cubicleless

I was exhausted going to bed last night! I went to sleep at 9:45pm and got up at 6:05am. Getting up was a bit easier this morning. I fell asleep very quickly, even with my wife reading with the light on.

The Power of Sleep

There is definitely much power in sleep. I am alert in the morning after a good night of sleep and much more productive. Personally, I’m a complete zombie during the day if I do not get much quality sleep. Yesterday was pretty rough for me, but I knew I had to stay the course to get the habit to stick.

The Challenge of Habit

There’s always a challenge when breaking old habits and building new ones. When you mix things up and try to better yourself, you will win in the end. I’ve realized through exercising and going to the gym on a regular basis that if I do the same workout routines over and over eventually my body gets used to it and my gains or improvements slowly subside.  With sleep, I have to steadily challenge myself and try knew methods to get better quality of sleep and to ultimately rise early.

My goal is to feel more productive and to have more time to be more productive.

Time is money. Time while well rested is more money.

Day 1 is starting off decently. I already realize the great benefit in rising early. It’s funny how each time I do this it feels like the first time. It was nice to wake up and smell the fresh coffee that was already brewed that I had set on autopilot the night before.

I went to bed around 11:30pm last night and got up around 6:15am this morning after two snooze pushes.

It’s amazing how easy it can be to use excuses and just go back to sleep. I had plenty of excuses I could have used this time around, but I stayed strong and here I am typing this at 6:45am.

Birthday

Today is my son’s birthday! He is turning 4 and VERY excited for this day. In my kickoff post I wrote about all the reasons why I love to be self-employed.

This is one of them.

To be able to be here and see my son enjoy his birthday is priceless. Actually, it does come as a price. I have to stop working to watch that happen. Before today, I would have slept until about 8:30 or 9:00. I would have moved around the house slowly doing what I usually do in the mornings. I would have finally sat down in front of the computer at 9:30 – 9:45.

Stray Dog

When we got home from the grocery store last night I noticed a note on our door. Our neighbor wrote that he found a pup wandering around and was pretty sure it was ours. He left it in the back with a pail of water.

We were pretty certain that we had left our dog inside before we left, so we were a bit curious as to what dog was back there. I went through the gate and searched all around, but did not see a dog. I assumed that our neighbor found out who the owner of the dog was and came to get it.

We went inside and had dinner and turned on the t.v. Out of nowhere a dog, which looked strikingly like our own dog was standing on the back deck and our dog went ballistic. I jumped up and went around the house through the gate to retrieve the dog. My wife thought it was strange that I had not seen it before. She asked if I looked under our deck. I thought hard and stuttered and stammered. “Well, DID you??”, she asked. I guess I didn’t.

So, fast forward to now… We kept the dog overnight, gave her a bath and fed her. This was an unexpected event that consumed a few hours of my time. I posted a craigslist ad and added a few entries in some ‘lost pets’ sites. Additionally, the poor dog was up part of the night whining probably wanting to go home.

*** UPDATE *** – The owner of the Goldie called this morning! She’s coming to get her later today.

Homecoming

Last night my 7 year old son got home from spending the weekend with his best friend and their family on his friend’s grandpa’s farm in Oklahoma. We had expected him home earlier, but the family was held up a few hours before leaving to come home. Once he was home and tucked in bed and our 3, almost 4 year old was finally sedated from all the excitement, we went to bed.

I had PLENTY of excuses I could have used to stay in bed, but here I am! It’s now 7:00am and I am all ready to attack this day and get PRODUCTIVE!

Rising early is kind of like making a deposit of money into a savings account. I am allocating extra time to my day to get things done or to account for other events in the day. If I can keep up the goal I have for myself this week I will be adding an additional 10-13 hours to my work week!

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Ben Franklin

I’ve always been more productive when waking up earlier. I’m going to put BF to the test by actually measuring production, profits and my own personal health while getting up earlier.

For the next two weeks I plan to record how much I am getting done, how much money I make and how I’m doing healthwise. I’ll share my results along the way.

I always thrive when I’m challenged. When you are self-employed it’s vital that you challenge your self to make sure you stay on track and keep money rolling through the door. At the same time you have to take care of yourself.

