ADHD Experiment #8: Weekly Calibration Part 2
I’m getting the hang of it
Hello and welcome to the Chaotically Consistent Newsletter! For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m Savannah, the personal trainer with ADHD. I started this newsletter because I really enjoy creating and experimenting with processes and systems to make life easier for my brain, and I wanted to start sharing what I’ve been learning. Let’s get into it!
What is Weekly Calibration again?
I started this experiment after Thanksgiving when the holiday weekend completely threw me off of everything. I spent the whole weekend relaxing (aka stressing about all the stuff that wasn’t getting prepped for the week) and so the work week after that SUCKED. I’m scattered anyway but when I don’t prepare for my weeks there’s like 3x multiplier.
But even before Thanksgiving I didn’t have a good system. “Preparing for my weeks” meant I filled up my weekend with the most asinine shit because it felt like, “I have the time so that means I have to wash all the baseboards, organize every neglected drawer, and landscape the yard right now right?” 🙄
I decided I was fed up with either working the entire weekend in an effort to set myself up for the week
OR
trying to “relax” while being filled with so much guilt that I was somehow less rested than when the weekend started. Plus nothing was set up for the week. Double whammy.
This is part 2 where I talk about the second run through. If you want to read how the first trial run went you can read that HERE
But to give a brief recap of part 1:
It sucked. Absolutely sucked.
An appointment Friday morning delayed grocery shopping until like 1300 (1pm).
Didn’t start meal prepping until 1500 (3pm), which took 5 hours and didn’t even get finished.
Did my weekly review Saturday morning which was a bad choice in the first place. Then I took a long time because I got swept up in improving some tools of mine (that happens a lot).
I waited too long to do dishes so they piled up and took FOREVER (like an hour and a half, dishes without a kitchen SUCKS).
Didn’t get to cleaning the house at all.
Didn’t get any time to relax either. My first day of work that week was ROUGH.
I did get laundry done though
How I learned from all those things (and more) and adjusted the process is all in part 1. But now I get to talk about the second run through!
Run 2
Wow this one went so much better. The first run was such a shit show that I was determined to to actually have some time to relax. Thursday came around and I was ready for it.
After doing some work we went grocery shopping. After we got back I knocked out my weekly review (kept it under an hour). And then I chopped a bunch of veggies that I needed for meal prep on Friday.
Friday rolled around and I jumped on meal prep pretty quick. Having only 2 things to make really helped cut down on time. Trying to prep 3 things really was a secret killer last run (I promise promise promise I’ll come out with an explanation of my meal prep system soon).
The only thing I had left to do on Saturday was the last little bit of dishes and my self care tasks.
It was far from perfect though.
Thursday’s activities still ran pretty late, around 1900 (7pm).
And because one of my preps was a slow cooker meal it took a while for it to do it’s thing. I wasn’t moving it to containers to freeze until around 1900 (7pm) on Friday.
That combined with cleaning meant I had hardly any time with my boyfriend which isn’t great.
I also finally ran into a problem I’ve been expecting.
I don’t know how to relax. I had some time on Saturday and I had no clue what to do with it. I know I could have easily scrolled it away. Or played video games. But I know from experience that those things don’t actually leave me feeling recharged which is the whole point of figuring all this out.
What I learned and what I’m changing
It was a relief to know that the process wouldn’t take my entire weekend forever. However this run showed me that I really do want to work on condensing it even more. I hadn’t realized before this run that I failed to account for quality time with my boyfriend. Huge error.
In an ideal world, the entire calibration can be done in one day. But there’s a few obstacles.
First, I have to be really careful not to push too far for one day. Not because I can’t necessarily handle it, but I know in the future if it continues to feel like a lot to push through it won’t be sustainable for me in the long run.
Second, with my boyfriend’s current work schedule he has Thursday and Friday off. I think it’s feasible to do it all in one day. However, at this time I don’t think it can happen on a day I also do work in the morning (I work Thursdays). And I know I need to keep the day before work (Saturdays) clear if I’m going to feel good that work week.
So I’m considering a temporary fix. For now I’m turning Thursdays into like an admin day until his schedule changes in a couple weeks. No work. Just calibration.
I know a lot of people don’t have that luxury. I am not saying it will be permanent. Just until his schedule changes. And it gives me an opportunity to see how well the entire thing functions in a single day multiple times.
I need get a feel for it all being in one day, and prove to myself that it can be replicated without too much strain. After that I’ll look at either condensing it further (maybe to an afternoon), that way I can put it after work on Thursday, or I’ll see if I can condense it to the first part of the day on Friday. We’ll kinda see how things feel. All I know is I want to have at least half a day with my boyfriend and at least one full day to myself.
It freaks me out a bit
I can tell this is the right next step because the idea of trying to get it all into one day makes me a little nervous. But it’s also the next logical step forward. I mean there’s only so many times I can practice meal prepping and doing laundry over a 2 day period.
What’s exciting about this though, 👀 is I can start phase 2 soon. I’m writing this letter after just completing the third trial of Weekly Calibration, and I’ll tell you a little secret. It went well enough that I can start experimenting with ways to relax and rest now!
Otherwise I’m going to leave this one here. Happy Yule!
-Savannah
