Re-Grouping and Re-Charging for Evening Work Hours

Question -

Thanks for your guidance, Kiki.

Burnout is a periodic issue for me and a lot of the questions I have are
already addressed in questions above. Here's another issue on which I could
use your advice:

With three small children in the house, most of the writing portion of my
work occurs at night, which enables me to use any child care hours/nap time
during the day to interview sources or talk via phone with editors. But some
days by 9 pm my brain is on cruise control, at best. There's little creative
spark left in my daily dose, unless I drink lots of coffee to perk up (which
is what I typically do), which then keeps me up nearly all night. Good for
work, bad for sleep. Lack of sleep, of course, can quickly lead to burnout
on all fronts.

Do you have any recommendations for people who have to work odd hours as to
how they can re-group (other than highly caffinating!) and re-charge for
evening work hours? Or how would you recommend shifting a work schedule
where caring for small children dominates daytime hours (keeping in mind I
am not a morning person, so getting up before these early birds is not an
option!)


My Answer

Of course my first suggestion would be to wake up before the kids but since that's not an option we've got to figure something else out.

First of all, cut yourself some slack and realize that you're in a tough situation with small children around and a business to attend to which includes "being on" both verbally and intellectually. Tough stuff. But it won't be this way forever so it's a matter of organizing your time now to get through it the best you can.

A couple of suggestions - first of all, could you use one of the children's nap times as a nap time for yourself? Biologically our bodies do better with a nap in the afternoon. That might decrease your caffeine need, which you're right about - it can cause jitters, sleeplessness, anxiety if overused.

Another thought comes to mind as I put my teacher's cap on. Play teacher. I don't know how old the children are but try and prepare some activities for them that they can do on their own (it might take some planning of materials but once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy - collage, cutting and pasting, easy needlepointing, books on tape, puzzles, writing and illustrating their own books) which might free up some writing time for you during the day and cut back on the night time work.

Remind the children that they can't disturb you unless it's an emergency - (outline what those are!) and set aside a few minutes after the activity to look at it and all around oooh and aaah and tell you about it - that will motivate them to do it again. You can also have them be part of the planning process - shopping for the materials, putting it on a calendar, getting "rewards" for a completed job or a job well done.

Hope this helps - good luck and let me know how it goes!
Kiki