Daily structure for Indie Hackers and Makers
Several months ago I realized I needed to change.
It wasn't anything dramatic, no substance abuse issues or severe financial troubles, but I was having some pretty significant anxiety about the lack of structure in my life. I came from a military family and bucked against a lot of the structure that came from that, but I had swung to the other side in my early adult life and now found myself just kinda winging my every day.
I woke up whenever my toddler woke me up, had whatever breakfast my wife or I had time to make, chugged as much coffee as I could before my first meeting and got in my IndieHacking hours whenever I could. Don't get me wrong, I'd read the books. Atomic Habits was still very fresh in my mind. I was just putting off the habit-making to some faraway "some day" and making excuses.
Then my wife went back to work after an extended maternity leave. I had to take care of one or both of the kids, depending on the day, work a full-time job and find time to work on Malparse. The first day was miserable, and that's when I realized I needed a change.
Now, I write every day at Lifelog around 0415 in the morning, get a solid couple of hours of work done before the kids wake up, take care of them and have most of the rest of my day planned out. I don't have it down to the minute, but I at least know when I work on Malparse and when I work on my day job work. It all gets done (most of the time) with significantly less anxiety. Just the simple habit of waking up early has done wonders for my schedule.
How do you IndieHackers structure your days? What have you found works and doesn't work?
My mornings are sacred. :) I wake at 6 a.m., drink 8oz of water, go to the gym, walk the dog, meditate while walking, shower, and start work by 8 a.m.
After that, it varies a lot but my morning the what sets the tone for the day. I find that sweating early in the day is energizing and puts me in a good headspace to accomplish what I need to.
Also, I started using Laird's superfood creamer in my coffee each day and, perhaps it's a placebo effect, but I've been more focused as of late.
If I have kids, I'm not sure how I'll manage. 04:15 is soo early! Kudos to you Mitch! I suppose once they get older it might get easier?
Curious if other IH parents take a similar approach of waking up very early before the kiddo chaos?
The 0400 habit is very new. I just took the realization that I desperately needed to find some time to work on my research and Malparse and tried to find where it would fit. Basically, any other time would push other incredibly important things in my life to the side: family time, gym time, relaxation, etc. So, I whined a bit and then finally realized that in order for me to have the life I wanted, I'd have to sacrifice staying up late and sleeping in.
My kiddos are 2 months and 2 years old, so hopefully it gets easier as they grow...
Interesting post, thanks for sharing. What benefits do you get out of lifelog? I came across the product today and thought it was an intriguing idea.
LifeLog, to me, is a daily prompt for introspection and deeper thought. I write on there usually fairly early in the morning, so it gets me thinking about deeper and more important subjects from the very moment I start working.
It's also a great, growing community of mainly entrepreneurial people who also practice that deeper thinking.
The gamification of building up streaks is also a great way to trick your brain into building habits.
I've had a similar experience with waking up early. For the last few weeks I've been getting up at around 5:30 and the number of things I can do before I start my full-time job is just remarkable.
But getting up without a plan wouldn't work that well. I am currently using "Win the day" method described by Andy Frisella.
You basically set 5 goals for a day in different areas of life, and you should achieve all the goals to win the day! Simple as that :) If you win enough days, then you win the week, and the game restarts. I recommend you to check it out.
Have a successful week :)