It’s August! Can the summer already be waning? This is slightly depressing. But at least it will not be as hot any longer. I’m worried that my hot streak of productivity might be coming to an end as well.

Last week was pretty phenomenal. Making a list of things I got done:

• Seah Micro Logo, Seah idealized Schedule, and two accompanying blog posts
• Gun Safety Poster redesigned for full-bleed 11×8.5, copy rewritten and expanded, press-ready files created.
• Packaging supplies researched and purchased for shipping Gun Safety Poster.
• Sent order for first-run Gun Safety Poster, for trial marketing.
• Helped design, set up standing desk at Sid’s studio
• Billable: custom WordPress post format template work for client
• Billable: logotype design for client
• Billable: internet consulting for friend/client
• Saw best friend Erin, who has become a sailor with her own small sailboat in the past year, despite never having done it before.
• Melatonin acquired to help with sleep
• IKEA run for home standing table components
• Researched new camera, structural pipe, pay-as-you-go cell phone plans
• Read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers
• Saw Cowboys and Aliens
• Maintained daily journaling of process, so I could even see what I did here.
• Pro Bono: Started Desktop Wallpaper illustration job

As I look at this, it doesn’t seem like a lot. But actually, it is…if I sum up the hours (which I have logged in the journal posts), I’d see some significant project hours. I’ll have to do that eventually, to see if my predicted ideal hourly usage. The important thing to remember is that it felt right, and I didn’t feel like I was very idle.

Today, though, it was difficult to wake up. I went to sleep late, playing Star Trek Online with someone I hadn’t seen in a while sweeping Romulan space for renegade Birds of Prey causing trouble for the civilians, so I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. I set the alarm for 8AM, but didn’t really get out of bed until 930AM. I didn’t want to. The reasons for this: I wasn’t really looking forward to the day, and I didn’t know what I was going to do anyway. My mind was not clear.

After I recognized this, I remembered that I’d purposefully not scheduled anything on Monday so I could ease into it; my client meetings start on Tuesday! So I decided as policy that Mondays would be my “review day”, where I could take the time to plot out the next week. Knowing this is comforting.

1030 to 1215: At Starbucks getting organized, running into people, chatting, scribbling into notebook.

1215 to 1500: Write Process Review Post
1500 to 1545: Revise Post
1545 to 1700: Check SquareUp account, do bills, answer emails
1700 to 2200: Off the clock

Was in bed by 1030PM, amazingly. Dinner was rice pilaf, broccoli, and baked chicken thighs I’d been marinating for 24 hours (they were merely OK). Took a melatonin tablet with some water before going to bed. Read a sample chapter of Daniel Pink’s “Drive” on Kindle, then lights out.