Scheduling Saturdays — Don’t Want To, Feel Like I Have to

I’m having a very hard time finding productive time to write on Saturdays. I need to work on a better schedule that allows me time to write earlier in the day on Saturday. This is going to be tough, as I’m starting a new cycling training program and the big rides are on Saturday mornings. More importantly for me, the Saturday rides are group rides, organized by my new cycling coach. Since group riding was one of the big motivations for me to start cycling, I really want to make as many of these Saturday group rides as possible.

So we’ll see. One side of me says to just roll with it, in order to not have a strict schedule on Saturday mornings and Saturdays overall. The other side says that I need to have some form of schedule for Saturdays, in order to accommodate the group rides, write, and still spend time with my wife. The weekends are really the biggest blocks of time we have to spend together during the week. As we, like many couples I’m guessing, only have a few hours at best together in the evenings during the week. Our time on weekday mornings is even more limited.

It could be that I’m trying to cram too much into my Saturday. That’s definitely something I struggle with on a regular basis and is against the approach of just rolling with it. We’ll see how things adjust as time goes on and the schedule I have in mind now begins to show strengths and weaknesses. I will allow myself the flexibility to adapt the schedule as needed, while in the past I probably would’ve stubbornly stuck to it, at least through some self imposed and artificial trial period.

Giving myself the flexibility to change the schedule on the fly will help unstick me and just arrange a schedule that I think may work and give it a try the very next Saturday, knowing I can scrap it and try again the following Saturday. One reason I find myself sticking to a schedule that doesn’t always work, for longer than I should, is the trepidation caused by anticipating the level of mental resource required by scheduling. The thought of having to summon that level of mental focus and capacity to put together a Saturday schedule is daunting, especially when I’ve been trying to [hit the brakes on Saturdays](I’m having a very hard time finding productive time to write on Saturdays. I need to work on a better schedule that allows me time to write earlier in the day on Saturday. This is going to be tough, as I’m starting a new cycling training program and the big rides are on Saturdays. More importantly for me the Saturday rides are group rides, organized by my coach. Since group riding was one of the big motivations for me to start cycling, I really want to make as many of these Saturday group rides as possible.

So we’ll see. One side of me says to just roll with it, in order to not have a strict schedule on Saturdays. The other side says that I need to have some form of schedule for Saturdays, in order to accommodate the group rides, write, and still spend time with my wife. The weekends are really the biggest blocks of time we have to spend together during the week. As we, like many couples I’m guessing, only have a few hours at best together in the evenings during the week. Our time on weekday mornings is even more limited.

It could be that I’m trying to cram too much into my Saturday. That’s definitely something I struggle with on a regular basis and against the approach of just rolling with it. We’ll see how things adjust as time goes on and the schedule begins to show strengths and weaknesses. I will allow myself the flexibility to adapt the schedule as needed, while in the past I probably would’ve stubbornly stuck to it, at least through some self imposed and artificial trial period. Giving myself the flexibility to change the schedule on the fly will help unstick me and just arrange a schedule that I think may work and give it a try the very next Saturday, knowing I can scrap it and try again the following Saturday. One reason I find myself sticking to a schedule that doesn’t always work, for longer than I should, is the trepidation caused by understanding the level of mental resource scheduling takes. The thought of having to summon that level of mental energy to put together a Saturday schedule is daunting, especially when I’ve been trying to [hit the brakes on Saturday](I’m having a very hard time finding productive time to write on Saturdays. I need to work on a better schedule that allows me time to write earlier in the day on Saturday. This is going to be tough, as I’m starting a new cycling training program and the big rides are on Saturdays. More importantly for me the Saturday rides are group rides, organized by my coach. Since group riding was one of the big motivations for me to start cycling, I really want to make as many of these Saturday group rides as possible.

So we’ll see. One side of me says to just roll with it, in order to not have a strict schedule on Saturdays. The other side says that I need to have some form of schedule for Saturdays, in order to accommodate the group rides, write, and still spend time with my wife. The weekends are really the biggest blocks of time we have to spend together during the week. As we, like many couples I’m guessing, only have a few hours at best together in the evenings during the week. Our time on weekday mornings is even more limited.

It could be that I’m trying to cram too much into my Saturday. That’s definitely something I struggle with on a regular basis and against the approach of just rolling with it. We’ll see how things adjust as time goes on and the schedule begins to show strengths and weaknesses. I will allow myself the flexibility to adapt the schedule as needed, while in the past I probably would’ve stubbornly stuck to it, at least through some self imposed and artificial trial period. Giving myself the flexibility to change the schedule on the fly will help unstick me and just arrange a schedule that I think may work and give it a try the very next Saturday, knowing I can scrap it and try again the following Saturday. One reason I find myself sticking to a schedule that doesn’t always work, for longer than I should, is the trepidation caused by understanding the level of mental resource scheduling takes. The thought of having to summon that level of mental energy and dedicate it to developing a Saturday schedule is daunting, especially when I’ve been trying to hit the brakes on Saturdays and back off on the weekends.