What I know I will gain from this experiment is productive time. I call it productive time because I tend to be more alert in the morning which lends itself to focus. When I’m focused I get more done. When I get more done I feel better about what I’m doing and the productivity increases.

I basically see it as a chain reaction. When I get more done, I’ll obviously make more money. When I make more money I’ll feel better about going to the gym and spending time taking care of myself vs. trying to work more to earn money.

I will start by getting up at 6am. This is about 2 1/2 hours early than I’ve been getting up lately.

Here we go! Day 1 starts in 12 hours. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ok, so I didn’t exactly knock them down because I had this well thought out plan.

I was, in fact, kind of laid off.

The economy got to the firm I was working for and there simply wasn’t enough money to pay everyone. I had to make a choice to continue working in hopes of a big job to come through to pay me for the month or jump ship and try to figure things out on my own.

My first reaction was to start looking for jobs. I looked and looked trying to land a job with a steady paycheck. Unfortunately, my skillset was a couple of years out-of-date to work in an actual agency.

The good news is I was freelancing on the side when I was let go. I called all of my contacts and it turned out they were overjoyed I had escaped the cubicle. They had tons of business to give me!

Business is slowly and steadily picking up and I’ve never been happier about my decision. I am now, c u b i c l e l e s s.

This is my journey of self-employment. I plan to write about my pains, strains and joys along the way in hopes of helping others out there that have knocked down the walls like me.

Isn’t it funny how we think we feel when we sleep in? In our mind we think we have done a great thing because we rested a little longer.

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Ben Franklin

For me personally, there’s such truth in that statement. I’m exponentially more productive when I rise early. There’s something almost magical about waking up before the world wakes up. I have 4 kids who still think I’m cool and still want my attention. If I can get up a few hours before they do, they are one less distraction to starting the day and knocking a few things off my to-do list.

When I decide to start rising earlier I am most effective if I do it in stages.

I’ve failed when I decided to be extra ambitious and try getting up at 4:30am every day. I fail the first day and it’s all over. If I have spent the summer getting up at 8:30 or 9:00, I will step my way to my goal in 1/2 hour increments. I’ll start with 7:30 and work my way down. The body is an amazing machine, but has to adapt to change in increments. Otherwise, you’ll feel groggy and unproductive.

Try it. Get up earlier to accomplish tasks that eat away at the beginning of your day. Checking things off your list builds productive momentum.

I’ve worked in a cubicle for much of my employed life.  I enjoyed my time in my own little box and I learned a few things that have carried over into my life outside of the cube.

Communication is Key

Regardless of the role you play when you work for someone else, it is critical to make sure you communicate effectively with everyone you come in contact with. The same holds true in self-employment. If a project is being held up and you can’t meet a deadline make sure everyone that is involved knows.

More often than not, if you simply let someone know the status of a project vs. saying nothing and hoping the project goes away, you’ll be better off.

Get the Job Done

What pays bills? Finished jobs that can be billed. I learned that I had to get my job or the company does not get money. It’s that simple.  When you work for yourself, you aren’t guaranteed a paycheck. Do whatever it takes to get the job done and get an invoice out!

Make Your Boss Happy

Working in a cube is a lot less stressful when you have a happy boss. If you can do a great job and keep your boss happy, you will probably get more work. When self-employed, if you can keep your clients happy, they will refer you more business and retain you to do more work for them.

Fill Up Your Toolbox

To stay on top of your game, it’s essential to stay educated in the field that you work in. Whether you work in a cube or work for yourself, keep your toolbox filled up with new tools and the latest way of doing things.

• I workout whenever I want.
• I work whenever I want.
• I can take my son to football practice.
• I can take my kids to school.
• I can pick up my kids from school.
• Unlimited earning potential.
• Every day is casual day.
• I can grow a beard.
• I set my own hours.
• I can watch my three four year old grow and learn.
• I never miss another school play.
• I can eat lunch with the kids at school.
• I can do things my way.
• I can implement systems to earn money while I sleep.
• I can take naps.
• I can see my wife for lunch every day.
• I can take loooooooong breaks.
• I can take time out to learn.
• I can mow the grass on my lunch break.