A computer issue that’s helping me reframe time

This essay initially appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 1/23/23.

My work computer has started doing something really ‘fun’ recently. 

If it goes idle or into sleep mode, it will – at random – sound a series of very loud, very concerning-sounding, high-pitch beeps.

It doesn’t happen every time I’m away from the computer. It might happen 15 minutes or 4 hours after the computer goes to sleep. But hearing the beeps twice was more than enough for me. I’m not taking chances.

So, while I wait for IT to work their magic, I have a new system: I turn off my computer when I’m going to be away from it. Groundbreaking, right?

Well, surprisingly, this simple action has felt pretty groundbreaking.

There’s something nice about taking time to actually power on my computer in the morning. I signal to myself, I’m starting the day! Same thing in the evening: I power down my computer, and as cheesy as it sounds, it powers down my mind too.

Just as one might put treats on self just out-of-reach shelf or move the Instagram app off a phone’s home screen to quell mindless snacking or scrolling (please tell me others do this, haha), turning off my computer is making me think twice about working at non-work times. It’s a good filter. If I feel a pull to do something after-hours, I know I have to go through the extra step of booting up my computer. Sometimes this deters me (helping me realize the thing can wait until the next workday), but sometimes I still choose to turn on the computer and work. What I like is that it’s a conscious choice vs. automatic.

However, my favorite discovery of this makeshift routine has been getting in the habit of turning off my computer midway through my day, when I step away to make lunch. There is something about closing open tabs, apps and documents from the morning that feels almost meditative. Like a natural reset before the rest of the day. 

It seems counterintuitive. Doesn’t it waste time having to reboot and restart everything? But I know I’m getting more done in the afternoon. 

This was especially true a day when I’d had a tough morning. Back-to-back calls zapped my energy, and my mind was stuck on turning over a problem, to no avail. I reluctantly shut everything down, stepped away, and when I returned, I acted like I was starting the day over. I straightened up my desk, re-started my computer and then, simply, got to work.

I got much more done that afternoon than I would’ve previously. And more importantly, it was more enjoyable. I was calmer. More at ease. 

It feels silly to give so much praise to a simple idea (turning a computer on and off), but maybe the real idea is how this action is helping me reframe time. Registering the morning workday from the afternoon workday, the non-working hours from the working hours. 

It reminded me of something I read recently on author Laura Vanderkam’s blog – Wednesday is in fact not the middle of the week. The middle of the week is actually the middle of Thursday.

Really?! But it’s true. In the 168 hours of our weeks, the first 84 happen Monday – Thursday at 11 AM and the next 84 happen from Thursday at 12 PM to Sunday night.

Wow! I’m just so accustomed to thinking of Wednesday as the middle of the week and as Thursday as almost the end of the week. But I’ve never registered that I have just as much time after Thursday at 12 PM as before. 

Like for example, if I had a business trip that required me to be in meetings Monday-Thursday, I would definitely feel like my whole week was travel and work. But that’s not true. Half my week was that. That’s a big mindset shift!

As Laura writes, “But it’s not just about feeling better about time. If I know that there is just as much time after Thursday as there is before, I feel more compelled to think about how I want to spend that sheer volume of hours. People naturally put a lot of thought into what they do Monday through end-of-day Thursday because they tend to work during these hours, and work naturally lends itself to planning and organization. Leisure time, less so.”

Yes, I can see how this idea helps one honor the weekend more. Just as turning my computer on and off is helping me register different parts of the workday, I really want to incorporate a way to register the midway mark of the week, too, to think about what I want do and what I need from the second half of the week. 

Being mindful can expand our time. I love that. 

Wishing a wonderful week ahead, filled with time well spent in both the first and second half