Can you teach an old bear new tricks?

After several grey weeks the sun has been out for a few days now, and though it can still be chilly in the morning, I feel like a bear waking up from hibernation. Winters drag me down, and other folks I guess, but it is undeniable that the sun brings a new energy. This is the first year that the bear has woken to find his partner still here and not scurrying off into the corporate jungle for food. So, rather than lazily stretching and  turning to the chores in, let’s say, a less-than-enthusiastic way, it probably is time to really clear out the metaphorical cupboards.

One of the first challenges is the idea of re-shaping my day. Gone is the rigour of waking at 6.30 and packing Mrs.Monkey off to work as I wave ‘goodbye’ with a tear-drenched hanky. Fresh from sleep, this would normally be my most productive time. These days, Corky and Prince is coming on nicely, and our day is much less regulated. More like free-form jazz. We can wake at daft hours and start something only to crash mid-morning or afternoon and then zippo…off we/I go again. 

This means that the circadian rhythm of productivity and creativity having a nicely rounded curve during the day now resembles the free-form beat mentioned earlier. And it’s weird!

There is a feeling of needing to get the most from the peaks balanced by the pressures to recharge in the troughs. For instance, I write this at 9.15am and it will soon be time for a nap (…or more coffee!) And it is funny when people knock on our door at a “normal” hour of the day to find us still in our dressing gowns having got up and started work before breakfast.

So, the old bear is having to learn a new way of working, and, to maintain energy levels, probably a new way of eating. (Got to kick the chocolate Jones.)

In the old days there was a normal structure to my day and I could say unequivocally that I was a “morning person” (tear drenched hanky in pocket). These days, I could be anything. So what’s concerning me is how to reshape the old time/energy/productivity equation. It will probably evolve. Old dusty cupboards will have to be cleared out so that I can store the new stuff. This is metaphorical, of course, I don’t mean that we have dusty cupboards. No, no, we run a b’n’b too. 

But I’d love to know how some people addressed the challenge of having their working day turned on its head. The management books say that there is nothing so constant as change (or at least some smart Alec came up with that…and death and taxes) and with change comes opportunity. 

I found an app…there’s an app for everything…which helps you easily assess the time spent on something and then uses that data to help you reassign your time the way you want it. This might be the place to start because I often go to bed wondering what the hell I did all day. Management may wonder about that too. Then, if Management has a query, I can use the data as backup to time productively spent. With the help of a handy tool the bear may be able to reshape his day after all. We’ll see, won’t we? Time for more coffee.