In a bid to get a hold on my life as per Seneca’s plea in my Stoic bites post here, I have decided to work on making my life more meaningful and to be more productive than I am while also nurturing my creative side.

What better way than to adopt a daily schedule from the polymath master himself the great Leonardo Da Vinci!

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci worked towards having a good work-life balance and strived to be productive every day.

It’s assumed that he separated his day into 4-hour blocks of time with a 20-minute reset nap in between and being a polymath himself it was also assumed that he must’ve allotted different tasks and passions to each block of time.

He made sure that following was part of his daily schedule:

Deep work: Entering a flow state and being completely in the zone when completing hard tasks/projects. These are to be completed in the early morning.

Journaling: He had a diary with him at all times where he jotted down his thoughts, drawings, doodles, and whatever random things came to mind.

Organized healthy diet: He believed that the key to working productively was making sure one had a well-balanced diet with healthy foods that nourished the body and mind.

Creative tasks (Play-time): Da Vinci was a jack of all trades, the man was a sculptor, painter, mathematician, engineer, biologist, and many more. He believed in cultivating one’s curiosity and in seeking new knowledge and trying new skills.

Self-affirmation: He was known to write positive affirmations to himself in his journals.

Athleticism: Da Vinci also believed in the importance of one’s physical health in relation to our mental health.

I also added Admin tasks (organizing emails, folders, scheduling meetings, etc) which are to be completed right before I dive into my creative venture of the day. Additionally, I have added a New Knowledge of the Day segment whereby I have to make sure that I Iearn at least one new bit of knowledge each day and share it with someone.

My daily plan is as follows:

MONDAY (15 June 2020)

The day didn’t start off completely right, although I woke up at 6:00am, I only got out of bed at 7:50am mainly due to the fact that it was cold and I didn’t feel like leaving my warm blankets. I also forgot and immediately started scrolling on my phone, a habit that I’m trying to kick during this time.

On the bright side, I did manage to do all the things that are part of my morning routine for this challenge which includes making my bed, morning yoga, a glass of green juice, and a cold shower. Yes, I, Selma took a cold shower on a winter morning! It took me 5 minutes to actually get the courage to jump in and it was painful but I did have a burst of energy afterward that lasted for quite a while.

Deep work today was so bomb! I managed to get into such a productive state of flow that I completed one of my work projects ahead of schedule. Da Vinci, my man, you just might be on to something here!

I did fail in keeping my momentum at around 16:00 where I got lost in the sauce and zoned out. I did however manage to do my night-time workout routine.

New Knowledge of the Day: The word Polymath. You’ll notice that I used it in this blog post. A polymath is a person who has a wide range of knowledge on a significant amount of subjects, like Da Vinci for example!

Creative Task of the Day: Writing a blogpost and 1 hour of reading before bed.

Positive Affirmation for the Day: You have the will power to do whatever you set your mind to.

That’s all for today. My next update will be this Sunday (21 June 2020). Moving forward I will be giving weekly updates on this challenge for the next 30 days.

Feel free to join me as well and tweak this method to your liking. Let me know how it goes!

Till then.

Never forget to carpe all the diems.

Love,

Selma