Systems in Music Therapy: Morning Routine

My prime thinking and working time is from about 4am until about 10am. This is the time where my body is refreshed and my mind can focus on all sorts of things that I get a bit tired of doing later in the day. As a result, I try to use the mornings to do most of my deep thinking. I find it much easier to establish routines in the morning than I do in the afternoons and evenings. Today's topic is my work morning routine = because I have an effective morning routine. My afternoon routine tends to be a bit less refined, so you get to hear about the mornings.

My day starts when I walk into the music therapy room. I start off by turning on the lights. Usually, the first bank of lights is on (they are motion-sensing lights, so the lights themselves aren't on, but the switch is), so I turn on the lights that do not have the sensor attached. I then open up my office space.

My office space is a mess. It always is a mess because I tend to need lots of things around me. I tend to ignore the mess and go straight to the computer. I turn on the email program and see what is important to me. Most of what I get is irrelevant, so it tends to be a pretty quick process. I then sit down to do my clinical documentation for the day before. During this time, I listen to something on my iPod (either a movie or a television show - never music). After documentation is finished, I sit down with my bullet journal and outline my schedule for the day. If I have the first session of the day (which I do not this intern's caseload), I set up the space for therapy by bringing out the guitar, the computer, and any materials I want to access during the session.

After I get my clinical tasks finished, I move into thinking or task box tasks. This morning, I have a bit more time during the early morning to work on task boxes. Our post-graduate program laminated pieces for me, so I will be cutting out pieces and finishing up the boxes that I have started. I hope to finish up the three boxes that are ready. I also have some of my own files laminated that need to be put into a file folder and then be sent off to my clients in other locations. I will also be thinking about the next boxes that I want to produce. I gave one of my co-workers a box full of chipboard puzzles. I will make some more of those for the other class that was interested in what I could offer.

There are times when I use time blocking - where I identify what I want to work about each half hour of my time. There are times when I make more detailed lists of things to do, but I don't think that will happen today.

Today, I have to catch up from yesterday's absence (the dishwasher is now working!!). Wednesdays are my busiest group days, so I have lots of notes to do. Fortunately, Thursdays and Fridays are my lightest therapy days, so I have a bit more time this morning to do the four sets of group notes and the individual notes that I have to get done. After documentation is finished, I have to figure out the rest of my time. Like I mentioned, after two weeks of waiting, my stack of laminating is finished, so I can cut out pieces and finish up some task boxes for two of my groups. We have a (usually) contentious group this morning followed by consultation with intern #35 before finishing up the morning. The afternoon sessions are usually less contentious, and then the day finishes with bus duty and sitting in front of the computer, staring at You Tube videos because my brain and body are exhausted. My afternoon routine is not as planned out as I would like, but I know that I will just spend most of my time feeling like I cannot even think about anything of import.

So, I don't worry about having an afternoon routine.

My body feels a bit better today than it did yesterday when I woke up, but that is probably due to not having to maintain safety with my clients yesterday. All I had to do was wait for the dishwasher guy to arrive, so I spent most of the day reclining. (It was glorious, by the way! A day of rest!!) 

This weekend is going to be another time to get some rest. I plan on spending most of my Saturday morning sitting here, at the computer, working on some projects of mine. I am starting to write stories again, so there may be some fiction writing happening. I am also working on updating my website. This has been one of my quests for a long time, but I am pretty much stumped on how to do what I want to do. I know what I do not want, so that is where I am starting. For the moment, though, it is time to get my water bottle filled with ice, put the phone in the backpack, make sure that I have blades for my cutter, get the corner rounder for task boxes, and head out into the world. I have to get my mail from the mailbox as I leave town. I spent some money on planner stickers this month, supporting small businesses the only way I can. I may have enough money left over this month to buy some books from our local independent bookstore. We will see if my budgeting has paid off in about ten days.

Alright now - I am going to head out, get my work routine started once I get to work, and work on making it the best thing for me. What are your routines? What do you do?