Office job thunderguntness

[youpissmeoff]

Here's how I manage it (with mixed success... sometimes it works great and sometimes it all goes to hell).

1) Get on a super-regular schedule. Sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time.

2) Routines are your friend. Make them rituals. Work at the office may be unpredictable, but your morning routine and drive into work shouldn't be. Just don't integrate anything unhealthy into that ritual (i.e. buying a big milkshake on the way into work).

3) Go easy on the stimulants. I do a fairly large (but far from monster) cup of 50% decaffeinated coffee. Then I avoid caffeine for the rest of the day. Lots of coffee in the morning can give you the late afternoon munchies that go along with a crash.

4) Embed little healthy rituals into your day (i.e. not food rituals, like a candy bar run). For me, I like to use the last 10 minutes of lunch to work a Sudoku puzzle. Sure it sounds nerdy, but it puts some ritual into each day.

5) Schedule everything you can. And don't run one of those big-shot blow-hard calendars where you tell your "girl" to give them some ridiculous date six months from now. But do organize each day at least 1-2 days in advance when possible. For some reason, a little advance notice gives our brains a chance to adjust for what's coming.

6) Small lunch... always

7) Learn to intermingle stressful and relaxing work. I love product development and research issues. I hate personnel problems and legal issues. So if I'm going to spend the afternoon in a room full of lawyers, you can bet your ass I'm going to spend the morning in a machine shop or working on a new product.

8) Maintain perspective: "There's always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet". And strangely enough, your office manager will try to convince you that you completing that TPS report before the COB today will save you all.

9) Keep in the back of your mind that many companies artificially create a crisis like (8) simply because it pumps you full of adrenaline and keeps you working harder -- but it also pumps you full of cortisol which makes you softer and more tired.

10) I've never found a cortisol-reducing supplement that actually worked for me. But that sure doesn't mean they don't exist.

I'm sure I left a few out. That was just stream of consciousness.

I have a grande iced coffee every morning that and I cut my fingernails every monday. Those are the only things in my life I do routinely. Fucking off the rest of the time is how I manage stress.

If I tried to be a task master, I become a dick and I don't' like that so I stopped doing it.

My only issues are when I am closing a big deal or I have a business project (day trade stock) that is not working. There is nothing I can do there but just take it as it comes.

Oh.. I, like you, sleep like shit, but I have decided to just go with it instead of taking ambient.

I do need to play more Civilization - that is what I did when I worked overseas. Good reminder there.

Used to work the crossword when going into the office but that stopped when I lost my driver. I may take that up as a lunch time break as suggested.

Thanks for that.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Here's how I manage it (with mixed success... sometimes it works great and sometimes it all goes to hell).

1) Get on a super-regular schedule. Sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time.

2) Routines are your friend. Make them rituals. Work at the office may be unpredictable, but your morning routine and drive into work shouldn't be. Just don't integrate anything unhealthy into that ritual (i.e. buying a big milkshake on the way into work).

3) Go easy on the stimulants. I do a fairly large (but far from monster) cup of 50% decaffeinated coffee. Then I avoid caffeine for the rest of the day. Lots of coffee in the morning can give you the late afternoon munchies that go along with a crash.

4) Embed little healthy rituals into your day (i.e. not food rituals, like a candy bar run). For me, I like to use the last 10 minutes of lunch to work a Sudoku puzzle. Sure it sounds nerdy, but it puts some ritual into each day.

5) Schedule everything you can. And don't run one of those big-shot blow-hard calendars where you tell your "girl" to give them some ridiculous date six months from now. But do organize each day at least 1-2 days in advance when possible. For some reason, a little advance notice gives our brains a chance to adjust for what's coming.

6) Small lunch... always

7) Learn to intermingle stressful and relaxing work. I love product development and research issues. I hate personnel problems and legal issues. So if I'm going to spend the afternoon in a room full of lawyers, you can bet your ass I'm going to spend the morning in a machine shop or working on a new product.

8) Maintain perspective: "There's always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet". And strangely enough, your office manager will try to convince you that you completing that TPS report before the COB today will save you all.

9) Keep in the back of your mind that many companies artificially create a crisis like (8) simply because it pumps you full of adrenaline and keeps you working harder -- but it also pumps you full of cortisol which makes you softer and more tired.

10) I've never found a cortisol-reducing supplement that actually worked for me. But that sure doesn't mean they don't exist.

I'm sure I left a few out. That was just stream of consciousness.

What if you have to travel for business?

How much caffine are we talking how many MG per day?

 

[youpissmeoff]

What if you have to travel for business?

How much caffine are we talking how many MG per day?

Traveling across many time zones is a killer. You are eating when your body is a sleep zone and you are sleeping when your metabolism is in the burn calorie zone.

You really have to increase the cardio to get that straight.

 

[miplank]

Bill, wtf is Civilization. I always see that in the app store on my Mac. Or was it my iPad?

 

[PICK3]

is there anything legit to do for cortisol?

anal

 

[youpissmeoff]

Bill, wtf is Civilization. I always see that in the app store on my Mac. Or was it my iPad?

On the Mac - it is great. You start out as cavemen and try to build a civilization. You win buy either destroying all the other countries or by landing a space ship on Alpha centauri.

Lot of battles and nuclear wars and shit in between. I spent a many of hours on that thing. Find it got worse as it got more animated but may go back to playing it again.

 

[miplank]

Might have to download it

 

[mrplunkey]

What if you have to travel for business?

How much caffine are we talking how many MG per day?

Travel blows it completely up.

But that's the trick to having a routine. If you have a ritual where you drink your half-caf coffee while reading the WSJ on your iPad, you can tie into that ritual even if you are 2,000 miles away from home.

I used to spend two out of every six weeks is Europe for about 18 months. My secret there was to have a routine in every city. Maybe it's just particular to me, but little tidbits of familiarity seems to keep me energized and on track.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Traveling across many time zones is a killer. You are eating when your body is a sleep zone and you are sleeping when your metabolism is in the burn calorie zone.

You really have to increase the cardio to get that straight.

Yeah west coast travel is brutal especially when you are only gone for 2-3 days its like your body never really adjust either way your just fucked up for a few days. LOL

 

[youpissmeoff]

Yeah west coast travel is brutal especially when you are only gone for 2-3 days its like your body never really adjust either way your just fucked up for a few days. LOL

indeed. send tit pictures now that we bonded.

TYIA