So, you’re here to dig into this “14.5/6 value” thing, huh? Folks usually get a puzzled look when I mention it, but for me, it’s become a cornerstone for getting my side projects done without feeling completely burnt out. I gotta tell you, figuring this out wasn’t a neat, clean process. It was more like fumbling in the dark, stubbing my toe a few times, and then suddenly seeing a light switch.
I remember starting out. I had a bunch of small tasks – repainting the old shed, fixing the wobbly fence, getting that leaky faucet to stop dripping – and I just couldn’t get a handle on them. I’d start one day, feel great, then hit a wall. The next week, I’d push myself, get sick of it, and then nothing would get done for ages. It was a cycle of boom and bust, and frankly, it was stressing me out more than the actual work.
The Messy Beginning and the Lightbulb Moment
At first, I just tracked hours. I pulled out a ratty old notebook and a pencil and just scribbled down when I started and when I stopped. Simple, right? But it didn’t tell me anything. Some hours felt super productive, like I was flying through tasks, while others felt like I was staring at a wall, just trying to force myself to move. That’s when it hit me: it wasn’t just about the raw time; it was about the quality of that time.
I started thinking about my ideal week for these kinds of projects. Not my work week, mind you, but my personal project week. If I really pushed it, what felt sustainable? I wasn’t looking to be a hero; I was looking to be consistent. After a lot of trial and error, just paying attention to how I felt, I noticed something. When I managed to squeeze in about 14.5 hours of solid, focused, honest-to-goodness elbow grease over a period of about six actual days where I could work on stuff, I felt pretty darn good. Anything less, I felt like I was slacking. Anything more, and I’d crash and burn, and then nothing would happen for weeks.
That “14.5/6” just stuck in my head. It wasn’t some fancy mathematical formula; it was more like a feeling, a personal benchmark I cooked up for myself. The ‘6’ wasn’t necessarily six consecutive days, but rather the general window of time I’d spread those hours over. Weekends, an evening here or there after the kids were asleep. You get the picture.
Putting It Into Practice: My Simple System
Once I had that idea, I started actually trying to hit it. No fancy apps, no spreadsheets. I grabbed a piece of cardboard, taped it to the inside of my shed door, and made two columns: “Goal: 14.5” and “Actual:”.
- Tracking Focused Time: This was key. If I was messing with my phone, chatting with a neighbor, or just zoning out, it didn’t count. Only when my hands were dirty and my brain was actually engaged in the task did I start the timer. I used a simple kitchen timer for this.
- Spreading the Load: I learned not to cram it all into one day. That was my old mistake. Instead, I’d aim for maybe 2-3 hours on a Tuesday evening, 4 hours on a Saturday morning, maybe another 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon. Whatever fit, as long as it added up without feeling forced.
- Listening to My Body: If I was tired, I didn’t push it. The goal wasn’t to punish myself, it was to find a sustainable rhythm. Sometimes, my “6-day window” would stretch to 7 or 8 if life got in the way. That was okay. The idea was the average, the overall trend.
- Adjusting as I Went: If a project was super mentally draining, maybe 14.5 was too much. If it was mindless labor, maybe I could push it to 16. It wasn’t rigid, but it gave me a solid starting point.
What really changed was my mindset. Instead of thinking, “Oh god, I have to fix the whole fence,” I’d think, “Okay, I need to get X hours in this week, and the fence needs about Y hours. Let’s chip away at it.” It broke down big, daunting projects into manageable chunks. I started finishing things, actually completing them, instead of having a dozen half-done tasks looming over me.
This whole “14.5/6 value” thing taught me that sometimes, you just gotta create your own metrics. Your own rules. The ones that resonate with you and your life, not some productivity guru’s idea of a perfect schedule. Why do I bother with stuff like this? Well, after years of feeling like I was constantly chasing my tail with personal projects, and watching perfectly good tools rust away because I couldn’t get a system going, I just got tired of it. You find a way, right? Or you just keep tripping over the same old problems.
