I had the pleasure of reading an article on https://www.budgetsaresexy.com/ that shared a glimpse of the schedule that Benjamin Franklin supposedly followed. What caught my attention was how simple, yet effective the routine looks. Benjamin labels the following allocations “Scheme”.
Between 5 – 8 am, he rises, starts the day with “Powerful Goodness”, and asks the question “What good shall I do this day?”. Since starting this routine, I’ve found that this time between 5-8 am is great for meditation, and re-affirming the actions of the day. It’s also a core time to get focused on whatever projects that might be at the top of your priorities. A cup of tea to caffeinate the body has been welcome.
Between 8 am to 12 noon, Franklin labels this time “Work”. One would expect taking on what Brian Tracy coins “eat that frog” which in essence means tackling the projects of the greatest reward, or projects that you just cannot delay actioning on. The story is if you put a frog in a pot, cover the lid, and begin to raise the temperature, at some point the pressure will become so great you have to take action and complete your task.
From 12 noon to 2 pm the time is allocated toward “reading, looking over accounts, and dining”. My experience with this is that when I’m alone, and without co-workers or friends, this 2 hour block can often crawl by at a snails pace. Introduce external stimuli, and the time can quickly surpass the allocated 2 hours. It’s an interesting balance.
The afternoon between 2 – 6 pm brings another 4 hour block of time to focus on work.
With 6 pm to 10 pm, Benjamin makes note to ask oneself “What good have I done today”. Note that change in tense. This period is meant as a reflection period mixed with “putting things into their places, supper, music, or diversion, or conversation.” In essence, an examination of the day including time to let the mind relax and synthesize life.
Lastly, with night. One is sleeping from 10 pm to 5 am for roughly 7 hours.
Since finding, and applying this schedule, I’ve noticed a few key elements. It’s not always critical to be in bed by 10 am for the 5 am wakeup call to be effective. In other words, the curve of tiredness does change trajectory if I sleep late and wake up early. I’m consistently tired throughout the day. The same applies if I wake up after 5 am, and sleep before 10 pm. It doesn’t matter. I’ll still be tired.
There’s some training involved. I’ve also noticed that I haven’t always stuck with the schedule and timing required, but it has not necessarily symbolized a failure in this schedule. It’s been roughly 2 weeks since beginning this. I’ve effectively stuck with this 80% of the time, give or take and find that my sweet spot is waking up around 6 or 7, but beginning work at 8 am or 9 am.