Oh this conversation
Let's start with the obvious.... Sleep and nutrition.
Usually we all get to this frazzled stage when sleep time is lacking [or quality of sleep] and often at same time our nutrition is out of bounds for a healthy being. These are the foundations of life. So I'd address those first.
Man, especially a working man needs on average 8 hours of sleep every night. Some of us are old, or tuned a little different, so maybe 6 hours is the bottom line. High side, I know people doing upwards of 12 hour sleep sessions nightly [which may be accompanied by an hour or more of reading].
Throw in the diet / sleep group, personal hygiene. If home bound working too much bathing, teeth brushing, other common things in this group tend to go down the toilet on regular frequency. Things slip into you literally via this and can bring you down in multiple ways.
Next, lists are good/bad. Depends on your personality, your tolerances, preferences. Lists annoy me, but necessary. I keep various lists in a straight up notepad like solution on a phone since that device is most often with me. I have a list for shopping [grocery, online, etc.], I have a fire list of tasks for work and related that need done ASAP. I don't live in my task lists, I just eyeball them now and then, mainly when I am focusing on that group of related. [like when I am about to head out to shopping or when I am researching something to buy].
Then you have the whole know your strength / value issue to weigh. I am good at certain things and more rapid in some types of work. Other things are NOT my core comptency, I don't them frequently enough or I just don't like them. For the non-core competency matters, one must develop good delegation skills and people to delegate to [at times]. Man is not an island or man starves in the wilderness too often.
TV, media, online distractions, etc. I am militant about these. I haven't watched TV in literally decades. I have no idea what is on in prime time. I catch a random episode of something here and there [think DIY, FYI, PBS programming, etc.]. Limit your wasted time on these to something that is 1 hour a day tops.
Similarly kill all the online noise. When I am working and need to focus, I shut off IM, I close email [unless work necessitates I am in there], the phone gets put on silent, the headphones go on with zoning style music.
I recommend analyzing your day/time for a few weeks. I do this probably quarterly when I get sad about work output or general productivity. Try out Timesheet for Android [free, small, simple and exports data to CSV]. Throw your major time consuming tasks in there [sleep, day job, side projects, cooking, bathing, house cleaning]. Keep on clicking the app as you task switch anything larger than 15 minutes at a time. It gets annoying, yeah, but will discover all sorts of hidden data about yourself.
For instance with time tracking, I discovered people around me claim I should spend more time, but I am tasked for instance with cooking for them which consumes collectively several hours each day [one must prep, cook and then clean up]. So now I can accurately say, "This week cooking for instance took 14 hours of my time". If you want more of my time, then order food in or pick up food [given the time to do such isn't too much and the cost is reasonable].
That also lends to establishing a weekly schedule for food and doing batch cooking sessions notably on the weekend to lessen the daily load.
House work / chores uggh! Constant issue in my world. Decades ago when I was your age, I limited those to almost never and spent heavily to buy new clothing and tons of eating in restaurants [multiple times daily].... That was a poor approach financially. I would today go about such way differently. Towards the end I hired help.
It's well worth it to find a housecleaner nearby, someone your mothers age that understands lads your age and intricacies of assisting you. Paying said cleaner for a few hours every month is good for you and them. Similarly, you can likely outsource some of your laundry and some of your other tasks [think errands that need ran around town, groceries, etc.].
Big picture we all share:
24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week.
Every day 8 hours blocked off for sleep and related unwinding.
16 hours a day remaining.
9 hours Monday-Friday for real work.
7 hours of flex time remains Monday-Friday.
Of the 7 hours remaining M-F, 1 hour+ for eating. 30 minutes for bathing, brushing, etc.
5 1/2 hours of slack time remaining.
30 minutes of house related chores daily [dishes, taking trash out, small repairs, etc.]
Optimistically, 3-4 hours usually of "flex" time M-F.
If you are working purely at home, then you need to take at least 1 hour M-F to get outside and some sunlight before your die [mornings please].
Leave 2-3 hours for screwing off / wasting - M-F.
Weekends are:
16 hours of whatever flex - the above deductions and then minus inevitable running around, shopping, etc. that has to be done for the next week.
So 12 hours - shopping time and related.
Should be looking at strong 8+ hours on Saturday and Sunday. 16 hours combined of whatever slack time.
Total slack time per week: 16 + [2-3 x 5] = 26-31 hours a week.
What you decide to in that 26-31 hours a week will weigh heavily on your quality of life, bitterness [or lack thereof], and general outlook.
