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.
As an update on this, I have to say that I am still struggling. For example, I set myself some work to do today.
I woke up reasonably early and worked well during the morning. At 2pm I had to venture out to eat. I did and got back home and proceeded to waste the rest of my time.
Thing is, it turns dark here at 3.30pm. And once it’s dark, I can no longer work. Seems to be some kind of psychological switch for me. That’s why I’ve decided to do small updates to my blog like this one right now as it doesn’t require “rocket science” amounts of brain power!
Unfortunately, it meant that I achieved about a third of what I wanted to
Do you have any tips for me? I’d definitely welcome any advice.
Chris