on how to live. I have no use for the spacey-stuff or anything that I can't put to use in my daily life.
Funny, the whole thing started with the desire to become good at piano -> become more effective at practicing piano -> also become more effective at practicing life.
I figure a good routine is important, without it I fall into distracting habits, for a good routine to mean anything I need something to DO with the day. Big things are good, I can set big goals and not have to think as I go to bed "so what do I do with tomorrow?".
Since the idea is to get good at piano, that sets up my days for me:
- practice of course
- peaceful place to practice means renting the apartment I'm in, making it comfortable, internet for distance learning so I can upgrade my math to get into university, also to read and find books/cd's/whatever else. All these things were projects in themselves. I had to spend two hours on the phone to get my damn internet working, mostly on hold!
- all this costs money, in addition to saving up for tuition so I can focus entirely on music when I get there. So work takes up a lot of time, I try to be effective there too and have gotten pretty good at making money, and enjoying the process. Another benefit to keeping the day full is that I have less idle time to spend pissing away the money I've worked hard for.
The better I use my time, the more I can truely relax without thinking in the back of my head that I have things to be done. True relaxation is important, gotta have rest! Some people I know who spend their time playing videogames are actually very stressed because they're neglecting important things, I see things stack up until that person is living in a state of perpetual emergency (and videogames).
Sleep habits and eating habits are important for energy. I've struggled with sleep habits for a long time, the solution I found was to set the alarm early and get up no matter what. After a couple tired mornings I finally learn to just go to be earlier. It's become more habitual but I have to be careful not to backslide into late nights. Eating before bed gives me a restless sleep, if I don't eat 3 hours before bed I wake up feeling great and my mind is alert for some quality morning practice.
So here's my typical day:
6AM: wakeup, listen to a bit of radio, breakfast, practice, coffee.
8AM: arrive at work.
2-4PM: finish work. I try to get away with 6 hour days by not having a long lunch break, no coffee breaks, mostly just working away.
-8PM: unwind a bit after work, practice, read, have some dinner, surf the net.
8-10PM: chill with a book, on the net, occassionally pop in a movie. wind down for bed and if I've done everything I'm supposed to do with the day, sleep comes easy.
Nothing too exciting, but it's pretty productive when I can pull it off properly. Which is a constant effort, but it's worth it and it gets easier as it become habit.
Topic: My life monday to friday.