5. Framily (close friends and family)
My past life was outside the United States. So most of these notes are directed to staying in touch with family and friends who live far away.
Hang out with family when working/doing chores
I do a lot of conversations with family over breakfast, dish washing and other such chores. Thanks to FaceTime, it is really easy to prop Mom up on the desk while I’m doing other work. We’ve spoken a lot more during school days (as I often have flexible schedules) as a result.
Set aside time on Saturday morning to catch up with friends
While I wasn’t the most proactive friend in the fall quarter, I always made sure I had time set aside on Saturday mornings for catch up calls. That helped a lot.
Work on projects with people who matter and/or set up recurring calls
My friends and I work on a charity together. That means we catch up every two weeks, and that helps a lot. Every few months, we set up a big Google Hangout as an extension to our bi-weekly call. In a couple of special cases, I set up recurring calls.
6. You
This is the single most important priority. Nothing matters more. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you’re likely doing it wrong.
I count my wife in this priority
It helps me prioritize time with her. I don’t do nearly as good a job as I’d like to. But I work hard on it as it is the single hardest challenge I’ve faced in school.
A 5:15 a.m. – 9:15 p.m. routine on weekdays really helps
As my wife leaves for work in the morning, I generally sync with her. So, this means I’m up by 5:15 a.m., do my morning routine and get ready until 7 a.m. I count 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. as my work day and plan study, activities and meetings between these slots. I’m generally back by 6 p.m., and we either head to the gym or go for a run around 6:15 p.m. Then we have dinner together. I try not to touch work or email after 7 p.m. I don’t do nearly as well I’d like to. But we do go to sleep by 9:30 p.m. or so. This means social nights are rare. But you’ve got to make trade-offs, and I’ve generally prioritized time with my wife.
Own your calendar
I generally schedule all my group meeting and catch up invites. This helps me allow for blocks of time to do work and also ensures I don’t take any meetings after 6 p.m. I’ve only had to make exceptions about four times in the year. That’s not bad at all.
Chill on Saturday afternoons and evenings and plan social stuff on Fridays
I try hard to switch off on Saturdays as Sunday is typically a full work day since assignments tend to be due on Monday. It doesn’t always happen, but I try very hard to keep Saturdays free to just hang out at home with my wife. So that means I try and plan social stuff on Fridays so we both can participate.
Sleep eight hours, meditate, eat healthy and exercise
Being disciplined about the rest of my life has meant I haven’t really had to compromise on this. There have been times when I’ve slept less than I’d like. But all in all, I’ve tried to keep a normal routine, including blogging every morning of course 🙂
Optimize for energy
There were, of course, many lousy days when I felt really low on energy. On these days, I generally aimed to go to sleep as early as possible and do less during the day. My productivity is generally twice the normal amount on good energy days. And I generally optimized for this.
