MY NO EXCEPTIONS REGULAR SCHEDULE
(This is an example for you to model the structuring of your day. 3/16. As I forget the sequence for the morning, this is copied and put into a checklist, posted on the fridge, with slightly more detail.)
6:00 Back and leg stretching (leg crossovers, twists, cat backs, etc.)
6:02 Toilet, weigh, hair, facial soak if appropriate, walk to kitchen, drink 2 (min. 1) glasses of water
6:05 Make coffee, pull out 3 minipeppers, lettuce handful, backwards windmill my arms, take multivitamin, 3 omega 3's, vitamin D, any other pill on current list
6:10 Drink coffee, eat breakfast, Quikscan emails (set 5 minute alarm, do no functions, no processing, just quick folder classificatio for today)
6:45 Plan day - Must be at desk at this point!
7:00 Exercise as vital launch to the day! Hot pursuit, if on fire about some subject, of writing or exercise/read for an hour. (Exercise can be moved up to any slot above, but must be before official "golden time".)
8:00 Gold work (writing, devising, projects) - Inviolable!
12:00 Prep lunch (15 min. max. if smoothie) (Exercise if not already done)
1:00 or sooner: Silver work (Easier projects, putting things together)
2:30 Nap (move to where feel the afternoon lull if earlier or later)
3:00 Silver work
4:30 Orderganize, declutter, emailquikscan, transcribe notes, free thinking, completing, wrapping up
5:00 Coaching?
6:00 Dinner, flipping through emails (Emails - readhigh, watchhigh, mustread, mustwatch, flag)
7:00 Reading books, movie?, anything feel like [No eating afterward, except snack for bedtime (10 almonds, 1/6 Detour)]
9:00 Winddown, get ready for bed (no blue light!)
The overview of the structure of the day:
1st hour: Launch, plan
1 hour: Exercise, while reading (for most of the time)
4+ hours: Gold - super high value activities only (or something required but have been having trouble doing) - no violations allowed!
5 hours: Silver - Medium energy, alertness, low willpower
5 hours: Bronze - Lower energy, alertness
(Different people have different "obligations", but there is plenty of time in the Bronze time and in the day AFTER you've done the gold time.)
DISCUSSION OF EACH OF THE ABOVE
6:00 start: Hygiene, drink water, eat a breakfast (quick or prepared the night before) and "waking up". [If, for whatever reason, I get up later, I still do the same order and amount of time, except for legitimate emergencies, which almost never occur because I will not drop my standards for what is an actual emergency versus an interruption.] I must get an early start before the rest of the day starts with any interruptions. I must use my high energy!
I do back and leg stretching exercises before get out of bed (1 minute). After going to the toilet and putting water on my hair to comb it and on my face, I do, at whatever level of energy I feel at the time, ten windmilling (backwards to push shoulders back and to breathe more deeply) of the arms and then doing a "Rocky" arms above the head up and down for a count of 10 at least and some basic stretches, so my body begins to wake up and I start to feel better. I can do this really slowly if I feel slow. I just need to do it and must move! Sometimes I'll add a few extra moves. Total time: 5 minutes or less. (Of course, I can use any of the Energizing Exercises, but I can remember this one!)
Eat breakfast while I do (the somewhat comforting, mostly no-brainer) review of emails, where the rule is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go beyond 15 minutes (always using the timer next to the chair I sit in). I do not "read" any of them, except to glance to see if worthwhile to process. If I am in a genuine hurry, I scan very quickly to see if there are ones I need to pay attention to during the day, routing them to "Process today" or the equivalent name, in my email program (which I return to when I finalize the plan for the day, which was initially roughed out the day before when I finished my activities for the day (before the evening, that is), to "read high" or "watch high" (which are usually allocated to the evening, as it takes little effort and little brainpower). My actual plan (by hand or in digital calendar) for the day MUST include a time block for everything, including when I will be reading or watching what I set aside above. Nothing goes unscheduled, though I leave some blank "buffer times".
No calls are answered during the gold time, unless set up to happen that way. Even important calls if not urgent are not answered!!!!! NO interruptions are allowed, even by loved ones, where "to dos" are renegotiated as to when they need to be done - almost never do loved ones need something done right away!
During the gold hours, the only "interruptions" are the mandatory "breaks" and a low-time-taken lunch (especially if I am still in Gold time).
I used to get inspired on something I read in an email, so I would read it right then and look up hours later to see all the Gold I had spent for little value AND/OR I would start my writing right then and put off my exercise time - neither worked. So, my exercise time happens right after my "ramp up" for the day, "2nd thing" in the morning. I read on the treadmill and take, with a little weight lifting, about 45 minutes, including travel time. [If you are going to a gym that is not just 2 minutes or less away, you should not waste Gold time traveling (and the time to get ready to be presentable!). You should have a treadmill at home - think about it, think about the huge amount of Gold saved by buying a treadmill for $600-$750 or so! See Making Exercise Easy.]
If you protest that this is too much effort (and perhaps that you are retired and need not be concerned with your time), then you are fooling yourself. You can still use your Gold to purchase what is most valuable, even if you are retired!!!!
Note also that Gold time will often feel so good, especially the progress, that its benefit will "spill over" into the following Silver or Bronze time. This is why you might consider continuing a Gold activity right into the next period of time. Although there could be some exceptions, it is best to continue an activity for as long as you can be reasonably productive on it, rather than spread it out in pieces or let it be interrupted. By continuing, you 1) assure it is being done (i.e. it is happening NOW instead of maybe happening later), 2) don't have to "reset up" or recall where you left off and restore your train of thought, and 3) get a greater sense of progress (and you just plain feel better and more confident in your ability to follow through in life!). I would consider using 4 hour blocks, with "breaks" every hour or hour and a half (see Living My Life In 90 Minute Segments).
