Grow You

I think it’s important to understand when you work at your best.

In the workplace, this is slightly easier. When you work for someone, you have an automatic motivation to work – else you will lose your job.

Personally, I used to get in some good work between the hours of 10 and 11. After lunch I slowed down but I often had a late afternoon revival. From what I hear, this pattern is fairly normal and common.

But working in the evening is a different matter altogether. And right now, I am working from home with no one to push me – and my most productive hours are strange by some people’s standards.

I seem to get a lot done very late in the day e.g. at 11pm. I’ve always been a bit of a night owl and revel in staying awake till 3am which I do quite regularly. I have never been and probably never will be an early bird.

So how does this help my time management? Well, I am still learning as this way of life is new to me but something I have tried recently with good results is to do routine work late at night whilst watching television! Previously, I would have attempted such work during the day and then tried much “meatier” stuff in the evening but to no avail.

This way, I can do the “meatier” stuff earlier and then the routine stuff later i.e. higher productivity!

Personally, I find that what matters is to try different things out and then stick with what works for you. There are no shortcuts to trial and error unfortunately.

I am one of these people who find it incredibly difficult to be productive. I need a great deal of discipline.

I think that part of the problem is the modern way of living. Many people have mindless service sector economy jobs that involve keeping clients happy. The job cannot be automated because it would cost more to do this than to hire people and pay them slave wages instead. Basically, all of these jobs just boil down to “organising”.

I know because I have done many of these jobs and they are all terrible. Somehow, other people have the tolerance for this sort of brain wastage but I do not. I find it incredibly tough to stick to a job and my mind wanders.

Now that I am working for myself at home, my mind still wanders all the time. I find it incredibly hard to concentrate on anything for a long period of time. Even while I write this blog post, I have been to the fridge to write a snack. Actually, I really enjoy writing this blog but I find it difficult to convert my thoughts into a written post.

But “work” does have an advantage. If you work for someone then you understand your minimum obligations and will always fill them. My problem now is that I work for myself and I have gotten quite “lazy”.

For instance, I wake up every day at between 9 and 11 in the morning. I have tried waking earlier but I find it impossible to do unless I have an obligation such as an appointment.

Next, I cannot put in a full 8 hours per day. Even when I was at work this rarely happened but, if I was forced to and the office was very busy, the 8 hours would happen.

But now I’m working for myself at home, I find a full 8 hours without doing anything else to be all but impossible. And yet my money is running out and I will probably have to start looking for temping work or contracting soon. You’d think that I’d be worried and working 18 hours a day but I am not!

I sometimes wonder whether I will ever be able to shake this poor productivity of mine. Actually, when I’m forced to, I have excellent productivity. In the office, I will complete tasks quicker than anyone else and then surf the web for 7 hours. But at home, with only myself as my own boss – I find that high productivity is really difficult to achieve unless I am doing something that I really enjoy and find easy.

Anyone else have this problem and have any tips for me?