I’ve been back from my hike for over three weeks now and the Summer Doldrums have started. I have been extremely lazy since coming back from my hike. First, I took a few days to relax and get settled. Then I went and visited a friend at his lake house for a couple of days and afterwards visited my mom for a few days. I returned home last Friday and I have not motivated myself to get much done since returning.
Some of the reasons I took a sabbatical from my job this year was to lose weight/get healthy and to work on my blog/develop other sources of income. I have managed to lose a few pounds, but that has stalled out the last couple of weeks and I know I should be doing much better. I haven’t done any work on this blog. Since returning from my hike the only posts I’ve published are my monthly income and expense posts that I publish every month. Now that I have time I should be publishing more posts and trying to improve this blog.
Right now, since I don’t have to do anything it is very easy for me to do nothing. I have no problem filling a day with various wastes of time such as reading random articles on the internet, watching Netflix, going to the movies, reading books and magazines, watching random YouTube clips, etc. I don’t get bored with my random time wasters. However, my enjoyment of them does decrease as I spend more time doing them. These time wasters would be more fun if I did them after spending a few hours working.
There are a couple of things I’m going to try to start being reasonably productive. One is that I’m going to stop claiming unemployment. Having that steady supply of income gives me less incentive to try to develop other sources of income. I may have a temp job soon. If the temp job doesn’t happen, I will drive for Uber, do Amazon FBA, work on the blog, and work on other sources of self-employment income.
The other thing I need to do is to work as soon as I get up in the morning. If I decide to relax in the morning with the plan of working later in the day the odds are very good that I won’t get anything done that day. If I start off the day working or otherwise being productive I usually continue working for most of the day. I need to remind myself of this every morning when I’m deciding whether I should go out for a leisurely breakfast or go for a run/drive for Uber/write a blog post. If I go out to breakfast the day is probably shot. If I do one of the other things I’ll get stuff done and still have time for a leisurely meal later in the day. This is going to be a continuing battle, but I do not want to let this summer get away from me. This time off is a great opportunity and I do not want to waste it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re not able to leave a comment please let me know via email/Twitter/Facebook. The comments appear to be working correctly on my end, but I’ve had a lot of problems keeping them working this year and I’d like to know for sure if they are working correctly or not.
Oh my goodness, I think the comment actually worked. I agree with trying to do things first thing. I’m on break from school and want to get gardening done. If I sit and read, and then make breakfast, and then read some more then it gets hot so I say I’ll do it in the early evening. We all know where this is going, it doesn’t get done. I’m great at puttering if I don’t just get things done first thing. I hope you’ll write more posts. If you get more feedback that may inspire you. I bet there are others who have been following you, but can’t make comments.
Hey Kim, I am glad to see you are finally able to comment again. Hopefully that means everyone can comment.
I’ve been following for several years will be nice to see a few more posts from you lol. I do agree, anything that I really want to do I need tto do in the morning or it doesn’t get done. Keep trying.
Thanks for reading. I will get more posts out for you to read the next few months. 🙂
Andy, it’s June 16 — and nothing new on the blog. Here’s your chance to post something!
I don’t usually post on the weekend since there aren’t as many people reading then. I did finally get a new post up today.
Makes sense. I’m usually more productive in the morning (although Tim Ferriss appears to do all of his writing at night with a cup of Yerba Mate and a glass of red wine. I guess to each their own! This is the first time I’ve read about the summer doldrums though. I wish every season was summer!
Summer is my favorite but I can get lazy during the summer.