The past two months have been pretty crazy. I started work on a new project a few weeks before I left for Costa Rica, and ended up neglecting my other three projects. It really was just bad timing all around.

Once I got to Costa Rica, it took me a few days to get internet. Once I did, I discovered that in my absence, one client had been sending emails a couple times a day wondering about a page I hadn't even started building yet, and another client's website had issues that I wasn't around to solve.

Ever since then, I've been trying to catch up on all of this work. In the process, I've had to put off more work, which has lead to a never ending stream of work.

My instinct, when I'm behind, is to stay up late and just get it done. Of course, I always end up doing this at the last minute. I've seen the consequences of this approach: I spend all day dreading how much work I need to do. Finally around nine or ten at night, I get down to business and start working. I might make it to 3am, 4am, or later, depending on how much caffeine I've had. The quality of my work quickly degrades. Finally, I go to sleep.

The next day, I wake up exhausted, stressed, and can't stand the thought of sitting down and working again. I stress all day, and then finally get some work done that night. Around and around it goes.

On the other hand, I've also seen the failings of the other approach: I tell myself that I'll go to bed since I'm tired, so I do and then I lay in bed all morning, feeling stressed about how I haven't gotten any work done.

Here is what I know: I do my best work when I don't feel behind, when I'm not tired, and when a deadline is not near. Lets say I have a sample schedule like this:

7:30am Wake up, eat light breakfast
8am Head to gym
9am Take shower
9:30am - 12:30pm Work
12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm - 4:30pm Work
11pm - Wind down
12pm - Go to sleep
Will it work? I don't know. Worth a shot, I guess.