- Don't get up at 4:30, get up at 6:30. There's 2 hours you'll need for later. If you're leaving the house at 8 maybe you can alternate every other day to deal with the kids so you can sleep until 7:30. You can eat an apple on the way to work. See #8 below
- Don't eat breakfast at home unless if it's pure fruit or veggies. Since you're not going to be exercising as much you need to remove some calories from your diet.
- Sounds like you leave home at 8, work 9-6 with a 1 hour lunch, and get home at 7. Use your lunch hour to walk/jog to some place that will serve you food and coffee. This is your exercise. If this isn't possible, or suitable, exercise at lunch hour somewhere and bring your lunch. Walking is great exercise you don't need to be pumping iron or sweating. You don't have time to be a hunk.
- Don't drink coffee in the morning. Drink green tea when you get to work. The good Japanese stuff, not the American crap (I'm kind of an expert so message me if you want recommendations). Then you can can get healthier caffeine in lower doses to work hard in the AM before lunch, and all the while look forward to coffee at lunch. This will allow you to get more done in the morning at work as well as in the afternoon. You might drag the last 2 hours of work, but that's ok. DON'T HAVE MORE COFFEE. See below.
- Put sugar and cream in your 2nd cup of coffee at lunch. Or, have the second cup at 1:30 pm. This will satisfy your pallet, keep you feeling full longer, and satisfy your need for dessert. Brush your teeth and eat Greek yogert, spinach leaves, or grilled chicken breast when you get hungry in the afternoon. Again, keep the calories down. Digestion makes you tired as blood rushes from your brain to your stomach. Also, what are you eating for lunch? Bread and greasy food and sandwiches are bad. I eat 3 eggs, 2 small pieces of WHOLE WHEAT toast, and maybe side of broccoli or ham. This is 500-600 calories and keeps me full. Broccoli is so great and keeps you full for so long even if it isn't satisfying to eat.
- Talk to your boss about the 8 hour day being too long due to your kids' schedule. Maybe he'll let you work a bit less or else not take the lunch hour that you're not getting paid for. Or, maybe you can work 1.5 hours longer on Tue and Thu and leave 1 hour earlier Mon, Wed, and Fri (see #8 below)
- Use vacation days in half-day increments. Imagine all you could do if you got home at 1 pm twice a month on a Friday. Better yet, do Tue or Wed as you're less likely to slack off because it isn't the weekend. This will cost you only 12 vacation days per year. I like doing Monday because it makes Sunday less terrible knowing I only have a half day on Monday!
- See #1 and #6 above. You send the kids off to school on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Your wife does it Tue and Thu. You put them to bed in the evenings on Tue and Thu and she does it on Mon, Wed, and Fri.
- Tue, Thu: Up at 7:30 to go to work. Wife preps kids in morn. Work until 7:30 pm and go home and put the kids to bed and drink beer and watch movie and talk to wife. Absolutely no work on your business these days.
- Mon, Wed, Fri: Up at 6:30 to send kids to school. Work from 9 am to 5 pm and get home at 6 pm. Since you don't need to wake up until 7:30 am on Tue and Thur you now have 6 hours to work on your business after work and can sleep around midnight. And remember the no-coffee-after 2 pm rule? (see #5 above.) The time for more coffee is now, at around 7pm, to give you a boost of energy to work hard on Mon, Wed, and Fri evenings. Treat yourself to some delicious coffee on the drive home, maybe? You can afford it 3 times a week. Or, perhaps even talk to a psychiatrist and learn about Adderall or some of the invigorating, uplifting medical marijuana I've been hearing about.
- Sat - Sun: You'll be awake 16-18 hours these days. 30 waking hours in a weekend. You'll need to spend 5-10 with family, 2 exercising, a few for chores, etc. You can easily squeeze 10 hours per weekend into your business.